One such customization option that Microsoft gives in Windows is choosing whether your Start menu, taskbar, or other menus appear to be solid (opaque), translucent, or fully transparent. That said, you cannot natively control the transparency of these items. In this article, we show you both native and non-native methods for Windows that allow you to control your taskbar’s transparency.
How to Make Taskbar Transparent in Windows 11, 10
The screenshots and steps given in this guide are from Windows 11, but the methods discussed are valid for both Windows 11 and 10.
How to Make Taskbar Transparent in Windows 11, 10 Make Taskbar Transparent from the Settings App Make Taskbar Transparent from Windows Registry Make Taskbar Transparent using Third-Party Applications TranslucentTB TaskbarTools ClassicShell Closing Words
Make Taskbar Transparent from the Settings App
You can enable or disable taskbar transparency by toggling a simple switch from the Settings app in Windows. Here is how: You will immediately notice that the taskbar will now become translucent. If you wish to switch off the feature, simply toggle the slider again into the Off position. Furthermore, you can also add an overlay of the accent color to the taskbar to give it a slight shade of a color of your choice. To do so, on the Colors Settings page, toggle the slider in front of “Show accent colors on Start and taskbar” into the On position. Microsoft has also given you the option to manage your taskbar’s transparency from the Accessibility menu in the Settings app. It controls the same option as on the Colors Settings page, which means a change on one page will change the settings on the other. To enable or disable the taskbar’s transparency effect through the Accessibility Settings page, navigate to the following: Toggle the slider in front of Transparency effects into the On or Off state to enable or disable the effect, respectively.
Make Taskbar Transparent from Windows Registry
You can also enable or disable your taskbar’s transparency effect using the Windows Registry. Here is how: Changing the Value Data for “EnableTransparency” will immediately change the taskbar, as you may have already noticed. Therefore, a reboot of your system is not required. You can also use our top selection of disk imaging and backup software so you never lose your data or operating system again. This will enable the transparency effect in the taskbar. If you want to disable the effect, change the Value Data for “Enable Transparency” to “0”. Note that making changes to the taskbar’s transparency from the Registry Editor will not negate the option from the Settings app. The transparency effect will still be manageable from Settings.
Make Taskbar Transparent using Third-Party Applications
Using the native Windows option to enable or disable the transparency effect gives you no room to manage the taskbar’s opacity. This can be overcome by using third-party applications. We have discussed a few of them here.
TranslucentTB
TranslucentTB is a UWP app available for Windows through Microsoft Store. Using this app, you can manage your taskbar’s opacity in both Windows 10 and 11. Follow the steps below to download, install, and use TranslucentTB: You can now choose to customize your taskbar, amongst other things. The Microsoft Store app will now launch with the TranslucentTB page open.
TaskbarTools
TaskbarTools is another free-to-use portable tool that will customize your taskbar for you, created by a developer on GitHub. Unlike TranslucentTB, you can manage the opacity of the taskbar using a slider, adjusting it just how you like it. Follow the steps below to download, run, and use taskbarTools to customize your taskbar:
ClassicShell
ClassicShell allows you to customize your Windows with some old, classic Windows themes. It also provides the option to personalize the taskbar, including its opacity. Use the steps below to download, install, and use the app to make your taskbar transparent: You will now notice that the configurations you made for the tool have taken effect. You now have a personalized taskbar, even more than what Windows offers natively. Once installed, the app will run automatically.
Closing Words
There are other applications available on the internet that perform the same tasks as the ones we have discussed in this post. However, we found that they either have a few glitches or are paid applications. So why pay for something you could achieve for free? Feel free to explore third-party applications and see what else they offer to configure in a Windows environment.
