v2.5 Beta Brings Vertical Taskbar Option on Windows 11
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Today we are releasing the Start11 v2.5 beta with new features, a couple of enhancements and bug fixes as well. The update is available now as a beta and you can download this release from the Download page of your Stardock account or through Object Desktop manager – learn more here.
New with version 2.5 is the ability to use a vertical taskbar on Windows 11. The vertical taskbar can be placed on the left or right side of the display and functions just as you remember from previous versions of Windows where this configuration was supported. To enable the new taskbar experience, open the configuration panel, click Taskbar, scroll to the Taskbar position option and select you desired configuration.
Along with the new vertical taskbar support, centered taskbar buttons with a left aligned Start icon is now supported on more than two monitors (previously only two screens were supported). While support for two monitors covered the majority of our users, we wanted to make sure power-users who have many displays can utilize this layout as well.
In addition to the new functionality, several bugs are being squashed with this update. We have improved compatibility with the latest Insider builds of Windows 11 that we expect to be released in the coming months and with this release, Start11 v2 will be ready for those updates.
Vertical taskbars have been highly requested by our community and we are happy to finally check this feature off the backlog. If you have any requests for upcoming features or find any bugs that we missed in our testing, make sure to join our community here.
And if you haven't tried Start11 v2 yet, you can download it from the app page and it is also included in the award-winning suite, Object Desktop.
The taskbar is working like Windows 10 where wider did not give you another column.
This is something we are considering though as it could be useful for those who do not want to see text and can allocate more width to the taskbar.
I have tried object dock and the start 11 v2.5 at the top off the screen, did not work well, firstly I have bought ALL Stardock software & all UnInstalled, Object dock, ho boy looks like something from windows xp, just can't compare MyDockFinder not even close, which also auto hides the dock if the active window is maximized and only the menubar at the top off the screen is always displayed.
As for "Start11 & customization's built in that seriously saves on clicks", Quick Access Popup, No need to move mouse anywhere just left/right-click the mouse wheel or config any other mouse button/hotkey to save any movment off the mouse before clicks, just opens a popup menus (dark mode/light). i.e I have one popup menus to send system hotkeys, like new sticky note or extract text form anywhere & anohter popup menu too show me all apps I have installed if already running brings them to the front, anohter button to show me 'Task View' off all apps I have running & desktops for me to select one.
Start11 is good but it may just be me, just can't see the point of millions of people buying trackballs/mouses with all these extra buttons and in 2025 & have to move the mouse to the Left/Right/Top/Bottom of the screen (desktop monitors are getting wider & having the taskbar on the left/right even more mouse travel) before you can select/click when one can have it all these menus come to your mouse!
The vertical taskbar is great! I am having one issue and not sure it is caused by the vertical taskbar. With the horizontal bar when I right click on one of the notification area (the little icons in the bottom of the taskbar) a context menu appears, however with Cloudflare Warp no context menu appears, this only happens with the vertical taskbar and only with Cloudflare, other icons context menu appear. As you can see when I hover over it, this is what is displayed (which is normal) I am having an issue that the context menu (to disable it or exit it) doesnt appear
Hi. Any chance to make vertical taskbar and keep start menu opening in the center of the screen?
I find it less distracting.
I have noticed a change in behavior recently. Not sure if it corresponds to an update in Windows.
The expected behavior is, when I have an app open but obscured by other apps or minimized, when I click on the app in the taskbar it provides a list of those windows, when it click on one I expect it to come to the foreground.
The new behavior is, it remains obscured and I either have to click on it again in the taskbar or if part is visible click on that to get it to the foreground. Annoying and a change. Not sure if it is a bug in Start11
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