Windows 11 Taskbar Left: Move Start and Icons to the Left

Windows 11 places the Start button and app icons in the middle of the taskbar by default. If you are used to earlier versions of Windows, or you just prefer Start in the corner, you can put the Windows 11 taskbar left-aligned in under a minute with a built-in setting. No registry edits or extra software are needed, and you can switch back whenever you like.

This guide covers the steps for Windows 11 version 24H2 and 25H2 (Home and Pro use the same menus), explains what the setting does and does not change, and runs through the other taskbar behaviours on the same page.

How to align the Windows 11 taskbar to the left

1. Right-click an empty area of the taskbar and select Taskbar settings. You can also press Win+I and go to Settings > Personalization > Taskbar.
2. Scroll down and select Taskbar behaviors to expand the section.
3. Find Taskbar alignment and open the drop-down next to it.
4. Choose Left.

The Start button and your pinned and running apps slide to the left edge straight away. There is no restart or sign-out. To go back, choose Center in the same drop-down.

What changes and what stays the same

Left alignment only moves the group of icons that contains Start, Search, Task view and your apps. The Widgets button may also change position or appearance depending on your build. Everything else stays put:

Element	With Center	With Left
Start button	Middle, before your apps	Far left
Pinned and open apps	Centred	Next to Start, left side
System tray, clock, notifications	Right side	Right side
Taskbar position on screen	Bottom	Bottom

The Start menu also opens from the left edge rather than the middle, which many people find quicker to reach with the mouse.

Can you move the taskbar to the top or sides?

Not with Settings. Windows 10 let you drag the taskbar to any edge of the screen; Windows 11 does not offer that option, and the taskbar stays at the bottom of each display. You will find guides that change this with registry edits or third-party shell replacements. We do not recommend them on a PC you rely on: undocumented changes can stop working or cause glitches after a cumulative update, and shell replacements hook deeply into Explorer.

If you want more screen space, the supported alternative is to auto-hide the taskbar (see below).

Other taskbar behaviors on the same page

While Taskbar behaviors is open, these are worth knowing:

• Automatically hide the taskbar. The taskbar slides away until you move the pointer to the bottom edge. Handy on small laptop screens.
• Show badges on taskbar apps. Unread counters on icons such as Mail or Teams.
• Show flashing on taskbar apps. Lets apps flash their icon to get attention.
• Show my taskbar on all displays and When using multiple displays, show my taskbar apps on. Choose whether each monitor shows all apps or only the windows open on that monitor. See our multiple monitors guide for a full setup.
• Share any window from my taskbar. Lets you share a window to a call in supported meeting apps by hovering over its taskbar icon.
• Select the far corner of the taskbar to show the desktop. The thin strip at the far right minimises everything.
• Combine taskbar buttons and hide labels. Choose Always, When taskbar is full or Never. Never shows a separate button with a text label for each window, similar to older Windows versions. There is a matching option for other taskbars on multi-monitor setups.

Exact wording can vary slightly between builds, but all of these are in the same expandable section.

Tidy up the rest of the taskbar

Above Taskbar behaviors, the Taskbar items section controls the icons next to Start:

• Search can be hidden, shown as an icon only, an icon and label, or a full search box.
• Task view shows your open windows and virtual desktops. Win+Tab does the same thing, so the button is optional.
• Widgets opens the news and weather board. Turn it off if you never use it; Win+W still opens it.

Other system tray icons lets you choose which background apps show an icon in the corner rather than in the hidden overflow menu. For more on everything on this page, see Windows 11 taskbar settings.

If the setting does not work

• The drop-down is greyed out. Settings will say “Some of these settings are managed by your organization” if a policy controls it. On a work PC, ask your IT team. On a personal PC, this usually comes from a third-party tweaking tool.
• Icons jump back to the centre after a restart. Check that a theme or customisation app is not overriding the setting. Uninstall it and set the alignment again.
• The taskbar is unresponsive or missing. Restart Windows Explorer from Task Manager (Ctrl+Shift+Esc, find Windows Explorer, select Restart). If Start or the taskbar still fails, see Start menu not working.

For more changes like this that are safe and easy to undo, browse our Windows 11 tweaks hub and the Windows 11 Settings tour.