Windows 11 taskbar gets extra space for lots of opened apps

We appear to be approaching a time in Windows' development when new features and changes will come to the operating system on a yearly basis. To that end, Microsoft adds, removes, and tests out features and user interfaces in Windows 11's Insider Preview channels on a regular basis.

The most noteworthy change we've seen in a while is the arrival of a modified version of the taskbar that handles app icon overflow better when users have too many applications open at once on the experimental Dev Channel. A new icon overflow menu appears whenever you click an ellipsis button on your taskbar, allowing you to interact with any of those extra icons in the same way as if they were on the taskbar.

A new overflow function, as shown in the mockup above, would implement a custom tab for each application and allow you to choose what app icon takes up the most space on your taskbar. This would be an enormous improvement over the current overflow behavior, which dedicates one icon's worth of real estate to display the icon for the last program you interacted with, leaving the rest unavailable. The old ellipsis logo will continue to appear alongside the new overflow area icons. Microsoft claims that app icons in the overflow zone will have identical functionality as other app icons displayed in the taskbar: they'll be able to show jump lists and other configurable shortcuts.

There are also additional features in this upgrade, including an update to the Nearby Sharing feature, which utilizes a mix of UDP and Bluetooth to identify devices on the same local network. These changes only apply if you're connected to a private network and use Windows' built-in sharing window to share files, and they're also available in the most current Beta channel builds.

Microsoft tests the features that are least likely to reach all Windows users in the Dev channel. Features such as a desktop search bar have appeared and vanished before, and Microsoft is considering at least two different options for reintroducing part of Windows 10's search field back into the taskbar.