This scenario doesn’t really happen in Windows 10 because notifications go away on their own and you can view them later in Action Center. These are obviously easy to close as well, or you can customize the notifications to not display. This often causes the taskbar to stay visible until you dismiss the message. The second case happens mostly in Windows 8 and earlier versions when a notification balloon pops up.
For example, the Slack app displays a small red dot on its regular icon to let you know when you’ve received a new message. The first is when you have a badge on the icon-or an actual icon change-indicating the app needs your attention. In this case, you can simply click that taskbar button to let the app know you’ve seen what it needs you to see and the taskbar will hide again.įor background apps that have an icon in the system tray, two separate actions can cause your taskbar to stick around. For example, the Skype app will flash its taskbar button when you receive a new call.
For regular apps, this usually means the app’s taskbar button starts flashing at you. When you’re using the auto-hide feature for the Windows taskbar, it will stay hidden until an application needs your attention. What Causes the Taskbar to Not Auto-Hide?