taskbar icons- change order (XP Pro SP2)

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This is screenshot from my Vista Bar but it should be the same for XP.

Right click on the toolbar and uncheck “lock the toolbar”.
Then carefully move your cursor down near the last icon showing until a double arrow is displayed. You can then drag the arrow to the right to make more room for other icons. You should then be able to drag and drop the various icons around to the order that you wish.
When satisfied, right click and check “lock the toolbar”.

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Bob, I think that applies to the Quick Launch toolbar and other toolbars in the taskbar. The OP explicitly stated that the post is *not* about the Quick Launch toolbar.

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Sorry, guess I didn’t understand just what the “main taskbar” meant?

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I assumed they meant the part with the icons representing the active applications.

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(Edited by DaveA on 11-Jun-08 11:52. remove blank area)

This seems like a simple question but I can’t seem to find it addressed in the forum archives.
So, my apologies if I’ve failed to uncover a previous thread or threads discussing this subject.

How can I move icons/buttons on the main taskbar- not the quick launch or notification area- to be in an order of my choosing, preferably by dragging and dropping? I can’t find this as a native possibility in Windows.

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As far as I know this is not built into Windows XP. But there are free utilities that let you reorder taskbar icons by using drag-and-drop: see post 677,264.

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Thanks for the news.
I’ll check out the freeware.

and
yes the taskbar is unlocked

and drag and drop only seems to apply to quick launch

Kyle

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I’ve been using Taskbar Shuffle, mentioned by Alan Miller in the thread pointed to be Hans and I now find I couldn’t live without it. Great utility…

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Al,
I seem to be not understanding the usefulness of something that you seem to prize. Specifically, what is the advantage of having a specific arrangement of taskbar icons ? One feature that Taskbar Shuffle has that I could use is the ability to rearrange the elements in a grouped icon. For that reason I may give it a try, but I’ve never felt the need for something other than the Alt-Tab combination for selecting an open application.

Paul

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Ahhhh, ya got me now! The best thing to call it is a compulsion (for having “things” in a particular order or sequence). But then again, I stack my socks in the dresser drawer in a particular order, so I’m a known whack-o… IBM never had to enforce their clean desk policy with me!

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Ok, so its a convenience/preference issue, something I can easily understand. Since you and the OP seemed quite interested in this capability I thought I might be unaware (yet again) of a useful productivity tool. The socks thing is no big deal to me, but that clean desk pronouncement brings back …… well, things I hoped to forget . You were bluer than I was.

Paul

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> socks in the dresser drawer in a particular order…

Nothing wrong with OCD, as long as you’ve got it under control and don’t obsess about it!

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I probably should have explained that I meant the section showing what applications are open.
The goal is to place apps I am using at the same time but switching back and forth close to each other to minimize mousepad movement.

Apologies for the confusion!

TaskbarShuffle 2.5 seems to do the trick just fine.

Thanks again to all for the feedback.!!!

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Hi Keyboardslave,
If your goal is to minimize mouse movement (as in a laptop), you may want to try the keyboard combination: ALT-TAB or in Vista the WIN-TAB key combination – saves lots of mousemovement and get you to the application you want rather quickly.
Hope this helps, if not – oh well…..

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