Solved Taskbar button height

alienglow

New Member
Hi Guys,

My Setup: Vista Home Basic 32Bit
Recently I downloaded a visual style Black by ~dimage on deviantART which I later removed as I didn't quite like it. The one thing I liked about the visual style is it had smaller taskbar button height. I have reverted back to the vista default visual style but wanted to know if its possible to reduce the button height using some advanced appearane setting or registry hack. I googled a lot and found this Change taskbar program button size which allows to change the button width not height. Can anyone please help. I have a screenshot of the buttons here, the left one is vista default visual style and the right with the custom visual style.



Thanks in advance,

Alienglow
 
Last edited by a moderator:

My Computer

My Computer

System One

  • CPU
    Q6600
    Motherboard
    MSI P36 NEO2
    Memory
    4GB 5-5-5-12
    Graphics Card(s)
    8800GTS 512Mb Overclocked
    Sound Card
    5.1 surround sound
    Hard Drives
    500Gb Samsung SATAII XP
    500GB Samsung SATAII
    PSU
    1000W CoolerMaster power supply
    Case
    CoolerMaster Cosmos 1000 case
    Cooling
    120mm ThermalTake Big Typhoon CPU cooler, 3 x 120mm exhaust
    Keyboard
    Wireless Keyboard and mouse 3000
    Other Info
    1TB WD My Book Office edition external drive x 2, Dual layer LG DVD-Rom burner,
    15 in 1 card reader
    Triple boot: XP, Vista Ultimate 64 and Windows 7 Ultimate 64
Hello Alienglow, and welcome to Vista Forums.

You can use the Advanced Appearance settings to change the item Caption Buttons size (step 6A) to a larger number (step 6B) to accomplish this.

Hope this helps,
Shawn
 

My Computers

System One System Two

  • Operating System
    Windows 10 Pro 64-bit
    Manufacturer/Model
    Custom
    CPU
    Intel i7-8700K 5 GHz
    Motherboard
    ASUS ROG Maximus XI Formula Z390
    Memory
    64 GB (4x16GB) G.SKILL TridentZ RGB DDR4 3600 MHz (F4-3600C18D-32GTZR)
    Graphics Card(s)
    ASUS ROG-STRIX-GTX1080TI-O11G-GAMING
    Sound Card
    Integrated Digital Audio (S/PDIF)
    Monitor(s) Displays
    2 x Samsung Odyssey G7 27"
    Screen Resolution
    2560x1440
    Hard Drives
    1TB Samsung 990 PRO M.2,
    4TB Samsung 990 PRO PRO M.2,
    8TB WD MyCloudEX2Ultra NAS
    PSU
    Seasonic Prime Titanium 850W
    Case
    Thermaltake Core P3
    Cooling
    Corsair Hydro H115i
    Keyboard
    Logitech wireless K800
    Mouse
    Logitech MX Master 3
    Internet Speed
    1 Gb/s Download and 35 Mb/s Upload
    Other Info
    Logitech Z625 speaker system,
    Logitech BRIO 4K Pro webcam,
    HP Color LaserJet Pro MFP M477fdn,
    APC SMART-UPS RT 1000 XL - SURT1000XLI,
    Galaxy S23 Plus phone
  • Operating System
    Windows 10 Pro
    Manufacturer/Model
    HP Envy Y0F94AV
    CPU
    i7-7500U @ 2.70 GHz
    Memory
    16 GB DDR4-2133
    Graphics card(s)
    NVIDIA GeForce 940MX
    Sound Card
    Conexant ISST Audio
    Monitor(s) Displays
    17.3" UHD IPS touch
    Screen Resolution
    3480 x 2160
    Hard Drives
    512 GB M.2 SSD
Hello Alienglow, and welcome to Vista Forums.

You can use the Advanced Appearance settings to change the item Caption Buttons size (step 6A) to a larger number (step 6B) to accomplish this.

Hope this helps,
Shawn

Sorry but this didn't work either. The height of the taskbar button remained the same, although the size of the icon on it did change. Any other suggestions or is this something which has to be done using a custom msstyle and cannot be tweaked by itself.

Thanks,
Alienglow
 

My Computer

Sorry AlienGlow. To make the taskbar taller or wider to help make them bigger also, you will just need to unlock the taskbar and drag it to the size you like and lock it again.

Hope this helps,
Shawn
 

My Computers

System One System Two

  • Operating System
    Windows 10 Pro 64-bit
    Manufacturer/Model
    Custom
    CPU
    Intel i7-8700K 5 GHz
    Motherboard
    ASUS ROG Maximus XI Formula Z390
    Memory
    64 GB (4x16GB) G.SKILL TridentZ RGB DDR4 3600 MHz (F4-3600C18D-32GTZR)
    Graphics Card(s)
    ASUS ROG-STRIX-GTX1080TI-O11G-GAMING
    Sound Card
    Integrated Digital Audio (S/PDIF)
    Monitor(s) Displays
    2 x Samsung Odyssey G7 27"
    Screen Resolution
    2560x1440
    Hard Drives
    1TB Samsung 990 PRO M.2,
    4TB Samsung 990 PRO PRO M.2,
    8TB WD MyCloudEX2Ultra NAS
    PSU
    Seasonic Prime Titanium 850W
    Case
    Thermaltake Core P3
    Cooling
    Corsair Hydro H115i
    Keyboard
    Logitech wireless K800
    Mouse
    Logitech MX Master 3
    Internet Speed
    1 Gb/s Download and 35 Mb/s Upload
    Other Info
    Logitech Z625 speaker system,
    Logitech BRIO 4K Pro webcam,
    HP Color LaserJet Pro MFP M477fdn,
    APC SMART-UPS RT 1000 XL - SURT1000XLI,
    Galaxy S23 Plus phone
  • Operating System
    Windows 10 Pro
    Manufacturer/Model
    HP Envy Y0F94AV
    CPU
    i7-7500U @ 2.70 GHz
    Memory
    16 GB DDR4-2133
    Graphics card(s)
    NVIDIA GeForce 940MX
    Sound Card
    Conexant ISST Audio
    Monitor(s) Displays
    17.3" UHD IPS touch
    Screen Resolution
    3480 x 2160
    Hard Drives
    512 GB M.2 SSD
Hi Guys,

My Setup: Vista Home Basic 32Bit
Recently I downloaded a visual style Black by ~dimage on deviantART which I later removed as I didn't quite like it. The one thing I liked about the visual style is it had smaller taskbar button height. I have reverted back to the vista default visual style but wanted to know if its possible to reduce the button height using some advanced appearane setting or registry hack. I googled a lot and found this Change taskbar program button size which allows to change the button width not height. Can anyone please help. I have a screenshot of the buttons here, the left one is vista default visual style and the right with the custom visual style.



Thanks in advance,

Alienglow


Hi alienglow,

When you say "taskbar buttons" do you mean the icons on the taskbar? Your link to your screenshot doesn't work. Have you thought of auto hiding the taskbar itself?
 

My Computer

System One

  • Manufacturer/Model
    Airbot 2.0
    CPU
    Core i7 920 (D0) @ 4Ghz, 26c idle- 65c full load on air
    Motherboard
    Asus P6X58D Premium -Sata 6Gb/s - USB 3.0
    Memory
    12GB Corsair Dominator -CMD12GX3M6A1600C8
    Graphics Card(s)
    EVGA Nvidia GTX 480 -Fermi
    Sound Card
    ASUS Xonar D2X
    Monitor(s) Displays
    LG 24" Flatron W2453V-PF Full HD 1080p 2ms response time
    Screen Resolution
    1920x1080@60hz
    Hard Drives
    1 OCZ Vertex2 180GB SSD
    1 TB Samsung Spinpoint F1 7200RPM 32MB cache
    2 500GB WD Caviar Blacks 7200RPM 32MB cache (WD5001AALS)

    Pioneer DVD Burner DVR-S18M
    PSU
    Corsair HX1000W
    Case
    Cooler Master HAF 932
    Cooling
    Case Fans -3 230mm, 1 140mm/CPU - Tuniq Tower 120 Extreme
    Keyboard
    Logitech Wireless MK700
    Mouse
    Logitech Wireless MK700
    Internet Speed
    100 MBPS DL 30.17Mbps UL 0.98Mbps
    Other Info
    Windows 7
    Processor-7.7 RAM- 7.9 Graphics-7.9 Gaming Graphics- 7.9 HDD- 7.8

    W.E.I final score= 7.7

    Windows Vista=5.9
The taskbar itself. If anyone looks at the link the OP posted in the first post, it is evident that the taskbar is thinner there than in a standard Vista install.

@alienglow - As for fixing that in 'standard' Vista, I do not think it is possible without some serious resource editing, or else hacking the native Vista style. What you could do is to reinstall that theme, and then revert all your icons and such back to the normal Vista style, thereby getting a hybrid of your thinner taskbar and the rest of your Vista style.
 

My Computers

System One System Two

  • Operating System
    Windows 10 Pro X64 Insider Preview (Skip Ahead) latest build
    Manufacturer/Model
    The Beast Model V (homebrew)
    CPU
    Intel Core i7 965 EE @ 3.6 GHz
    Motherboard
    eVGA X58 Classified 3 (141-GT-E770-A1)
    Memory
    3 * Mushkin 998981 Redline Enhanced triple channel DDR3 4 GB CL7 DDR3 1600 MHz (PC3-12800)
    Graphics Card(s)
    eVGA GeForce GTX 970 SSC ACX 2.0 (04G-P4-3979-KB)
    Sound Card
    Realtek HD Audio (onboard)
    Monitor(s) Displays
    2 * Lenovo LT2323pwA Widescreeen
    Screen Resolution
    2 * 1920 x 1080
    Hard Drives
    SanDisk Ultra SDSSDHII-960G-G25 960 GB SATA III SSD (System)
    Crucial MX100 CT256MX100SSD1 256GB SATA III SSD (User Tree)
    2 * Seagate Barracuda 7200.12 ST31000528AS 1TB 7200 RPM SATA II Mech. HD
    Seagate ST1500DL001-9VT15L Barracuda 7200.12 1.5 TB S
    PSU
    Thermaltake Black Widow TX TR2 850W 80+ Bronze Semi-Mod ATX
    Case
    ThermalTake Level 10 GT (Black)
    Cooling
    Corsair H100 (CPU, dual 140 mm fans on radiator) + Air (2 *
    Keyboard
    Logitech G15 (gen 2)
    Mouse
    Logitech MX Master (shared)
    Internet Speed
    AT&T Lightspeed Gigabit duplex
  • Operating System
    Sabayon Linux (current, weekly updates, 5.1.x kernel)
    Manufacturer/Model
    Lenovo ThinkPad E545
    CPU
    AMD A6-5350M APU
    Motherboard
    Lenovo
    Memory
    8 GB
    Graphics card(s)
    Radeon HD (Embedded)
    Sound Card
    Conextant 20671 SmartAudio HD
    Monitor(s) Displays
    Lenovo 15" Matte
    Screen Resolution
    1680 * 1050
    Hard Drives
    INTEL Cherryvill 520 Series SSDSC2CW180A 180 GB SSD
    PSU
    Lenovo
    Case
    Lenovo
    Cooling
    Lenovo
    Mouse
    Logitech MX Master (shared) | Synaptics TouchPad
    Keyboard
    Lenovo
    Internet Speed
    AT&T LightSpeed Gigabit Duplex
If you want a thicker taskbar, do what BRINK said (always do what he says) and all the icons in it will fill up (get taller) with the widened taskbar. Make sure, as BRINK said, the taskbar is unlocked before it can react to your arrow placed on top edge of taskbar. You know taskbar is ready to be dragged up when arrow morphs to a two headed arrow.

And always lock taskbar when done ...or you can accidentally misplace/displace it all over the screen.
 

My Computer

System One

  • Manufacturer/Model
    HP Pavilion dv7-1170us
    CPU
    Intel Core 2 Duo T5800 @ 2.00GHz
    Motherboard
    Compal
    Memory
    4.096
    Graphics Card(s)
    NVIDIA GeForce 9600M GT
    Screen Resolution
    1440 x 900
    Hard Drives
    289.09 GB
    Keyboard
    IBM enhanced (101-or 102) keyboard
    Mouse
    Synaptics PS/2 Port TouchPad
    Internet Speed
    cable Wireless
Hi Guys,

My Setup: Vista Home Basic 32Bit
Recently I downloaded a visual style Black by ~dimage on deviantART which I later removed as I didn't quite like it. The one thing I liked about the visual style is it had smaller taskbar button height. I have reverted back to the vista default visual style but wanted to know if its possible to reduce the button height using some advanced appearane setting or registry hack. I googled a lot and found this Change taskbar program button size which allows to change the button width not height. Can anyone please help. I have a screenshot of the buttons here, the left one is vista default visual style and the right with the custom visual style.



Thanks in advance,

Alienglow

Not thicker, OK?
 

My Computers

System One System Two

  • Operating System
    Windows 10 Pro X64 Insider Preview (Skip Ahead) latest build
    Manufacturer/Model
    The Beast Model V (homebrew)
    CPU
    Intel Core i7 965 EE @ 3.6 GHz
    Motherboard
    eVGA X58 Classified 3 (141-GT-E770-A1)
    Memory
    3 * Mushkin 998981 Redline Enhanced triple channel DDR3 4 GB CL7 DDR3 1600 MHz (PC3-12800)
    Graphics Card(s)
    eVGA GeForce GTX 970 SSC ACX 2.0 (04G-P4-3979-KB)
    Sound Card
    Realtek HD Audio (onboard)
    Monitor(s) Displays
    2 * Lenovo LT2323pwA Widescreeen
    Screen Resolution
    2 * 1920 x 1080
    Hard Drives
    SanDisk Ultra SDSSDHII-960G-G25 960 GB SATA III SSD (System)
    Crucial MX100 CT256MX100SSD1 256GB SATA III SSD (User Tree)
    2 * Seagate Barracuda 7200.12 ST31000528AS 1TB 7200 RPM SATA II Mech. HD
    Seagate ST1500DL001-9VT15L Barracuda 7200.12 1.5 TB S
    PSU
    Thermaltake Black Widow TX TR2 850W 80+ Bronze Semi-Mod ATX
    Case
    ThermalTake Level 10 GT (Black)
    Cooling
    Corsair H100 (CPU, dual 140 mm fans on radiator) + Air (2 *
    Keyboard
    Logitech G15 (gen 2)
    Mouse
    Logitech MX Master (shared)
    Internet Speed
    AT&T Lightspeed Gigabit duplex
  • Operating System
    Sabayon Linux (current, weekly updates, 5.1.x kernel)
    Manufacturer/Model
    Lenovo ThinkPad E545
    CPU
    AMD A6-5350M APU
    Motherboard
    Lenovo
    Memory
    8 GB
    Graphics card(s)
    Radeon HD (Embedded)
    Sound Card
    Conextant 20671 SmartAudio HD
    Monitor(s) Displays
    Lenovo 15" Matte
    Screen Resolution
    1680 * 1050
    Hard Drives
    INTEL Cherryvill 520 Series SSDSC2CW180A 180 GB SSD
    PSU
    Lenovo
    Case
    Lenovo
    Cooling
    Lenovo
    Mouse
    Logitech MX Master (shared) | Synaptics TouchPad
    Keyboard
    Lenovo
    Internet Speed
    AT&T LightSpeed Gigabit Duplex
Oh, ok, then just do the opposite....drag it down.
 

My Computer

System One

  • Manufacturer/Model
    HP Pavilion dv7-1170us
    CPU
    Intel Core 2 Duo T5800 @ 2.00GHz
    Motherboard
    Compal
    Memory
    4.096
    Graphics Card(s)
    NVIDIA GeForce 9600M GT
    Screen Resolution
    1440 x 900
    Hard Drives
    289.09 GB
    Keyboard
    IBM enhanced (101-or 102) keyboard
    Mouse
    Synaptics PS/2 Port TouchPad
    Internet Speed
    cable Wireless
It won't drag down smaller than the default size, which is larger than the size used by that theme.
 

My Computers

System One System Two

  • Operating System
    Windows 10 Pro X64 Insider Preview (Skip Ahead) latest build
    Manufacturer/Model
    The Beast Model V (homebrew)
    CPU
    Intel Core i7 965 EE @ 3.6 GHz
    Motherboard
    eVGA X58 Classified 3 (141-GT-E770-A1)
    Memory
    3 * Mushkin 998981 Redline Enhanced triple channel DDR3 4 GB CL7 DDR3 1600 MHz (PC3-12800)
    Graphics Card(s)
    eVGA GeForce GTX 970 SSC ACX 2.0 (04G-P4-3979-KB)
    Sound Card
    Realtek HD Audio (onboard)
    Monitor(s) Displays
    2 * Lenovo LT2323pwA Widescreeen
    Screen Resolution
    2 * 1920 x 1080
    Hard Drives
    SanDisk Ultra SDSSDHII-960G-G25 960 GB SATA III SSD (System)
    Crucial MX100 CT256MX100SSD1 256GB SATA III SSD (User Tree)
    2 * Seagate Barracuda 7200.12 ST31000528AS 1TB 7200 RPM SATA II Mech. HD
    Seagate ST1500DL001-9VT15L Barracuda 7200.12 1.5 TB S
    PSU
    Thermaltake Black Widow TX TR2 850W 80+ Bronze Semi-Mod ATX
    Case
    ThermalTake Level 10 GT (Black)
    Cooling
    Corsair H100 (CPU, dual 140 mm fans on radiator) + Air (2 *
    Keyboard
    Logitech G15 (gen 2)
    Mouse
    Logitech MX Master (shared)
    Internet Speed
    AT&T Lightspeed Gigabit duplex
  • Operating System
    Sabayon Linux (current, weekly updates, 5.1.x kernel)
    Manufacturer/Model
    Lenovo ThinkPad E545
    CPU
    AMD A6-5350M APU
    Motherboard
    Lenovo
    Memory
    8 GB
    Graphics card(s)
    Radeon HD (Embedded)
    Sound Card
    Conextant 20671 SmartAudio HD
    Monitor(s) Displays
    Lenovo 15" Matte
    Screen Resolution
    1680 * 1050
    Hard Drives
    INTEL Cherryvill 520 Series SSDSC2CW180A 180 GB SSD
    PSU
    Lenovo
    Case
    Lenovo
    Cooling
    Lenovo
    Mouse
    Logitech MX Master (shared) | Synaptics TouchPad
    Keyboard
    Lenovo
    Internet Speed
    AT&T LightSpeed Gigabit Duplex
The taskbar itself. If anyone looks at the link the OP posted in the first post, it is evident that the taskbar is thinner there than in a standard Vista install.

@alienglow - As for fixing that in 'standard' Vista, I do not think it is possible without some serious resource editing, or else hacking the native Vista style. What you could do is to reinstall that theme, and then revert all your icons and such back to the normal Vista style, thereby getting a hybrid of your thinner taskbar and the rest of your Vista style.

Thanks everyone for your responses. Johngalt has understood my problem correctly. I basically need a thinner (height) taskbar. I don't like icon grouping and I like to have atleast three rows of taskbar icons. Problem is I have a widescreen laptop and vertical area as it is is less, and with a 3 row taskbar, I hardly get left with any area for my appliactions. With the stlyesheet I mentioned I could have 3 rows in roughly the same height as the default Vista uses for 2 rows. Guess there isn't a simple fix. Will keep you guys poseted incase I come across any.

Thanks again. And yes, here is the screenshot again
 

My Computer

Thanks for the update alienglow. Glad you found a solution.
 

My Computer

System One

  • Manufacturer/Model
    Airbot 2.0
    CPU
    Core i7 920 (D0) @ 4Ghz, 26c idle- 65c full load on air
    Motherboard
    Asus P6X58D Premium -Sata 6Gb/s - USB 3.0
    Memory
    12GB Corsair Dominator -CMD12GX3M6A1600C8
    Graphics Card(s)
    EVGA Nvidia GTX 480 -Fermi
    Sound Card
    ASUS Xonar D2X
    Monitor(s) Displays
    LG 24" Flatron W2453V-PF Full HD 1080p 2ms response time
    Screen Resolution
    1920x1080@60hz
    Hard Drives
    1 OCZ Vertex2 180GB SSD
    1 TB Samsung Spinpoint F1 7200RPM 32MB cache
    2 500GB WD Caviar Blacks 7200RPM 32MB cache (WD5001AALS)

    Pioneer DVD Burner DVR-S18M
    PSU
    Corsair HX1000W
    Case
    Cooler Master HAF 932
    Cooling
    Case Fans -3 230mm, 1 140mm/CPU - Tuniq Tower 120 Extreme
    Keyboard
    Logitech Wireless MK700
    Mouse
    Logitech Wireless MK700
    Internet Speed
    100 MBPS DL 30.17Mbps UL 0.98Mbps
    Other Info
    Windows 7
    Processor-7.7 RAM- 7.9 Graphics-7.9 Gaming Graphics- 7.9 HDD- 7.8

    W.E.I final score= 7.7

    Windows Vista=5.9
Back
Top