How to Hide Hover Cards for Inactive Apps on the Taskbar in Windows 11

With Windows 11, Microsoft introduced a lot of changes and features over the Windows 10 operating system. A lot of things were cleaned up, and new features were added to make Windows 11 a modern OS. The best part is that Microsoft has provided options to turn off features that you don’t like on Windows 11. One feature is the hover cards that pop up when you hover your mouse over them in the Taskbar. Thankfully, you can hide the hover cards for apps in the Taskbar.

While it may not be a big deal for some users, it could become quite annoying as it is much easier to hover over an inactive app by mistake. If you don’t like this feature, then you can disable the feature, which we will show you in this guide. Let’s jump right into it.

How to hide hover cards for inactive apps in the Taskbar?

When you hover your mouse on the inactive tabs in the Taskbar, you will see hover cards. When you click on these cards or hover your mouse over them, you will be given a preview of the app. This could lead to an accidental switch to unwanted apps, especially when you are working with multiple apps.

Here are the steps that you need to follow to hide hover cards for inactive apps in the Taskbar.

1. Open the Settings menu on your Windows 11 PC. You can press the Win+I key combo to open the Settings page directly, right-click on the Windows logo in the Taskbar, and select Settings, or you can press the Windows logo and open Settings from the app drawer.
2. In the Settings page, select Personalization from the left pane.
3. On the right side, scroll down and click on Taskbar.
4. Choose Taskbar behaviors.
5. Uncheck the Show hover cards for inactive and pinned taskbar apps option to disable the hover cards.

That’s it. Unchecking the above option gets rid of the hover cards for inactive apps in the Taskbar. If you have a change of heart, then you can check the option to bring back hover cards for inactive apps again. However, if the app is active and you have chosen the option to hide hover cards, you will continue to view thumbnail previews for that active app.

Join the Windows Insider Program

Notably, Microsoft is still testing out this feature, which is available through the Windows Insider Program. You will find this feature in Windows 11 OS build 22635.3930. Below are the steps to join the Windows Insider Program to test out new features as they are deployed for testing.

1. Open the Settings menu on your Windows 11 PC. You can press the Win+I key combo to open the Settings page directly, right-click on the Windows logo in the Taskbar and select Settings, or you can press the Windows logo and open Settings from the app drawer.
2. Select Windows Update from the left pane.
3. Click on Windows Insider Program on the right side.
4. If it asks you to turn on the optional diagnostic data, then click on Open Diagnostic & feedback.
5. Turn on the toggle for the Send optional diagnostic data option.
6. Go back to Windows Update > Windows Insider Program and select the blue Get Started button.
7. Click the Link an account button.
8. Sign in with your Microsoft account and press Continue.
9. In the Pick your Insider settings section, select the previews that you wish to test, including:
   • Dev Channel — Includes new features as soon as they’re ready
   • Beta Channel — Includes new features and enhancements expected for the next version of Windows 11
   • Release Preview Channel — Includes the final version of Windows 11
10. Select Confirm.
11. Agree to the terms and conditions by pressing Confirm.
12. Click the Restart button and let your PC reboot.
13. After restart, open Settings.
14. Head over to Windows Update and press the Check for updates button to get the latest preview build of Windows 11.

Even though the feature is under testing, it would be a nice option to have, considering it gives granular control over how things appear in the Taskbar. Let us know what you think about this option in the comments below and whether you would like to see this feature roll out in the stable update or not.