Microsoft is one of the most friendly operating systems used worldwide. Also, it provides a lot of features to use, among which one of the best things is the auto-hide option of the Taskbar. This option will automatically hide the Taskbar in Windows to let you take the full experience of the desktop. For instance, the Mail app will flash its Taskbar button when you receive a notification. Thus, when you can click that button to let the app know you’ve seen, then the Taskbar will hide again.

However, even being the perfect OS, it may sometimes come with certain technical glitches. So when you turn on the Auto-hide options of the Taskbar, it does not hide and thereby creates a problem. So, if you are here with the same problem Taskbar won’t go away in fullscreen, then you are in the right place. In this guide, we have discussed some of the probable causes that can lead to this problem as well as the solutions that you can try to solve the issue.

What Causes the taskbar won’t hide in fullscreen?

The Taskbar showing in fullscreen can occur probably in two cases:

  1. The first is when you have a place an icon of a new application or an actual icon change. Thus, it displays that the app needs you to check the notification and also your attention.
  2. Second, this case is very common in Windows 8 and its previous versions. When the app gets a notification, it keeps the tray open until you check the notification.

In some cases, the apps are designed in such a way that you have to check it or else it will not allow the Taskbar to hide thereby taking all the attention of yours. In other cases, some apps will not have any notification although it is not allowing the Taskbar to hide automatically. This turns worse when the app gets combined with the Windows ability to hide the system tray icon.

Reliable Steps to Fix Windows Taskbar not Hiding Issue:

Sometimes the issue gets fixed with a simple restart, however, if the simple restart does not solve the issue, then you can try the given below instructions one by one. Follow these till the end in order to solve Windows 10 Taskbar not hiding issue.

Recheck the Taskbar and Restart the Windows Explorer:

The first and easiest method that can fix the issue is to check the Taskbar Settings and then restarting the Windows File Explorer from the Task Manager.

Windows 8 or older version users: Right-Click on the Taskbar > Settings > Properties and click on the Auto-hide option of the Taskbar.

Windows 10 Users: Open the Settings menu > Personalization > Taskbar > Toggle on the “Automaticatically hide the taskbar in the desktop mode”.

Now, once you check that the Taskbar is in Auto-hide option but the taskbar won’t hide, then you try to restart the Explorer.

  • Press and hold Ctrl + Shift + Esc keys together to open the Task Manager. You can also right-click on the Taskbar. From there, you can click on the Task Manager (Windows 10).
  • Then on the Process tab, locate the Windows Explorer. Then right-click on it.
  • After that, click on the Restart option to restart the Windows Explorer.

In addition to that, you can use commands to kill and restart the Windows Explorer, which is quite easy.

  • Press and hold the Windows key + R to open the Run dialog box. Next, when the box opens, type “cmd” in the search box to open the Command Prompt.
  • Once the Command Prompt opens, type taskkill /im explorer.exe/f and hit the Enter button.
  • Then again, type explorer and thereby hit the Enter button.
  • Now, type exit and hit the Enter button.

Troubleshooting Steps on How to Hide Taskbar Windows 10:

After the above process is done, take the cursor and click anywhere but Task Manager. If the Auto-hide option is turned on, then the Task Manager will hide automatically under the Windows screen. 

Nextly, if the Taskbar is not hiding when you are clicking anywhere on the desktop or doing something, then you can try to verify the Preferences. Also, check whether they are still set to hide the Taskbar or not. As sometimes with new updates, the settings of the Preferences change. 

Whenever the system is updated, some of the settings might change to default settings. Therefore, Taskbar has moved to its default setting, thereby disabling the Auto-hide option.

Additional Procedures to Fix the Taskbar is not Hiding Issues:

With the above-said details, you are aware of the common reasons for the problem. Now, if the issue is not fixed after the troubleshooting method, then you have to check in more depths of the settings.

As mentioned in the above, some apps sometimes prevent the Auto-hide even when there is no notification just to take the attention of yours. If you cannot see any other application, then there can be applications that are hidden. So, to start the solution, you have to go to the Settings menu, then click in the Taskbar. Thereafter, you have to click on the “Select which icon appears on the taskbar” located under the Notification area.

Now, you have to make sure that you have checked the option “Always show all icons in the notification area”. This will ensure that the app that is preventing the taskbar from hiding will show on the top. Thus, this step is very important to follow.

Once the step is done successfully, you can find the app on the Taskbar on the top that is causing the issue. Now, simply right-click on the app and then find the Exit/Stop button to stop the application from running in the background. 

Once all the steps are done, now revert back the changes to “Always show all icons in the notification area” option. Now, you are all clean to go.

Conclusion

The auto-hide taskbar is one of the best features to let you have the full experience of the desktop. So if you were here with the query on how to hide taskbar in Windows 10, then your query is answered in the best way.