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Taskbar -> Right Click not Focusing Opened App

When opening a program via the taskbar by Right Clicking on it and choosing New Window, the opened program will not gain focus automatically.

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By. Jacob

Edited: 2022-02-04 16:26

There is a problem in Windows 10 and 11 that causes Apps and Programs not to be focused if they are opened via right click on the Taskbar. The problem happens both when clicking New Incognito window or New InPrivate Window and New Window context menu options; left-clicking does not suffer from this problem.

People are sporadically discussing the bug various places on the internet.

Affected Apps:

  1. Google Chrome
  2. Edge
  3. Brave

FireFox is not affected on my system, and the only difference seems to be that FireFox does not give me the option to open a New Private window when right-clicking on the icon in the taskbar. However, others have reported that the problem also effects FireFox.

Expected behavior:

The opened program is supposed to gain focus automatically so that people can start typing right away.

Discussions of this issue

1. Here the problem is mentioned on answers.microsoft.com: Opening a browser app on the taskbar through the "task" submenu (right click) doesn't focus the app.

This user even thinks the problem has persisted since the Windows 10 October 2020 Update, which is a very long time if true — more than a year in fact!

2. And here on Microsoft's GitHub for the Terminal app: Unable to immediately start typing after starting new window from context menu #179; and again here: Terminal window not receiving focus if started via right mouse button menu in taskbar.

3. Users on tenforums.com are discussing uninstalling Edge might be a solution, which I tried, but it does not work for me: Browser (Edge & Firefox) loses focus when opening through taskbar.

Solution

The problem appears to be partly solvable by updating to Windows 11, but unfortunately, doing that might introduce its own set of problems, and I am still having problems with some programs even after upgrading to Windows 11. Often it boils down to a choice between pest and cholera.

As usual Microsoft will not respect the users choice and personal settings.

If you had your taskbar to the left or right side, which is nice on 16:9 screens, updating will move your taskbar back at the bottom, without even asking for your permission, and you will not be able to move it back since this simple thing is not supported in Windows 11. There is a registry hack to move it to the top, however.

It is quite amazing how many issues I have in Windows compared to Linux; when I use Linux, at least things just work as you configure them to. Sigh!

Issue with search in Windows 11

If you open a browser by hitting win ⊞, search for the browser name, and hit enter, the Window does not gain focus when opened. Perhaps it is a separate issue, but I think it could be related.

Links

  1. Opening a browser app on the taskbar through the "task" submenu (right click) doesn't focus the app - answers.microsoft.com
  2. Browser (Edge & Firefox) loses focus when opening through taskbar - tenforums.com
  3. Terminal window not receiving focus if started via right mouse button menu in taskbar - github.com

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