no printer icon on taskbar

Hi Johne Nathanson,

Just so I’m clear about what you’re looking for, are you trying to have a permanent shortcut for a specific printer on the taskbar, or are you referring to the printer/print queue icon that normally appears while a document is printing? Those are two different things, so this will help narrow down whether something is actually missing or whether you’re running into the current taskbar behavior.

If you mean a permanent shortcut for a specific printer, Windows 11 doesn’t currently provide a straightforward built-in option to pin an individual printer directly to the taskbar. If your printer has its own companion app, you could pin that app to the taskbar instead by finding it in Start, right-clicking it and choosing Pin to taskbar. Otherwise, you can access the printer through Settings > Bluetooth & devices > Printers & scanners.

I also don’t want to speculate about why the previous behavior changed when there isn’t an official explanation available. If having a direct printer shortcut on the taskbar is important to you, I’d encourage submitting that feedback through the Feedback Hub, under Desktop environment > Taskbar. Feedback submitted there gives the Windows team a way to review requests and understand which features or changes users would like to see. While submitting feedback doesn’t guarantee that a particular feature will be changed or restored, it’s the appropriate place to make sure your suggestion is recorded for consideration in future Windows improvements.

Since this is a community support forum, so I don’t have access to internal product decisions or the ability to make changes to Windows features directly. I can, however, help check the current behavior and look for practical options that don’t require unsupported modifications.

If you can clarify which of the two printer icons you mean, I’ll be happy to point you in the most appropriate direction.