Windows 11 Taskbar Left: How to Align Icons or Move the Taskbar to the Left Side

To put the Windows 11 taskbar on the left, open Settings > Personalization > Taskbar, expand Taskbar behaviors and set Taskbar alignment to Left. That moves Start and your pinned apps to the left corner. Moving the whole bar to the left edge of the screen uses the new Taskbar position setting, which Microsoft began rolling out to regular Windows 11 PCs with the September 2026 update; the old StuckRects3 registry hack does not produce a working left-side taskbar.

This guide covers both meanings of "taskbar left": left-aligned icons, which every Windows 11 PC supports, and a vertical taskbar docked to the left side, plus what to do if your build does not have the option yet.

How to align Windows 11 taskbar icons to the left

Windows 11 centers the Start button and taskbar icons by default, and Taskbar alignment is the built-in switch that moves them to the left like in Windows 10. It works on every edition and version of Windows 11, takes effect immediately and needs no restart.

1. Right-click an empty area of the taskbar and select Taskbar settings. You can also press Windows+R, type ms-settings:taskbar and press Enter.
2. Scroll down and expand Taskbar behaviors.
3. Open the Taskbar alignment menu and choose Left.

Start, Search, Task View and your pinned apps now line up from the left corner, and the Start menu opens from the left as well. To undo it, pick Center in the same menu. Microsoft documents the option on its Customize the taskbar in Windows support page.

Taskbar behaviors also holds related options worth checking while you are there, such as Automatically hide the taskbar. If you want the clock and tray area tidied up too, see how to show all system tray icons in Windows 11.

How to move the Windows 11 taskbar to the left side of the screen

Moving the Windows 11 taskbar to the left edge, as a vertical bar, depends on a Taskbar position option that Microsoft added in 2026 after years of the taskbar being locked to the bottom. If your PC has it, the steps are short:

1. Open Settings > Personalization > Taskbar.
2. Expand Taskbar behaviors.
3. Find the taskbar position option next to Taskbar alignment and select Left. Top, Right and Bottom are the other choices.

Start, Search and other flyouts then open from the side the taskbar sits on, and you can still set icon alignment for the new position. Microsoft introduced the feature in the Windows Insider Experimental channel in May 2026 and brought it to the Beta channel on July 31, 2026. Release Preview builds 26100.9267 and 26200.9267 followed in August, and the setting reached stable Windows 11 versions 24H2 and 25H2 with the September 8, 2026 cumulative update (KB5124008).

Microsoft enables features like this gradually even after the update is installed, so two PCs on the same version can differ for a few weeks. If you do not see the option, install the latest updates from Settings > Windows Update, restart and check again.

Limitations of a left-side taskbar in Windows 11

A Windows 11 taskbar on the left works for launching and switching apps, but during the preview Microsoft listed several features that did not yet work in alternate positions. Check whether these still apply on your PC before you commit to a vertical layout:

• Auto-hide and the touch-optimized tablet taskbar are not supported when the taskbar is on the top or a side.
• The Search box appears as a search icon instead of a full box.
• Touch gestures and Ask Copilot in alternate locations are still in progress.
• The new Small taskbar size works only with the top and bottom positions.
• You cannot drag the taskbar to another edge, and you cannot set a different position per monitor; Microsoft says both are under evaluation.

If auto-hide is essential to you, a left-aligned taskbar at the bottom is the more complete option today. Users who want to change how the clock looks can also restore the full date and time format on the taskbar.

Does the StuckRects3 registry hack still work?

The StuckRects3 registry hack is not a working way to put the Windows 11 taskbar on the left. It edits a binary value named Settings under HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\StuckRects3 (MMStuckRects3 for additional monitors), where the fifth byte of the second row sets the edge: 00 left, 01 top, 02 right, 03 bottom.

Windows 10 honored all four values. In Windows 11, setting 00 or 02 leaves an empty bar on the side with only status icons such as network and volume, while apps and pinned icons disappear. That is why the earlier version of this article warned about functional limits, and it is the main reason to prefer the official setting.

If you tried the hack and your taskbar is broken, open the Registry Editor (Windows+R, regedit), return to the same Settings value, set the fifth byte of the second row back to 03 and click OK. Then open Task Manager with Ctrl+Shift+Esc, select Windows Explorer under Processes and choose Restart. Back up the key first with File > Export before you edit anything. Our guide on moving the taskbar to the top or side on Windows 11 covers the other positions.

Third-party tools for a vertical taskbar

Third-party taskbar tools are the remaining route to a left-side taskbar on Windows 11 builds that lack the Taskbar position setting. A Microsoft moderator on Microsoft Q&A named StartAllBack, ExplorerPatcher and the Vertical Taskbar for Windows 11 mod for Windhawk as options, while noting that Microsoft does not support them.

These tools replace or patch parts of the Windows shell, so keep a few rules in mind:

• Download only from the developer's official site or repository.
• Expect breakage after major Windows updates until the developer catches up.
• Uninstall the tool before you switch to the built-in Taskbar position setting, so the two do not conflict.

We looked at the customization options in ExplorerPatcher, which also restores a Windows 10 style taskbar and Start menu.

Taskbar alignment vs taskbar position

Taskbar alignment and taskbar position are two separate Windows 11 settings, and most "taskbar left" searches are answered by the first one.

FAQ

Related: change Windows 11 to the classic view, move the taskbar to the top or side, display all tray icons