How do I reduce the size of the titlebar and window border padding on Windows 8 or Windows 10?

I think the size of the titlebars and the titlebar text are too large in Windows 8/8.1 and Windows 10.

Also, the window border padding cannot be adjusted like it could in Vista and Windows 7, as the dialogue box to do this has been removed.

Is there anything I can do to make them smaller?

paradroid

Posted 2012-08-15T14:43:02.433

Reputation: 20 970

For Windows 10 b1607 I explained the solution to adjust the title bar height here: http://superuser.com/a/1182456/582836

– Thorsten Albrecht – 2017-02-24T18:25:46.283

Answers

I think Microsoft must have made the titlebars larger to make them more easily draggable when using a touch interface, but they just use unnecessary vertical space on a normal desktop or laptop computer, especially if it has a low resolution screen. I also think it looks nicer when it is reduced in size a little.

The following registry .reg file will make the titlebar thinner, the titlebar text smaller, scroll bars thinner and the border padding as thin as possible.

This also works on Windows 10, but it does not affect WindowsRT/Metro/Modern/UWP/Whatever apps.

Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00

    [HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Control Panel\Desktop\WindowMetrics]
    "CaptionHeight"="-285"
    "CaptionWidth"="-285"
    "CaptionFont"=hex:f4,ff,ff,ff,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,90,01,00,00,\
      00,00,00,01,00,00,05,00,53,00,65,00,67,00,6f,00,65,00,20,00,55,00,49,00,00,\
      00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,\
      00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00
    "ScrollWidth"="-240"
    "ScrollHeight"="-240"
    "PaddedBorderWidth"="0"

Remember to export the WindowMetrics key before you start modifying it, just in case you need to revert to the defaults after having messed something up.

You need to log out and back in again to see the changes.

Before Before

After After

paradroid

Posted 2012-08-15T14:43:02.433

Reputation: 20 970

1On Windows XP and Windows 7 when this setting is changed through the Display properties, both "CaptionHeight" and "CaptionWidth" are set to the same value. So I would recommend adding "CaptionWidth"="-285" to the reg file before running it. Wonder why Windows 8.1 doesn't offer the user the ability to edit this? – AlainD – 2015-07-01T23:04:14.547

@AlainD Okay thanks, I've added that to my answer. – paradroid – 2015-07-02T22:24:59.243

The free Tiny Window Borders utility adjusts your borders without logging out or messing with *.reg files.

enter image description here

Leftium

Posted 2012-08-15T14:43:02.433

Reputation: 8 163

3Warning! This utility, or it's successor Winaero Tweaker, don't respect DPI. If you use a non-standard DPI or use scaling (e.g. high-res laptops), then these tools make everything look nice until you reboot. Then everything is twice the size (if you use 200%). – Mark Jeronimus – 2015-08-23T16:32:36.567

1I think Tiny Window Borders only affects the borders, which is still good, but does not affect the size of the title – Ajith Antony – 2014-02-03T22:34:01.573