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How to show hidden tray icons in Windows 11

Windows 11 lets you choose which tray icons stay visible in Taskbar settings. Glassline lets you pin your chosen icons to its menu bar at the top of the screen and drag them into your own order. The rest stay in Control Center.

2 min read

Choose icons in Windows Settings

  1. Open Windows Settings. Choose Personalization, then Taskbar.
  2. Expand Other system tray icons. Find the apps whose tray icons you want to keep visible.
  3. Turn on their switches. Those icons appear in the system tray. Leave the others off to keep them in the overflow area.

This changes which app icons are visible in the Windows taskbar's system tray.

Pin an icon in Glassline

Glassline puts your apps' tray icons under Other controls in Control Center. You can pin the ones you check often to the menu bar, beside the other status icons.

  1. Install Glassline from the Microsoft Store. Open it to get the menu bar at the top of the screen and the dock at the bottom.
  2. Click the clock, then Controls. Control Center opens. Find your apps' tray icons under Other controls.
  3. Rest the pointer on an icon. Its pin appears. Keep the pointer there long enough to find it.
  4. Click its pin. The icon moves to the menu bar. Press Esc to close Control Center and see it along the top edge.

Start with one icon you use often. You can leave the other icons in Control Center and return there whenever you need them.

Choose icons in Settings

  1. Right-click the menu bar. Choose Glassline Settings to open the app's settings.
  2. Open Menu Bar, then Icons. Choose which tray icons you want in the bar.

This is another way to make the same choice. Use it when you want to choose several icons together. You can also pin an individual icon directly from Other controls while Control Center is open.

Put icons in order

  1. Drag a pinned icon along the menu bar. Drop it where you want it in the row.
  2. Move the next icon. Keep dragging until the pinned icons are in the order you want.

Keep the icons you look at most beside one another. Pinning chooses what stays in view; dragging chooses where each icon sits. The remaining tray icons stay together under Other controls in Control Center.

Try it right now

The home page is a working Glassline. Move over its dock, click its menu bar, open Search and Control Center.

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