From this sidebar, you can start a chat, share a file, join a meeting, or manage contacts. It shows presence indicators (available, busy, away) and integrates with your Microsoft account (personal or work/school). Notifications from Teams appear in the Notification Center, but the sidebar gives full conversation access without opening the main Teams app.
This panel appears from the right edge, showing brightness slider, volume, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, airplane mode, battery saver, focus assist, Nearby Sharing, and accessibility toggles. Below these, there is a settings gear icon and a media playback control. It is roughly 300-400px wide. The panel uses acrylic blur and matches the system accent color. It’s designed for fast hardware/network toggles without opening the full Settings app. 7 sidebar windows 11
Users can add, remove, resize, and customize widgets from a built-in gallery. Widgets connect to Microsoft Start, Outlook, Calendar, To Do, and third-party apps (e.g., Spotify, Phone Link). The board adapts to user interests, showing personalized news headlines alongside interactive data like stock tickers or local traffic incidents. From this sidebar, you can start a chat,
Together, these function as the primary right-side control center—essentially two sidebars in one gesture zone. Ideal for quickly adjusting system settings, responding to messages, and checking the date. 3. Search Flyout (Center-Lower Sidebar) While not strictly a sidebar (it drops down from the taskbar), the Search panel in Windows 11 behaves like a floating sidebar with side-anchored behavior. Click the magnifying glass on the taskbar or press Win + S to open it. This panel appears from the right edge, showing
The panel provides an immediate search experience across local files, apps, settings, and web results (via Bing). It also shows trending searches and personalized recommendations based on your usage. Unlike the old Start menu search in Windows 10, this one is more spacious and card-based.
Select a layout zone, and the current window snaps into that zone. Then Windows 11 suggests filling the remaining zones with other open windows via “Snap Assist,” which appears as another small sidebar on the remaining screen area. Once a snap group is created, hovering over any window in that group on the taskbar shows the entire group as a thumbnail sidebar.
The board stays open until clicked away, making it semi-persistent. It does not pin to the desktop permanently (unlike old gadgets), but it can be opened on top of any app. You can rearrange widgets by dragging. The panel also respects system theme settings (light/dark mode).