How to set custom taskbar orientation for multiple displays on Windows 10

The taskbar can be positioned on any side of the screen; top, bottom, left, or right. This is a long-standing feature on Windows, and you could change where the taskbar was positioned as early as Windows 7, possibly even before that. Windows 10 still has the feature; you can change where the taskbar is positioned from the taskbar. What the setting doesn’t give away is that you can set a custom taskbar orientation for multiple displays. You can position the taskbar at the top on one display, and at the bottom on the other. Here’s how.

Custom taskbar orientation for multiple displays

Right-click the taskbar and from the context menu, uncheck the ‘Lock the taskbars’ option. You will see a divider icon appear between the multitasking button and the pinned taskbar icons to indicate the taskbars are unlocked.

Once you’ve done that, you can change where the taskbars are oriented on each display. Go to the first display. Left-click and hold on the taskbar. Drag it to whichever edge of the screen you want to position it, and release the mouse. The system tray will also move with the taskbar because it is a part of it.

Repeat this for all other displays. You won’t have to unlock the taskbar for each display but you will need to click and drag the taskbars for each one. There are no rules to where a taskbar can and cannot be positioned in relation to the other displays. The position of the taskbar on one display is independent of the position of the taskbar on all other displays.

When you’r done, right-click the taskbar again, and select ‘Lock all taskbars’ from the context menu. This will make it so that you do not accidentally move the taskbar, and you do not accidentally resize it.

If you want to return the taskbars to their default position at the bottom of the screen, you can drag them to it after you unlock them. You can also just go to the Settings app and select Taskbar under the personalization group of settings and change the position from there. The dropdown will change where the taskbars are positioned across all displays. It’s this dropdown that makes users think the taskbars have to be positioned on the same side for all screen. It doesn’t have an option for setting the taskbar position on a per-display basis and that practically hides this feature. You’d have to be a long-time Windows user to know it exists.