Taskbar/system tray suddenly changed to 3 rows. How do I get my one row taskbar back in Windows 7?

Question

I have Windows 7. My task bar( system tray in lower right corner) is unlocked but it will not let me drag it back into one row.

The problem is the clock: the first row is suddenly time(2:30PM), second row is the day of the week(Friday) and third row is the date(11/3/2017). I do not need the day of the week or the time, just the date.

How can I get all my icons back into one row? That three line clock drives me crazy, it makes my screen so small.

How do I remove the 3-rows with day of the week from Windows 7 taskbar to get only one row taskbar back?

Answer 1

The system tray does only give more information (on the clock etc) because it has the space to do so. Please understand that the system tray is part of the taskbar and as such will resize to whatever size the taskbar is.

What you need to do is ensure that the taskbar is unlocked (right-click and make sure there is no checkbox in front of "lock the taskbar". If so, click it, to remove the checkbox.

Now, hover the mouse to the edge of the taskbar that is not touching the edge of the screen (the taskbar touches the edge of the screen on 3 sides, and the desktop on 1 side, you want to find this last edge.)

The mouse cursor will change to a resize icon. Now drag and hold the left mouse button and move the mouse as far to the edge of the screen as possible, making it smaller. It will move in intervals because the taskbar has fixed widths. Just move it as far as you can until the taskbar has the desired size.

For the best results, drag the taskbar in its center.

You may need to reorder certain taskbar elements. You can do this by dragging the | beam at the very left of each taskbar section (if applicable)

Once done, lock the task bar again by right-clicking the bar and select Lock the taskbar.

Answer 2

Windows Taskbar sizing appears to get confused and won't go back to a single row in certain situations where you have used a customized toolbar folder and you have changed the taskbar position (such as to the left side of the screen) and then later want it back to the original (bottom) position with a single row. I found that windows won't necessarily restore it back to single row (with the dragging the edge) - it appears higher than a single row in pixel height. I found that by disabling my customized toolbars this forces windows back into alignment of a single row. This works for me consistently. I simply re-enable my custom toolbars after the single row correction.

Answer 3

The OP referred to Win 7, but it is still valid in Win 10. The Clock and Alarm app appears with that full text day of the week by default, but you can hide it and then use the global time and date Regional settings. To hide the "Day of the Week" you need to ensure that nothing in the entire Task Bar, visible or hidden, is demanding a third line. It is like a hidden carriage return making a table cell larger.

• As described in the answer by lpchip, ensure the Task Bar is unlocked and resize the Pinned and Active programs part of the task bar to obtain a single line. You may need to set small icons and disable show text temporarily.
• In the Task Bar, right click and disable any other toolbars like Links, Desktop, or Address.
• In the Task Bar right click and re-enable the Desktop Tool Bar.
• Right click Desktop Tool Bar, set small icons, and disable "Show Text" and "Show Title." The Task Bar should resize itself to accommodate the reduced height, and you can grab and drag it to move and resize. You can experiment with resizing the icons, with or without text, and as long as you keep the Task Bar contents to one line, the Clock's "second line" with the day of the week remains hidden, and the time and short date will be as you have them set in the Regions settings. I set my short day: ddd MM/d/yy so it appears as Tue 07/30/19. If you expand the Task Bar height, the redundant built-in day "Tuesday" will re-appear.