Revamp Your Windows 8 Experience: Unleash The Power of Taskbar Thumbnails With This Ultimate Guide!

Windows 8 has been around for quite some time now, and with its release came a whole bunch of new features and improvements. Among these, taskbar thumbnails have become a crucial feature for users who want to boost productivity and multi-task more efficiently. In this article, we will explore the many ways in which you can revamp your Windows 8 experience by unleashing the power of taskbar thumbnails.

What are taskbar thumbnails?

Taskbar thumbnails are a feature of Windows 8 that allow you to preview open applications by hovering over their respective icons in the taskbar. This eliminates the need to switch back and forth between applications, as you can easily see what is happening within each program right from the taskbar.

Customizing your thumbnail preview size

By default, taskbar thumbnails are set to a relatively small size, which may not be ideal for users who need to see more detail. Fortunately, you can easily adjust the size of your thumbnail previews to better suit your needs.

To do this, right-click on an empty area of your taskbar and select “Properties”. In the window that appears, click on the “Taskbar” tab, and look for the “Taskbar buttons” section. From here, select the drop-down menu next to “Combine taskbar buttons” and choose “Never”. This will allow you to see all open windows as separate thumbnails.

To adjust the thumbnail size, simply hover your mouse over a thumbnail and use the scroll wheel to zoom in or out. Alternatively, hold down the Ctrl key and use your mouse wheel to adjust the thumbnail size.

Using Aero Peek

Aero Peek is another feature of Windows 8 that works hand-in-hand with taskbar thumbnails. It allows you to quickly preview the contents of a window without actually having to open it.

To use Aero Peek, simply hover your mouse over a thumbnail preview until it goes translucent, revealing the contents of the window beneath. If you need to see more detail, simply move your mouse pointer over the preview until it goes opaque again.

Managing thumbnail preview behavior

If you find that your taskbar thumbnails are getting in the way or are causing distractions, you can easily customize their behavior to suit your preferences. To do this, head back to the “Taskbar” tab in the Taskbar and Navigation Properties window.

From here, look for the “Taskbar buttons” section once again. This time, choose the drop-down menu next to “Combine taskbar buttons” and select either “When taskbar is full” or “Always, hide labels” to keep your taskbar neat and tidy.

You can also choose to completely disable taskbar thumbnails by selecting “Never combine” instead. However, keep in mind that this may limit your productivity in the long run.

Conclusion

Taskbar thumbnails are a powerful feature of Windows 8 that can greatly enhance your experience with the operating system. By tweaking their size and behaviour, you can customize your taskbar to better suit your needs and increase your productivity. So why not give taskbar thumbnails a try and see how they can improve your Windows 8 experience today?

How often do you use the Windows 8 taskbar thumbnails? If you use them regularly, you may not be 100% happy with the way they look; you may want to tweak their size, margins, spacing, etc.

If this sounds like you, I’m going to show you how to do all that to your Windows 8 taskbar thumbnails in a matter of minutes, via a free application called Taskbar Thumbnails Tuner.

Here’s what you’ll need to do to modify your taskbar thumbnails.

  1. Download the application from the Winaero website, unzip the folder, and run the exe file; it’s a portable application, so you can add it to a USB flash drive and run it from any computer.

  2. The Taskbar Thumbnails Tuner window will display. It’s a small options window with two tabs: general and margins.

  3. Under the General tab, you can tweak your taskbar thumbnail images as desired. For instance, you may want to change the thumbnail sizes; you can make them as large as 500px.

  4. Each feature is fairly self-explanatory, you can:

  • Change the amount of horizontal spacing between thumbnails
  • Add a shorter or longer delay for displaying images
  • Change the number of maximum thumbnails allowed in a group
  • Change the vertical spacing between thumbnails
  • Change the text position – move it up or down
  • Totaly disable taskbar thumbnails altogether

  1. Under the Margins tab, you can change the top, bottom, left, and right margins.

  2. When you’re done, just click on the “Apply” button to see your changes; you’ll of course need to scroll your mouse over an open application on the Windows taskbar, to display the thumbnails.

The Taskbar Thumbnails Tuner provides some subtle, yet useful options. It may take some trial and error to get your Windows 8 taskbar thumbnails just the way you want them, but it will be worth it once you’re done.

Note: For those of you that are still using Windows 7, you’ll be happy to know that this application will work for you as well.

Charnita has been a Freelance Writer & Professional Blogger since 2008. As an early adopter she loves trying out new apps and services. As a Windows, Mac, Linux and iOS user, she has a great love for bleeding edge technology. You can connect with her on Facebook, Twitter, Google+, and LinkedIn.

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