Microsoft has made many big tweaks with Windows 11, and unfortunately, not all of them as positive — such as major changes to drag-and-drop functionality with the Taskbar. Windows 11 looks to be one of the most significant Windows updates ever in more ways than one. It ushers in an all-new design language, removes Windows 8 and Windows 10’s Live Tiles, and totally revamps the Start Menu. Windows 11 is currently in beta testing, with a final release expected this fall.

Among all of those changes, something that’s created the most commotion is the new Taskbar. The Taskbar as its known today has existed since Windows 95. It sits on the bottom-left of the screen, everything is aligned to the left edge, and it houses both the Start Menu and app shortcuts. While the Taskbar still exists in Windows 11, it looks a lot different than usual. It’s placed in the bottom-middle of the screen by default, all of the app icons are centered, and it looks a lot like taskbars found in macOS and Chrome OS.

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In addition to the visual tweaks, people testing the Windows 11 preview builds have also noticed changes in its functionality. As reported by Windows Latest, Windows 11 removes the ability to drag-and-drop files or app shortcuts onto the Taskbar. In Windows 10 and earlier versions, users could drag an app on the Taskbar and have it pinned as a new shortcut. For some reason, that’s not supported in Windows 11. Additionally, dragging a file onto an app on the Taskbar no longer opens the file in that app. Some people were hopeful this was just a bug, but unfortunately, it’s an intended aspect of Windows 11. Replying to user complaints on the Windows Insider website, Microsoft says, “Currently, dragging a file onto an app in the taskbar to open it in that app is not supported in Windows 11, but we appreciate all your feedback, and we’ll continue to use it to help guide the future of features like this.”

How To Bring Back Drag-And-Drop Taskbar In Windows 11

As expected, this hasn’t sat well with many Windows users. One person called it “pathetic,” while another commented, “This is such a disappointment! One expects better functionality in new versions of software. Breaking perfectly good things in the process is completely unacceptable.” For those people, the good news is that it is possible to revive drag-and-drop functionality with the Taskbar in Windows 11. First, Open the Registry app by typing ‘regedit’ in the Taskbar’s search box and then click ‘Registry Editor.’ Once that’s open, enter “HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINESOFTWAREMicrosoftWindowsCurrentVersionShell UpdatePackages.” Users then need to make a 32-bit DWORD named “UndockingDisabled” and then change the value to 1. Close the Registry Editor app, restart the computer, and the old Windows 10 Taskbar should be back — including its drag-and-drop abilities.

While this fix appears to be live in the preview builds of Windows 11, don’t be surprised if it goes away once the final version is rolled out to everyone this fall. Microsoft has a clear vision for Windows 11, and that includes the new Taskbar. It doesn’t want people using a hack to keep using a Windows 10 one. It’s unclear how much longer this workaround will be available, but in the meantime, it’s the best (and only) way to get a drag-and-drop Taskbar in Windows 11.

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Source: Windows Latest

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About The Author


Joe Maring
(1523 Articles Published)

Joe has been actively writing and talking about consumer tech since 2012. His biggest passion lies with smartphones, but he’s happy to talk your ear off about just about anything with a CPU. He lives in Kalamazoo, MI with his wife, two cats, and pit bull/boxer mix.

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