Windows has a feature that groups similar windows, for example seven explorer windows, in one taskbar button which is great if you like your taskbar as clean as possible. There is however no direct way to change the amount of windows that are needed before Windows starts grouping them.
To change the default behavior you need to edit the registry and add a new key to it. Open the registry by pressing Windows R, typing registry and hitting run, and navigate to the following key: HKEY_CURRENT_USER \ Software \ Microsoft \ Windows \ CurrentVersion \ Explorer \ Advanced.
Create a new DWORD and name it TaskbarGroupSize. You can now assign the following values to the key:
- 0 – group windows based on age starting with the oldest
- 1 – group the biggest groups first
- 2 – group all windows with at least 2 instances
- 3 – group all windows with at least 3 instances
Close everything and restart your computer.
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