Display Windows Taskbar only when key is pressed

Martin Brinkmann
Mar 18, 2008
Updated • Oct 5, 2015
Software, Windows tips
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6

It is possible to set the Windows Taskbar to autohide if the mouse is not in the area. It will automatically appear again if you move the mouse in the area of the taskbar. A user on the Donation Coder forum asked if there was a way to prevent this from happening and if it would be possible to display the Windows taskbar only when a key, the Windows key, is pressed instead. So, instead of having the taskbar appear automatically, the user wanted it to display manually only when the key is pressed.

Guess what. Ten hours after making the request Skrommel posted a reply in that thread with a link to a software that he had created that would do exactly what the thread starter wanted it to do. To be more precise Skrommel posted the Autohotkey code that can be used to make the Taskbar behave this way.

To sum it up again. This little piece of code hides the Windows Taskbar automatically and prevents it from showing up when the mouse is moved in the area it is usually displayed in.

The taskbar is only shown when you press the Windows key on the computer keyboard and hidden again when the key is released.

push to show

If you have not checked it out yet I suggest you do so. The Donation Coder forum is a excellent place to learn about new applications and ask for software advise. As you can see if it does not exist it could be that it will be created just for you.

Update: You can download Push to Show from Skrommel's home on the Donation Coder website so that you do not have to get to know Autohotkey at all to use it.

The main benefit of the program is that you can use the taskbar space for Windows without accidentally triggering the display of the taskbar when you move the mouse into that area.

The program is fully compatible with all recent versions of the Windows operating system including Windows 10 where we have tested it on recently.

Summary
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Author Rating
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1 based on 5 votes
Software Name
Push to Show
Operating System
Windows
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Comments

  1. Anonymous said on April 9, 2012 at 9:32 pm
    Reply

    The script would have been helpful…

    1. Marco said on January 9, 2016 at 4:27 pm
      Reply

      Hi, I downloaded and launched push to show, but the taskbar behave oddly: half of it is not visible and I cannot get to the tray. (Windows 10, Dell XPS 15 9550, all recent bios/drivers/sys updates) any clue?

  2. Barry Cleave said on March 20, 2008 at 8:29 pm
    Reply

    This reminded me of a small freeware utility that I have been using but is so unobtrusive I had almost forgotten it. The utility is TaskBar Activatewhose purpose is to delay the autohidden taskbar from showing when the mouse hits the edge of the screen.

    So dIid a quick review of TaskBar Activate for anyone who is interested at ProReviewer.

    Barry
    http://proreviewer.com

  3. Transcontinental said on March 19, 2008 at 11:17 pm
    Reply

    Martin you have the talent of finding those gems which enlighten a surfer’s life (or session at least!) – Thank U for this one more :)

  4. Mutant said on March 18, 2008 at 8:26 pm
    Reply

    Excellent Idea!
    A Must try App.
    Keep up Martin!

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