Start11 2.5 has been released

Version

UI: 2.5

Start11Config.exe: 2.5.0.0

Platforms

Stardock and Steam

Changes

• NEW Adds experimental vertical taskbar support Windows 11 (23H2+ only)
  
• NEW Centred taskbar buttons mode in Win11 now works on > 2 monitor setups
  
• Fixed issue with dragging taskbar buttons to the left of the taskbar when centered
  
• Fix for DisplayFusion issue
  
• Tweaks for changing the size of taskbar icons etc
  
• Fixed an issue with Microsoft Loop and a resource leak
  
• Fix for position of jumplist on mixed vertical and nonvertical setups
  
• Fix for config having a nonfunctional indicator on the left causing an odd blank box
  
• Fixed 1 en-us localization issue
  
• Detection of 23H2 as we were detecting beta channel only
  
• Added UI options for icon size, button width, and height to advanced taskbar settings.  Only properly apply when not using OS autohide
  
• Fixed issue with Win+X menu going away when you mouseover a vertical taskbar
  
• Resolved issue with touch long press to get a right click not working on vertical taskbars for items
  
• Resolved flicker on custom start button when mouseover on a vertical taskbar
  
• Removed excess slider on advanced taskbar settings
  
• Fixed issue with Win+X menu appearing in the wrong location when taskbar is on the right depending on the screen scaling factor
  
• Resolved issue with on-top secondary taskbars causing a hang issue.
  
• Fixes for Directory Opus taskbar docked bars
  
• Added a registry key to make S11 on Win10 using center mode delay before updating : S11_DelayCentreUpdateWin10
  
• value in ms
  
• Registry location for values:
  HKEY_CURRENT_USER/Software/Stardock/Start8/Start8.ini/Start8
  
• Removed excess All apps item on Win10 all apps list
  
• Tweaked color of the taskbar when using color on the taskbar and also resolved accent color choice being wrong sometimes on the taskbar.
  
• Fixed Win10 style on vertical taskbars not correctly painting buttons for > 1 window open when in combine mode.
  
• Fixes issue with top aligned taskbar getting misaligned horizontally
  
• Fixes issue with combined mode taskbar buttons not performing correct action on click when having a monitor in negative coordinates and also not working for vertical taskbars on the left
  
• Fix for having a monitor with negative coordinates stopping combine mode window switch popup always showing when clicking on the taskbar.  Note that newer insider versions of Windows no longer support this and will switch between windows on click rather than show the popup.  This may be a bug in insiders and fix itself in the future
  
• Fix for juddering jumplist when on top and using a rounded taskbar.
  
• Fix for win+X menu when using on top and autohide having the submenu misaligned when not reserving one pixel for the taskbar.
  
• Fixed overflow taskbar system tray icons not showing correctly when not using enhanced taskbar but with a top of screen taskbar.
  
• Fix for top taskbar thumbs on insider
  
• Rounded taskbar settings no longer impact taskbar items on vertical taskbars
  
• Fix for thumbs on Windows Insider with autohide left aligned taskbar
  
• Fix for blank taskbar after rebooting or log off \ on
  
• Further login tweaks for vertical taskbars
  
• Fix for >2 monitor taskbar center mode
  
• Clock text on the vertical taskbars is made less small when wider
  
• Fixes some secondary monitor issues with autohide, vertical and screen workspace
  
• Fixes a case of no settings showing in search
  
• Removes - File explorer from taskbar buttons
  
• Resolved issue with clicking on pinned taskbar items in combined mode causing a new instance of the app to launch sometimes
  
• Resolved an issue found when fixing that to do with clicking doing nothing on newer OS builds sometimes if the thumbs window was open.
  
• Resolved thumbs placement issue with beta channel update
  
• Resolved jumplist not showing when taskbar is on top on secondary displays and now with enhanced taskbar off on primary too
  
• Removed hyphen from ‘Task Manager’ in the supported languages.

Today we released Start11 v2.5 with new features, a couple of enhancements and bug fixes as well. The update is rolling out now and you can check for an update by opening the configuration panel, clicking About, and searching for the update.

New with version 2.5 is the ability to use a vertical taskbar on Windows 11. The vertical taskbar can be placed on the left or right side of the display and functions just as you remember from previous versions of Windows where this configuration was supported. To enable the new taskbar experience, open the configuration panel, click Taskbar, scroll to the Taskbar position option and select you desired configuration.

Along with the new vertical taskbar support, centered taskbar buttons with a left aligned Start icon is now supported on more than two monitors (previously only two screens were supported). While support for two monitors covered the majority of our users, we wanted to make sure power-users who have many displays can utilize this layout as well.

In addition to the new functionality, several bugs are being squashed with this update. We have improved compatibility with the latest Insider builds of Windows 11 that we expect to be released in the coming months and with this release, Start11 v2 will be ready for those updates.

Vertical taskbars have been highly requested by our community and we are happy to finally check this feature off the backlog. If you have any requests for upcoming features or find any bugs that we missed in our testing, make sure to join our community here.