Windows 11's taskbar is getting a dedicated emoji button

Microsoft appears to be working on new buttons for the tray area in Windows 11. The recently released build 22635.4580 in the Beta Channel contains a hidden emoji button that should make it easier for users to discover the emoji panel.

Windows 11 has a pretty powerful panel that provides access to emoji, GIFs, ASCII art, special symbols, and your clipboard history. However, not everyone knows about its existence, and Windows 11 does not provide any helpful insights into it (press Win + ; to launch the emoji panel). Microsoft wants to change that by offering the option to display the emoji panel in the tray area every time you type something.

If you are running the latest Windows 11 preview build from the Beta Channel, you can try the new button yourself. Here is how to do it:

1. Download ViveTool from GitHub and unpack the files in a convenient and easy-to-find folder.
2. Launch Command Prompt as Administrator and navigate to the folder containing the ViveTool files with the CD command. For example, if you have placed ViveTool in C:\Vive, type CD C:\Vive.
3. Type vivetool /enable /id:48504539 and press Enter.
4. Restart your computer.

After restarting your computer, launch the Settings app (Win + I) and go to Personalization > Taskbar > System tray icons and select the desired option from the "Emoji and more" drop-down. You can keep the button visible all the time, only when typing, or never.

In case you missed it, Microsoft is also working on more substantial changes for the tray area. Users recently noticed that the company had redesigned the battery indicator. The new version is larger and features better icons, more color, and other improvements over the current version in stable Windows 11 builds.

Source: @PantomOfEarth on X

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