Windows 11 Will Now Display Widget Notifications On Your Taskbar

Microsoft has started rolling out a new taskbar notification feature to all users running Windows 11 that enables alerts to appear in the widgets button. The alerts consist of severe weather warnings, stock market changes and breaking news.

While the weather widget returned to Windows 11 earlier this year, it has largely been a static feature that mainly displays a sunny icon when the weather is good and an umbrella icon when it’s raining. That’s all changing as I speak as Microsoft is now adding live animations for notifications on this taskbar widget.

The new functionality arrives in the form of a store update for the Windows Web Experience Pack that powers Microsoft’s widget system which is normally updated automatically via Windows Update, but users can manually search for the update by heading to the Microsoft Store app and selecting “Get Updates.“

How does it work? 

So the taskbar will continue displaying weather most of the time but will change from time to time to other widgets when something important happens. If the user does not interact with these notifications, the taskbar will return to showing the weather forecast as Microsoft explains in a support article.

Getting to see these new widget notifications however will take a few days or weeks because the company rolls out new features gradually, not to all customers at once. So if you don’t have it yet, don’t worry. 

What I think is a bit of a bummer for users is, Microsoft doesn’t seem to offer a way to easily turn off these notifications without outright disabling the widgets button on the taskbar.

Adding live weather information on the taskbar is pretty useful, especially when you’re on the lookout for thunderstorms and any other elements of mother nature you’d rather avoid. Seeing it nevertheless being replaced by stock alerts or sports updates can be quite the distraction for some folks, especially if you’re in the middle of a meeting or an actively engaging activity such as preparing a presentation on Powerpoint even though you choose to ignore the notifications.

Bottom line, widget notifications are a fine addition to the existing Windows 11 capabilities although many users such as myself agree that Windows Widgets needs more polishing up. 

More system updates for Windows 11 are on the way

The Washington state-based tech multinational is currently gearing up to release its next major OS update of Windows 11 rumored to launch on September 20th, known as Version 22H2. 

The upcoming software update includes new app folders in the Start menu, new touch gestures among many others.