How to Automatically Hide the Taskbar in Windows 11

While Windows 11 doesn't offer a setting to truly permanently hide the taskbar so it never appears, it provides an "automatically hide" feature. This makes the taskbar disappear from view until you move your mouse cursor to where it would normally be, effectively hiding it most of the time. Based on the provided reference, here's how to enable this setting:

You can easily configure the taskbar to hide itself automatically through the Windows 11 settings. This frees up screen space when you're not actively using the taskbar.

Accessing Taskbar Settings

The first step is to navigate to the personalization settings specifically for the taskbar.

• Right-click on an empty area of the taskbar itself.
• Select Taskbar settings from the context menu that appears. This will open the Settings app directly to the Taskbar section.

Alternatively, you can go through the main Settings app:

1. Open the Settings app (Windows key + I).
2. Select Personalization from the left-hand menu.
3. Scroll down and select Taskbar.

Enabling Automatic Hiding

Once you are in the Taskbar settings page:

• Scroll down to find the Taskbar behaviors section.
• Click or tap on Taskbar behaviors to expand the options within this section.
• Locate the option titled "Automatically hide the taskbar".
• Check the box next to this option.

| Step                         | Action                                     |
| :--------------------------- | :----------------------------------------- |
| 1. Open Settings             | Windows Key + I                            |
| 2. Go to Personalization     | Select 'Personalization'                   |
| 3. Select Taskbar            | Scroll down and select 'Taskbar'           |
| 4. Expand Behaviors          | Click 'Taskbar behaviors'                  |
| 5. Enable Auto-hide          | Check 'Automatically hide the taskbar' box |

Once checked, the taskbar will immediately disappear. It will reappear whenever you hover your mouse cursor over the area at the bottom of your screen where the taskbar is typically located. Unchecking this box will make the taskbar visible at all times again.

This method, while not making the taskbar permanently inaccessible, effectively hides it from your screen during normal use, which is often what users mean by wanting to "hide" it.