Store App Support?

[pa-0]

Does this work with Store apps? (UWP / WINUI)

I know that pretty much every other app like this is unable to hide those windows. Looking for something that can 😄

[alirezagsm]

For now it's explicitly ignoring UWP apps. I will look into it when I get the time 👍🏼

[alirezagsm]

So, I could get the UWPs to minimize to Tray and restore back but couldn't make them to disappear from Taskbar! I'll keep this issue open tho... maybe we'll find some kind of trick eventually

[J0-0H]

Hello @alirezagsm,

I came across your issue thread while working on a very similar problem: how to completely hide UWP/WinUI apps from the taskbar. I saw your update from March 7, where you noted that you could get UWP apps to minimize and restore, but couldn't make them disappear from the taskbar.

I was wondering if you've found a solution for this since then?

If not, I'd like to share an approach that I found works quite reliably. The solution is to combine the traditional hiding methods with Windows' virtual desktop functionality.

The core idea is:

First, apply the standard methods to hide the window (e.g., setting the WS_EX_TOOLWINDOW extended style and using ITaskbarList::DeleteTab). As you discovered, this is often not enough for modern UWP apps.
The crucial second step is to move the UWP window to a separate, dedicated virtual desktop. This is what effectively removes it from the main taskbar, as the taskbar only displays windows from the currently active desktop.

To implement this, my application uses the undocumented Virtual Desktop COM APIs (via a helper VirtualDesktopAccessor.dll) to find or create a "hidden" desktop, move the UWP window there when minimizing, and move it back to the original desktop when restoring. The hidden desktop can even be automatically removed when it's no longer in use.

I've implemented this logic in my own open-source tool for minimizing windows to the tray. If you're interested, you can check out the project and the implementation details here:

https://github.com/J0-0H/Window-To-Tray

The main logic can be found in WindowManager.cpp and VirtualDesktopManager.cpp. I hope this approach might be helpful for your project as well!

Best regards.😊😊

[alirezagsm]

Hey, thanks for the message 😊
I remember I didn't go down that path to avoid adding an entry to the Virtual Desktop switcher. Still, it might be the only practical way