It’s been possible to automatically hide the taskbar in Windows operating system since the time of Windows XP, but many users who recently started using computers or Windows operating system are not aware of this nifty feature offered in Windows.
What’s is taskbar auto-hide?
As the name of the feature suggests, Windows 10 allows you to automatically hide the taskbar when it’s inactive. That is, when the auto-hide taskbar feature is enabled, the taskbar is hidden most of the time and re-appears when the mouse cursor is moved to the bottom edge of the screen (or to the side of the screen where the taskbar is currently positioned). And once you move the mouse cursor away from the taskbar, the taskbar hides again automatically.
How useful is the taskbar auto-hide feature in Windows 10?
The feature comes in handy when you’re working on a notebook or tablet with a relatively small screen. By hiding the taskbar, you get more screen real estate, which in turn helps you get your work done faster.
The feature also comes in handy when you want to focus on something for a long time without distractions. For instance, if you’re compiling a report in Office Word, you can auto-hide the taskbar and maximize the Word window for the distraction-free writing experience.
Besides that, desktop and notebook users who always use Alt + Tab to switch between running programs rarely use the taskbar. And as you know, the Start menu can be revealed by pressing the Windows logo key on the keyboard.
How to auto-hide the taskbar in Windows 10?
Complete the given below directions to enable or disable the auto-hide taskbar feature in Windows 10.
Step 1: Right-click on an empty spot on the taskbar, click Taskbar settings option to open Taskbar settings page of the Settings app.
Step 2: Here, turn on Automatically hide the taskbar in desktop mode option to hide the Taskbar immediately. If you want to hide the taskbar only in the tablet mode, please turn on Automatically hide the taskbar in tablet mode option. That’s it!
Windows will automatically hide the taskbar when it’s not being used.
To completely or always hide the taskbar
In order to completely hide the taskbar, we need to go for third-party tools. While there are many tools around, Taskbar Hider is one of the better tools out there for this job.
Taskbar Hider allows you to assign a keyboard shortcut to hide or show the taskbar so that you can hide or unhide the taskbar in a second.
While configuring it, make sure to check the option labeled Load at Windows Startup.
Gary Brown says
Hi Same problem with the taskbar,keeps popping up unwanted with no option to turn off
or delete.Is there any solution to this problem.
Zee says
Taskbar Hider does NOT work for multiple monitors. It’s utterly worthless for that as it will only hide the taskbar on the primary monitor. Even running it as administrator (like it says in the program) does not force this functionality.
Galin says
Ugh, I HATE Windows! I do video editing so I need all of my monitor. If the taskbar is auto-hidden, when I swipe to the top to access the program’s menu or the bottom to switch pages or the right to go to my 2nd monitor or the left to adjust color wheels, this stupid taskbar jumps up and says, “NO, ME ME ME ME ME!” I almost never have use for the taskbar but Micro$haft made the executive decision that I MUST use it all the time, especially when I specifically do not want to.
Why can’t Windows allow us to ONLY access the taskbar through the handy dandy Windows button on our keyboard??? It’s right there. It’s built in. Let’s use it.
Roro says
There was a way to simply drag the taskbar down to hide it. Oh but Microsoft got rid of it in one of their incarnations of the OS. I hate that, I never will forget. If I ever got a chance to meet Bill Gates that would definitely be something I’d tell him. I know he hasn’t been the guy running Microsoft for some time now, I’m just ranting. I just consider it theft. you give us upgraded operating systems but always add and extra pain by taking away something that was working just fine. SMH.
Nico Yazawa says
You guys have no pre-existing knowledge of how pc settings work. While they did mess up on calling it “properties” anyone with a brain can assume they meant “taskbar settings” as that is the closest sounding thing. Maybe you people shouldn’t be trying this advanced trick if you can’t figure out these simple things :\
Luis Thiam-Nye says
Personally, I find auto-hide annoying, but the taskbar is still necessary (e.g. to access the tray icons). I’ve tried Taskbar Hider, which seemed promising, though it does not stop the taskbar reappearing by itself. So, I made a simple program called Buttery Taskbar which only ever shows the taskbar when the Start Menu is open. I hope people find this useful: https://github.com/CrypticButter/ButteryTaskbar
William Greenfield says
When I am in windowed mode, tapping shift causes it to appear. This is very problematic when trying to use my computer.
Celesta says
I’ve already done these steps, but the taskbar still doesn’t hide. Sometimes it will for a bit but then as soon as the cursor gets ANYWHERE near the bottom it pops back up and blocks part of the screen and will not go away. Is there anyway to know if this is a bug thats being fixed
admin says
Sodoff, thanks for leaving the comment. As you likely know, Microsoft keeps updating the user interface of Windows 10 very often and it’s hard to update all our guides immediately. This was one of the articles that we could not update after Microsoft decided to move taskbar settings. Anyways, we have updated the article to reflect the change.
Sodoff says
Completely useless and this site is called Into Windows? There is NO Properties tab when right clicking the taskbar. Hire a monkey. At least he’d be more entertaining than the brainless clowns who republish crap off the internet that no one on this painful site can be bothered checking.
Lisa Brown says
Click on taskbar, Properties not a choice. Hide in desktop mode does not work. I am so frustrated as I cannot see my screen fully-EVER. I am constantly moving it to R then L then bottom, etc, just to be able to read the screen contents. This sucks and I hate it and I hate YOU
Matthew says
In XP you could manually hide the taskbar as part of the operating system’s inherent processes. They (deliberately?) removed that basic functionality after XP. Is there any chance it will be reinstated?
Darrell Redford says
I check auto-hide and it works great, except for about 50% of the time when I come out of hibernate Windows 10 in its infinite wisdom will ‘uncheck’ my auto-hide. Also happens on a cold boot.
david mahon says
Exactly the same.
Rick says
Click on settings after right click.
John McDonald says
When I right click on the taskbar, I get several options, but Properties is not one of them.