Hide all taskbar buttons globally (without removing windows from Alt+Tab)

[Projet-01]

Hi, I've set up a very minimal taskbar (just Start icon, tray, clock, wifi sound & battery : no labels, no other icons). My problem : when I open any app, it adds a button to the taskbar (the icon of the opened app), which pushes the Start icon to the left and ruins the minimal layout I built, overloading the taskbar with useless icons.

What I'd like : a way to stop an app's window from ever creating a taskbar button at all (icon in taskbar), while keeping that window fully usable and switchable via Alt+Tab, even when using it, meaning it NEVER pops in taskbar NO MATTER what.

I've tried 7+ Taskbar Tweaker (not compatible with Windows 11 24H2+) and the "Disable Taskbar Thumbnails" mod in WindHawk (only removes hover previews, not the button itself).

Before (what I have without any app open, what I want no matter what app is in use) :

After opening an app (what I don't want : note the Start icon shifted, and of course icons popped up in taskbar) :

Is this possible with the current Windows 11 taskbar, maybe using the same XAML diagnostics approach as the Taskbar Styler mod? Let me know if this is feasible ! Happy to give feedback on a screenshot or description if it helps, and thanks in advance to anyone who looks into this 🙏🙏🙏...

PS : I have done a search for similar discussions, found one from 18th sept of 2024 that talked about "Taskbar Styler", however, this mod doesn't fulfill this particular request...

[incconutwo]

hello, here is how to do it :
Open Windhawk and go to the settings of Windows 11 Taskbar Styler
Switch to Textual mode
Copy and paste the following rules under the controlStyles section:

controlStyles:
  - target: Taskbar.TaskListButton
    styles:
      - Visibility=Collapsed
      - Width=0
      - Height=0
  - target: Taskbar.TaskListLabeledButton
    styles:
      - Visibility=Collapsed
      - Width=0
      - Height=0

Click Save settings

[Projet-01]

THANK YOU SO MUCH, this is EXACTLY what I needed !! Just tested it and it works perfectly, taskbar buttons never appear, layout stays completely frozen no matter how many apps I open, and Alt + Tab still works totally normally. Genuinely didn't think this was possible after everything I tried before. You're a legend, really appreciate you taking the time to figure this out 🙏