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I mostly like the improvements in Windows 7, but am pretty annoyed with the new Taskbar... particularly its habit of always keeping items grouped.

Is there any way to ungroup the taskbar items in Windows 7?

And just for the record, "Never combine" does not work. True, setting this option creates a separate button for each instance of an application... but it still groups all the running instances together. For instance, all Explorer Windows are grouped together beside each other, and they can only be dragged around as a group---not as individual items.

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+1 this IS annoying, I'd also like to know the answer to this one. Good question. – kez Sep 10 '09 at 20:47
What do you need this requested behavior for? – Tom Wijsman Sep 10 '09 at 21:32
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Personal preference. I've been trained by 14-years of Windows use to expect newly-run apps to appear on the right. I've been using the beta/RC since February. I figure I've given it a fair shot, and don't like the new behavior. – ijprest Sep 10 '09 at 22:31
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"What do you need this requested behavior for?" <-- I hate these kind of questions. It's like "What do you need a silver theme for?". – thenonhacker Sep 10 '09 at 22:40
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@TomWij: Just because two windows share the same EXE (e.g., explorer.exe, cmd.exe) doesn't mean they're used for the same purpose. I may have multiple "projects" in progress, and grouping windows by EXE (instead of allowing me to group them by project) is annoying. (I realize, of course, that the apps aren't strictly grouped by EXE, but for most apps this is the case.) – ijprest Sep 11 '09 at 15:19
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3 Answers

up vote 17 down vote accepted

There is a way.

7 Taskbar Tweaker can do it.

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+1, great little utility. – Sasha Chedygov Oct 30 '09 at 0:22
Awesome! You just made my day! Thanks! – ijprest Oct 30 '09 at 14:34
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up vote 6 down vote

I believe the answer is: No - You currently can't "ungroup" the taskbar items the way you and many others would like.

I hope I'm proven wrong or that it's added in the future - I'd also like this feature.

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I suspect this is the case too. I hope we're both proven wrong. – ijprest Sep 11 '09 at 15:12
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up vote 2 down vote

The answer is by right clicking on taskbar select properties, select "never combine" instead of "Always combine, hide labels".

It works and not as said in number 2.

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Anonymous comment: NO, it doesn't work, that's not what he's talking about. For instance, if you have two excel sheets open, and want them to both be displayed on the screen at the same time so you can easily work between them without having to hover to the taskbar to open the other one, there is no way to "ungroup" similar icons/programs. – Ivo Flipse♦ Nov 23 '11 at 22:11
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protected by Troggy♦ Mar 21 '11 at 16:31

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