Top 9 Fixes for Windows 10 Taskbar Not Hiding in Fullscreen

Using fullscreen mode in Windows 10 is simple. You don’t want any distractions and want to focus on the thing in front of you. People usually go for fullscreen mode while playing games or watching videos. You can do both the activities inside your favorite browser like Chrome, or some video player like VLC on your PC. However, it is a sore sight for the eyes when Taskbar is not hiding in fullscreen, especially when you are streaming content or gaming.

Several users are facing this issue where the taskbar is not hiding in fullscreen mode. That ruins the experience, especially when you can see all those icons with constant notifications that make them blink. In either case, we don’t want that.

Let’s see how we can resolve the Windows 10 taskbar not hiding in fullscreen error.

1. Update and Restart Windows

Make sure your PC is running the latest version of Windows. Press Windows Key+I to open Settings and click on Update & Security.

If there is an update, you should see it there or you can fetch it manually by clicking on Check for updates button. If there are any, I suggest you to install the updates immediately and then try the fullscreen mode again to see if the taskbar hides or not.

2. Try Autohide

Windows 10 provides a lot of ways to personalize your PC, and one of them is the ability to hide the taskbar automatically when you are not using it. This means the taskbar will only reveal itself when you hover the mouse pointer at the bottom of the screen. Here’s how the desktop appears when the taskbar is hidden.

To do this, open Settings by pressing Windows Key+I and click on Personalization.

Select Taskbar in the left windowpane and toggle the Automatically hide the taskbar in desktop mode option on. Now, hover your mouse at the bottom of the screen to reveal it on any window. If you are using the tablet mode, there is a separate option for that.

Check if you can still see the taskbar in fullscreen mode while watching videos or playing games on your computer. You can also access the taskbar settings quickly by right-clicking on the taskbar and selecting Taskbar Settings.

3. Use F11 Keyboard Shortcut

If you are looking for a quick solution, here is a simple trick. Simply press the F11 key on your keyboard, and the window of the app you’re using will go into fullscreen mode immediately.

The F11 shortcut works on all Windows versions. So if you have VLC and File Explorer open, both will go fullscreen hiding the taskbar. On some keyboards (especially laptops), you will have to press Fn+F11 keys. It depends on your keyboard layout and the make and model of your PC.

Note: If you are curious, F stands for function, and you can change the functions key

4. Notification Badges

When you receive a notification, a badge appears on the respective app’s icon. Ideally, this shouldn’t affect the fullscreen mode. But sometimes, it unhides the taskbar. Quite often, if you check the notification and close it, the taskbar will hide again in fullscreen mode, but that is not always the case.

Windows 10 has solved the said problem with the Action Center, but the error still pops up often. You can also try restarting the app that sent the notification to check if that works. If you find a particular app that is frequently causing this problem, try reinstalling it to see if the problem goes away. Or, you can turn off notifications for the said app.

5. Restart Windows Explorer

Restarting Windows Explorer is a lot faster than restarting Windows 10. It takes a few moments but can solve the taskbar not hiding error in Windows 10. Right-click on the taskbar and select Task Manager. You can also try the CTRL+SHIFT+ESC shortcut.

Scroll a little to find Windows Explorer under the Apps column. Right-click on it and select Restart. When you do that, your windows will disappear momentarily, and some apps will shut down. That’s fine. Windows Explorer provides a GUI (graphical user interface) to help us navigate and interact with the filesystem of Windows.

Another way to do that without entering the Task Manager is to press and hold the CTRL+SHIFT keys and right-clicking on the taskbar. You should now see a new option at the bottom named Exit Explorer.

6. Chrome: Uncheck Hardware Acceleration

The taskbar seems to be giving trouble to the Chrome users too. While watching a YouTube video in fullscreen, do you see the taskbar? If yes, here are a few solutions. Open Chrome’s menu and click on Settings.

Scroll to the bottom of the screen and click on Advanced.

Under the System heading, uncheck ‘Use hardware acceleration when available’ option. You will be asked to relaunch Chrome.

Check if Taskbar is hiding in fullscreen now on your Windows computer.

7. Chrome: Use Canary or Other Browser

Chrome is an excellent browser but not without flaws. If the problem persists and you realize it to be Chrome specific, maybe it is time to check out alternatives. Canary is a browser by Google meant for developers and early adopters. It is known to pack a few bugs but it works fine most of the time.

If you can do away with Chrome, there are some compelling alternatives like Firefox, Safari, and Opera. Do give them a shot.

Download Chrome Canary

8. Reset Chrome

In a last attempt to hide the taskbar on Chrome browser in fullscreen mode, you may reset your browser to restore it to the original settings. Open Settings on Chrome again and click on Advanced at the bottom like you did in the 6th step. Under Reset and clean up, select Restore settings to their original defaults.

Click on Reset settings in the next pop-up. That will reset all settings that you may have changed after installing Chrome. You can always set them back.

9. Keyboard Shortcut – Quick Fix

Have you tried the F11 keyboard shortcut? This is a temporary solution that will hide the Taskbar on Windows 10 OS. Pressing it again will bring it back, but that means you won’t see the Taskbar even when you switch to browser or File Explorer view. Sometimes, while gaming, we use other apps like Discord or YouTube. You won’t view the Taskbar even then, but it should give you worry-free gaming and streaming experience.

Watch Peacefully

Distractions can be annoying and not being able to do something about it can be even more frustrating. Thankfully, there are ways to solve the taskbar not hiding issue in Windows 10. Let us know which one worked or if you found a new solution.

Next up: Is your Windows 10 PC running too slow? Here are 4 ways to make it run faster.