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I am looking to build an app that will live on the taskbar but needs to have an extended size (i.e. not just be a square icon). I know that these types of apps are extremely uncommon in the Windows world, but nonetheless, the search box on the taskbar in Windows 10/11 is the closest to what I need.

What API(s) does that search app use?

Is there another app out there (ideally open source) that does something similar?

Ruslan
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    See here https://stackoverflow.com/questions/74355530/is-it-possible-to-add-a-deskband-or-similar-to-the-notification-area-in-win-10 – Simon Mourier May 02 '23 at 17:46
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    Windows implements the taskbar and can put whatever it wants there. That doesn't mean there's a public API to add custom widgets. From a minute of searching, the closest I see is [Application Desktop Toolbars](https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/win32/shell/application-desktop-toolbars) – Paul Dempsey May 02 '23 at 17:55
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    The designers of the OS don't want you to do this, so it's worth pausing to consider that. – David Heffernan May 02 '23 at 18:49

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Up to Windows 7, apps can implement custom Deskbands directly on the Taskbar. However, that feature is deprecated after Windows 7 (also see Is it possible to add a DeskBand (or similar) to the Notification Area in Win 10/11?).

Going forward, Microsoft wants apps to use Thumbnail/Live Previews and Thumbnail Toolbars instead.

Remy Lebeau
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