Minimize iTunes to the Taskbar Instead of the System Tray
Since I’ve had to get used to using iTunes sometimes, because I own an iPod, I thought I would at least try to get along with iTunes. iTunes is just one of those programs that can be annoying at times.
I found this out when I realized there was a toolbar for the iTunes, but it just didn’t seem to work like Windows Media Player’s did. Was this a bug? Unfinished feature? I had no idea and eventualy just gave up.
If you don’t know about this feature and you have iTunes, right click on the taskbar and move your cursor to Toolbars and you’ll see in the list that appears, that iTunes is there. Click on it and try to use it. I’m going to assume that it won’t work for you either if you try to minimize iTunes.
It turns out that the feature does work, but because of a setting in iTunes, it won’t work, yet. You know how when you minimize iTunes and it automatically goes to the system tray? Well, that is the setting that is preventing the toolbar from appearing. You need to disable minimizing to the system tray in order for the toolbar to appear.
To disable this setting:
- Go to Edit>Preferences
- Select the Advanced tab
- Uncheck Minimize iTunes window to system tray
- Click OK
- Optional: If you don’t want the iTunes icon in the system tray when open, be sure to uncheck Show iTunes icon in system tray
Now minimize the iTunes window and the toolbar should appear in the taskbar.
Between Windows Media Player and iTunes, Windows Media Player definitely looks better in the taskbar, especially in Vista. But, for those times you need or want to use iTunes, this toolbar can be handy.
14 Responses to “Minimize iTunes to the Taskbar Instead of the System Tray”
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Barry O on January 26th, 2008
Dude, That is so cool! I had no idea iTunes would do that and I’ve been using it for years.
Thanks for the tip.
Anurag on June 29th, 2008
Thx dude…I actually wanted to minimize itunes to system tray….i now know how to do that cause I enabled what you told to disable.
I suggest even you do that..Get an add-on for Firefox called foxy tunes.Through that you can pause and play songs from any audio player through your web browser,thus life becomes easier.
Anurag on June 29th, 2008
sry….Thx bebe….
Alisha on June 29th, 2008
Thanks for the comment. Even though Firefox becomes more useful with add-ons, installing an add-on to Firefox to control music in iTunes is not very useful. It is just going to increase Firefox’s memory usage when the little amount of times I use iTunes, it can sit in the taskbar and still be seen for me to switch through songs.
I’m just not a fan of adding more to Firefox. I’m not even really a fan of Firefox. The only reason I had started using it from the beginning was for the tabs and website development.
shattakillah on November 30th, 2008
OMFG kewl ..i’m 16 i dont read just look at pics lol ..i saw the pic of when u turn it into the simple bottom player thing …i was like this is noo help then i saw the next pic and it works awsome
Sarah on December 17th, 2008
It still doesn’t work for me. On my old hard drive, it did this automatically, and now I can’t get it to work for the life of me. It is quite frustrating, especially since I am used to having it in the taskbar. Thanks for this anyway, though.
Sarah on December 17th, 2008
I figured out why, though. haha, thank goodness for google. You have to make sure the itunes toolbar is allowed on your taskbar. to do this, you right click on the taskbar, hover over “toolbars” and enable iTunes. pretty simple!
NayaBH on January 11th, 2009
Thank you so much. I’ve been trying for the longest to do this because after my mom updated the itunes again, i forgot how to. Thank you!!
Celestialwolf on February 25th, 2009
Something else I found useful for if you want to save screen space:
1. Minimize Itunes to the system tray
2. Install the Foxytunes add on in Firefox
3. Set the active player to Itunes
You can now control Itunes from the status bar while on the internet!
jessica on March 12th, 2009
hi.. i followed your every step.. however, no matter how many times i redo it, when i minimize itunes, it doesn’t come out as it supposed to be.. please help me.. thnx..:)
Michelle on March 22nd, 2009
Thank you! After my last update iTunes would not minimize to the taskbar anymore and I had no idea why, I guess the update defaulted my preferences. Thanks for your help!
Skb on April 10th, 2009
Thx Bro.. thanks a lot
jimmy-bob on October 10th, 2009
anyone know how to do this with RocketDock?
Alisha on December 18th, 2008
That step is in the post – you must have missed it. ;)