How to make multiple files show vertically in the taskbar

Hey everyone,

I just got a new work computer and went from Windows 7 to Windows 10. Microsoft Excel used to automatically show multiple files in a vertical list when hovering over the icon in the taskbar. With the new computer, they are all shown with thumbnails horizontally which is terribly inconvenient. I've searched through the settings myself and have done some digging on multiple forums but am having trouble finding an answer. The only thing I found that looked promising appeared to need administrative access. This:

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\Advanced
Click on Advanced key. On menu, click Edit > New > DWORD (32 bit) Value

This is a picture of what I am stuck with now:
Taskbar.png


I want them back in the vertical list with no thumbnail and the whole file name shown.

If anybody could show me how to do this (ideally without administrative access) that would be greatly appreciated!

Thank you,
Cody

Originally Posted by alansidman

unfortunately, your image is so small, it is unreadable. Perhaps attaching it as a .jpg or .png might help instead of inserting. Click on the Go Advanced button in the reply window and scroll down to Manage Attachments.

The image is blurred to cover private info. It was only a picture of the horizontal thumbnails when hovering above the Excel icon.

Hopefully this will help make it more clear as well.

Here is a generic picture of what I have and what I do not want:
Thumbnail.jpg

This is what I want for Excel (and other programs, but Excel is the main one that I often have many different workbooks open):
Taskbar_list_mode.jpg

Thank you for your help

Originally Posted by alansidman

maybe your answer is here https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/...se-the-taskbar

Try right clicking your mouse on the item you want to have the Jump menu

Hmm, that definitely does work! Any way on making that the default for when hovering above the icon instead of having to right click?

Turns out right clicking doesn't work the way I want it to. First of all, the list is not wide enough to show the entire name of the document. And second, it's a list of recent documents which may include recently closed and may not include all open documents.

Taskbar list.png

Turns out once there are enough files open, a simple hover opens the vertical list like I want. I don't know why Microsoft changed this.

Originally Posted by alansidman

If that takes care of your original question, please select Thread Tools from the menu link above and mark this thread as SOLVED. Thanks.

Unfortunately, it doesn't really answer my question.

Originally Posted by alansidman

I believe that MS has redesigned how this operates. Suggest you make contact with them as it appears that the knowledgeable people of this forum have exhausted their knowledge on this issue. Your issue is an operating system issue and not an Excel issue. It is not unusual for MS to make changes to the operating system. What was once considered a normal operation is sometimes deleted in new versions of the software. I think that this is the case for your issue.

You're probably right. I'll go ahead and mark this solved. Thank you everybody for your help.

Originally Posted by Aardigspook

You mentioned a registry key in your first post, but it looks slightly different to what I see in these pages:
Win 7 (go to Option 2): https://www.sevenforums.com/tutorial...de-change.html
Win 10: https://www.tenforums.com/tutorials/...dows-10-a.html
If you don't have admin access on the computer you want to change, you might be able to try changing it on another computer, exporting the key to a .reg file, copying that to the computer you want, right-clicking on it and selecting 'Merge' - whether you can do this will depend on the system permissions.

Thank you, thank you, thank you! This worked! No more useless thumbnails for me!