Windows 11’s taskbar is the most controversial design choice of Microsoft for its new operating system. The redesigned taskbar has been widely criticized, but the good news is that the tech giant is listening to feedback and preview builds now include fixes for annoying bugs.
Unlike the previous Windows versions, the taskbar in Windows 11 is apparently based on modern XAML code and it uses WinUI controls. The taskbar has been written from scratch and it doesn’t support features like drag-and-drop. Additionally, users cannot change the location of the taskbar from the default bottom view, which some people preferred.
These Windows 11 taskbar limitations can be frustrating, but there are several other known issues as well. For example, Windows 11 has a bug where the taskbar could end up flickering when you try to switch input methods.
There’s another bug where taskbar tooltips (pop-ups that appear when you hover over the items) could end up in a totally unexpected location. Users have also reported a bug where the taskbar tooltip doesn’t show up when hovering over the taskbar corner icons too quickly.
This works with hovering over multiple icons quickly, which queues up their tooltips and displays them all on separate occasions of repeated hovering over the taskbar, users noted in a post on Feedback Hub.
Thankfully, Microsoft has made a change to the operating system to improve the reliability of the taskbar and the fix is currently included in preview builds.
Windows 11 taskbar displays incorrect information
In Windows 11, a bug could affect the battery level displayed on the taskbar. In fact, the taskbar’s battery level sometimes shows a percentage that’s above 100%. This has been documented by users in the Feedback Hub, with users explaining that the battery level was higher than 100 percent in some cases.
Of course, this is a bug with Windows 11 taskbar and Microsoft is now delivering a fix in the latest preview build.
“The battery icon tooltip should no longer unexpectedly show a percent above 100,” Microsoft said in the release notes of Windows 11 Build 22523.
Drag and drop is returning soon
At the same time, Microsoft is internally testing support for taskbar drag-and-drop.
As you’re probably aware, Windows 11 has removed drag and drop for the taskbar, so you cannot drag apps onto the taskbar to create shortcuts for your favourite app. It is also no possibility to drag and drop files onto apps open in the taskbar to launch those files like URLs or images in the app.
According to sources familiar with the development, the feature is now set to return in Windows 11 22H2. Microsoft will add this much-requested feature to preview builds, but it likely won’t happen for a few months.