Rearrange your taskbar with Taskbar Shuffle

Filed under: Utilities, Windows, Freeware

Rearrange your taskbar with Taskbar Shuffle

by Amber Rhea Oct 13th 2006

From the "Why didn't somebody think of this before?" files...

Taskbar Shuffle is a simple Windows utility that allows you to rearrange the order of your taskbar items by dragging and dropping. And now I'm wondering how I'm going to fill an entire post with info about Taskbar Shuffle, because there's not much more to say beyond that! It is refreshing in its simplicity. (I'm suddenly reminded of something one of my computer science professors once said about Unix programs... "Each program does only one specific thing, but it does that thing really well.")

Taskbar Shuffle is a free download and is compatible with Windows all the way back to 95. It kind of amazes me that Microsoft didn't include this functionality to begin with!

Tags: drag and drop, DragAndDrop, taskbar, Taskbar Shuffle, Taskbar Shuffle 2.0, TaskbarShuffle, TaskbarShuffle2.0, Windows taskbar, WindowsTaskbar

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)

Keith said 11:45AM on 10-13-2006

Thanks much, I actually have been thinking lately that something like this would be quite useful (not exactly nessecary, but it would generally help) when I'm using my PC for music production purposes. Switching between sequencers, the main modules, wave editors, mastering apps, ReWire clients... it help's if I have some next to the others that I frequently need to locate (some which share the same Icon and Name, but they are two seperate windows under the same program).

As you mentioned, should have been a Windows standard feature :P

Qwfwq said 11:47AM on 10-13-2006

Completely agree, this is a nifty little utility and I also find it puzzling that this functionality is not included in Windows from origin. It's incredible how such an important element of the Windows UI like the taskbar has merited so little attention from Microsoft. Even in Vista it seems like the only improvement made is the live thumbnails feature, which quite honestly doesn't sound all that useful. And it's a shame that instead of focusing in all that eye candy they didn't add some actually useful enhancements to the taskbar like the kind provided by Taskbar Shuffle or even Microsoft Research's GroupBar utility, which was also shown here on DLSQ a few months ago.

Sean said 11:47AM on 10-13-2006

I think that only people like Monk would really need this functionality.... is the fact that Outlook is the right of IE REALLY going to stop you from getting your work done?

Jim said 12:28PM on 10-13-2006

Count me in with the "I'd never use this, but why isn't it built in to Windows?" crowd.

Qwfwq said 12:28PM on 10-13-2006

@Sean
No it won't stop anyone from getting their work done, but when multitasking with a large number of windows running, I find that rearranging the taskbar buttons in an order other than the program opening sequence, so that it more closely reflects my needs can actually speed up the work. For example moving the button for a more frequently used window all the way to the left or moving the buttons for related windows closer together, I can instinctively reach for their position in the taskbar and switch between them much more quickly than I would if I had to look for them.
But then again, I enjoy watching Monk so that might be it :-)

I mentioned previously the live thumbnails in Vista, so if there's someone that actually finds them very useful, but doesn't want to jump right into Vista, you can also have them in Windows XP with either of these two free utilities: Visual Tooltip (http://chsalmon.club.fr/indexEng.html) or Visual Task Tips (http://www.visualtasktips.com/).
Just thought it was worth mentioning in case anyone was interested.

Johnny Talker said 12:43PM on 10-13-2006

Some Japanese guy did think of this before.
http://hp.vector.co.jp/authors/VA013430/program/taskbarpp/main.html
I use that. Sometimes my programs get rearranged for some reason, if there is a resolution switch or i turn tv-out on/off for example, and i need my total commander first in line.

Mysterius said 1:09PM on 10-13-2006

Taskbar Shuffle can also automatically place windows from the same program next to each other, like Window's grouping, but not group them into one button. I find that really useful, since I most of my rearranging would be to place similar windows together, and this does that for me.

airboarder said 9:02PM on 10-13-2006

I've been wanting this feature for YEARS. I one of those nerds that opens programs in a specific order just cause I want to organize them on the taskbar. THANK GOD and listen up M$.

Judge said 9:02PM on 10-13-2006

So, no one's mentioned the optional "close windows with middle click a la Firefox tabs" functionality yet?

Qwfwq said 9:02PM on 10-13-2006

@Judge,
Yes, that would probably also be a nice addition.

Fletcher said 9:03PM on 10-13-2006

As a religious download squad reader I would just like to bring up the point that this was posted in May

http://www.downloadsquad.com/2006/05/15/three-productivity-boosters-for-windows/

Mysterius said 9:04PM on 10-13-2006

@Qwfwq: Taskbar Shuffle already does it. :)

Qwfwq said 9:04PM on 10-13-2006

@Mysterius & @Judge,
Thanks guys, I was still using an older version of Taskbar Shuffle and didn't know about "middle-click" feat - should pay more attention to the updates! This is great news, TS keeps getting better and better.
Hey mr. Bill Gates, if you are reading this, before you leave , do us a favor and hire the author of this app, Jay Elaraj I think is his name - Vista needs him.

Jackal said 8:48AM on 10-14-2006

come on...i use "Taskbar Organizer" for years
next time just google little bit..

Amber Rhea said 11:37PM on 10-15-2006

Fletcher,

Actually, Taskbar Shuffle was previously mentioned as part of a post about several different Windows utilities. It was also an earlier version. My editor wouldn't have let me post this if it were a repeat.

Qwfwq said 11:37PM on 10-15-2006

@Jackal

"come on...i use "Taskbar Organizer" for years
next time just google little bit.."

Fight, fight, fight...
Just kidding.
I also tried Taskbar Organizer a few years ago, but I think that it's development has ceased for quite some time hasn't it?
Anyway, there are a few more utilites of this kind like the previously mentioned Taskbar++, TaskbarEx, TaskArrange, Mike Lin's Taskbar Commander, and I'm sure there must be others. I've actually tested some of these (in the true spirit of DLSQ) and found Taskbar shuffle tobe the best. Try it.

And before you ask, I have to affiliation to the author of this utility, and take no commision from it :-)

Jackal said 11:38PM on 10-15-2006

hey Qwfwq

my reaction was only to "From the "Why didn't somebody think of this before?" files..."

i actually think this feature (organizing the task bar) should be a part of the os', no offense all you developers.. :)

Grimbus said 11:38PM on 10-15-2006

So how is this thing on overhead/resource usage? I'd like to use it but it wouldn't be worth it to me if it's going to have any impact at all on the rest of my machine's performance.
For what it's worth, I'd love it if every program mentioned here got some comment on its "weight". When I see "lightweight and very useful", I'm on it like white on rice, but if there's no mention, I'm pretty slow to check it out.
Anyone with me?

Grmbs

Sanjay Goel said 6:29PM on 10-20-2006

I used Taskbar Commander for this. Can be found at http://www.mlin.net/other.shtml
Just a simple 17kb file with no installation required. Though it has a bad habit of rearranging the taskbar in alphabetical order as soon as it starts.

Fred said 3:22PM on 10-29-2006

A very good idea! Just the other day I was thinking how to ease the somtimes confusing order of my taskbars. And now here is the answer. A lot have probably thought about it too but like me, just shrugged their shoulders and left it to the pros. Deceptively simple idea for a simple problem yes. Actually it wasn't considered a problem in the first place anyway.

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