Security News > 2023 > September > Windows 11's new ‘Never Combine’ icons feature is almost usable
The combine taskbar items feature in Windows 10 allows you to show an icon for every open application in Windows, even if they are multiple instances of the same application.
If you have ten instances of Notepad or a few browser windows open, the feature will allow you to see an icon on the taskbar for each open Windows rather than combining it into a single application icon.
This frustration is reflected in the Windows 11 Feedback Hub, where a suggestion to never combine app icons and show labels has received 17,527 upvotes, making it the 10th most requested feature.
Once installed, Windows 11 users can now access a new 'Combine taskbar buttons and hide labels' setting under Settings > Personalize > Taskbar that lets you ungroup icons for multiple instances of running applications.
A simple toggle to disable the showing of Windows titles could have been added, or Microsoft could have replicated the Windows 10 feature many of us requested.
Sadly, this may be a deal breaker for Windows 10 users waiting to upgrade, as the icons with windows titles just take up too much space to make this feature usable.