Microsoft says it no longer plans to release a Windows 11 update with a new and simplified taskbar system tray as it originally intended. For those unaware, Microsoft announced last year that it was working on a new taskbar feature that simplifies the system tray by dropping the full date and time and notifications bell icon.
While Windows 11 24H2 no longer shows the notification bell icon, the original idea of a ‘simplified’ system tray hasn’t made any progress. This is interesting because Microsoft almost shipped the feature to everyone in the production channel, but then it backed off and maintained total radio silence.
As you can see in the above screenshot, Windows 11’s simplified taskbar system tray dropped the full date and time. What we have is a shortened date/time, which takes less space, and this was going to be the default experience. At that time, Microsoft said you’d be able to bring back the original system tray from Settings > Date and Time.
Later, Microsoft confirmed that it has “temporarily disabled the more simplified system tray with shortened date/time change to address several issues,” but the company never offered any explanations.
Why does it even make sense to pull back a feature that could have been disabled at the end of the day? I don’t know, but it’s possible that it was a lot of effort to implement it for a few users who wanted a clutter-free taskbar.
Microsoft’s Windows Insider Program’s Brandon LeBlanc now says the company acted in favour of user feedback.
“The feedback we got about that was not pleasant. That’s why it disappeared,” Brandon LeBlanc noted in an X post, and added that a few “dozen” users wanted this feature.
More options are always better, but of course, I can see why users would have hated this “simplified” experience as the default. Some of us prefer to have seconds in the taskbar system tray, and this idea would have made the system tray even simpler.
But does Microsoft really follow feedback?
A quick look at Feedback Hub shows that thousands of users want to move the taskbar to the top, but we haven’t seen any progress in that direction. This doesn’t necessarily mean Microsoft is not following feedback.
One of the most requested feedback items, which is to remove the Recommended feed from the Start menu, has been heard, and a future release of Windows 11 will make it optional.
Should Microsoft have done the same with the simplified taskbar? What do you think? Let us know in the comments below.
