If you miss the vertical taskbars seen in previous versions of Windows, Stardock is here to help. The latest beta version of Start11 adds support for vertical taskbar, bringing back the oft-requested feature to Windows 11. Start11 supports placing a vertical taskbar on the left-side or right-side of your screen.
Over 55,000 people have viewed this specific Microsoft community post about vertical taskbars on Windows 11. Thousands have commented on similar posts on Microsoft’s website. Many other people have gone to Reddit and other forums with similar requests. But to this point, Microsoft has not fulfilled requests to add a vertical taskbar to Windows 11.
Now, Stardock has stepped in to fill the void. Requiring a third-party app to add a feature to Windows 11 that was supported on older versions of Windows feels a bit odd, but Start11 has other features as well. The app allows you to customize the look of the Start menu to appear like Windows 11, Windows 10, or Windows 7. You can also tweak your Start menu using more options than the native Start menu in Windows 11 offers.
Vertical taskbars ship with Start11 v2.5, which is in beta right now. The update also adds support for centered taskbar buttons when the Start icon is left-aligned.
Does Windows 11 support vertical taskbars?
Unfortunately for those who love vertical taskbars, Microsoft does not seem interested in adding official support for the feature in Windows 11. When Microsoft removed the option to move the taskbar to the side of a screen, many questioned the decision. Previous versions of Windows allowed the taskbar to be dragged to the top or side of a screen, but Windows 11 does not (Start11 now supports both if you’re on the latest beta).
Back in 2022, Microsoft held an Ask Me Anything (AMA) that covered several topics, including vertical taskbars on Windows.
“When it comes to something like actually being able to move the taskbar to different locations on the screen, there’s a number of challenges with that,” said Microsoft Head of Product Tali Roth. “When you think about having the taskbar on the right or the left, all of a sudden the reflow and the work that all of the apps have to do to be able to understand the environment is just huge.”
Microsoft is a small tech company with only a few developers one of the most valuable tech companies in the world, so it’s a bit strange that a third-party app maker like Stardock could figure out a way to reflow the taskbar and tackle the “huge” challenges of the development task.
I imagine that Roth’s further comments from 2022 are more of a driving factor as to why Microsoft has not implemented a vertical taskbar on Windows 11:
“And when you look at the data, while we know there is a set of people that love it that way and, like, really appreciate it, we also recognize that this set of users is really small compared to the set of other folks that are asking for other features. So at the moment we are continuing to focus on things that I hear more pain around.
It is one of those things that we are still continuing to look at, and we will keep looking to feedback, but at the moment we do not have a plan or a set date for when we would, or if we should, actually build the side taskbar.”
In other words, it is technically possible for Microsoft to make a vertical taskbar on Windows 11, but it is not worth the time and effort required to make a feature used by so few people.
