Aspire IT Guide

5 Windows 11 Productivity Wins

Five recent Windows 11 features that genuinely save your team time — including the long-awaited ability to move the taskbar off the bottom of the screen.

Brought to you by Aspire IT Services Ltd · Salford, Greater Manchester

1

Move the Taskbar — Top, Left, Right or Bottom

One of the most-requested Windows 11 features is back. The ability to move the taskbar — removed at launch in 2021 — ships in the Windows 11 26H2 update later this year. It's already available to testers on Insider Preview Build 26300.8493 (Experimental Channel).

How (once your build supports it):

  1. Settings → Personalisation → Taskbar.
  2. Select Taskbar behaviours.
  3. Pick your position from Taskbar position on screen (Top / Bottom / Left / Right).

The same update adds finer icon alignment controls and a new smaller taskbar mode.

Why it matters: moving the taskbar to the side can recover meaningful vertical screen space — a real win for anyone working with long documents or vertical monitors.
2

File Explorer Tabs — Stop Drowning in Windows

File Explorer now supports tabs, just like your browser. Press Win + E to open File Explorer, then Ctrl + T to open a new tab.

Ctrl + W closes a tab. Ctrl + Tab cycles between them. Drag files between tabs to copy — hold Shift to move.

Why it matters: one File Explorer window with five tabs replaces five windows cluttering your taskbar. Cleaner, faster, less ALT-Tab fatigue.
3

Focus Sessions — Silence the Noise

Set a dedicated chunk of time where Windows silences non-essential notifications, badges and taskbar flashes. Optional integration with Spotify and Microsoft To Do for background music and tasks.

How:

  • Settings → System → Focus → set duration.
  • Or click the bell icon (bottom-right) → pick a Focus duration.
  • Quick toggle for Do Not Disturb: Win + Alt + K.
Why it matters: even one undisturbed 25-min block per morning usually beats the two surrounding hours of constant interruptions for real, finished work.
4

Phone Link — Your Mobile on Your PC

Phone Link connects your Android or iPhone to your Windows machine. Texts, recent photos, phone calls and (on some Androids) full app mirroring — all on your PC screen.

How:

  • On Windows: open Phone Link (already installed).
  • On your phone: install Link to Windows from the App Store / Play Store.
  • Sign in to the same Microsoft account on both.
Why it matters: replying to texts from a real keyboard is faster than on a phone. Phone-camera photos land instantly on your PC for emails and documents. No more "where's my phone" dance.
5

Clipboard History — Copy More Than One Thing

By default Windows only remembers the most recent thing you copied. Turn on Clipboard History and it remembers the last 25 items, with the option to pin items so they're always available.

How:

  • Press Win + V. First time, accept the prompt to turn the feature on.
  • Anything you copy now appears in the Win + V history. Click to paste; click the pin icon to keep permanently.
  • Optional: enable sync via a Microsoft account so your clipboard follows you between machines.
Why it matters: pin your email signature, your VAT number, common addresses, regularly-used phrases — they're a Win+V away forever.

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