Customize Your View: Get the Top Menu Bar on Windows 11 with Command Palette Dock.

Image: Windows

Finally, Windows 11 users are officially going to get a customization feature they have been demanding for a long time. Yes, you got it right! A persistent macOS-style top menu bar is coming to Windows. This new experimental feature is currently in development and available to users through GitHub, and it’s creating a massive buzz in the tech community.

Microsoft looks like it's finally giving the nod to bring a customized menu bar that you can pin at the top (famous on Mac or Linux), right, or left side. This new feature is currently in development under the name "Command Palette Dock" and is a part of the Microsoft PowerToys suite.

So, what does this mean for us? It means we can now easily say goodbye to third-party tools like Rainmeter or Droptop Four to replicate the utility of the Mac/Linux menu bar. The main aim here is to make this functionality completely native for Windows 11 customization lovers. While this new feature doesn't mean the native taskbar will be removed or replaced by this new Command Palette Dock, it does mean you might finally be able to auto-hide the main taskbar for a cleaner, more productive look.

Unlike the standard taskbar, which Windows 11 locks to the bottom of the screen, this new dock is a game-changer:

• Fully Movable: Pin it to the Top, Left, or Right edges, total freedom.
• Modular Design: It works as a container for PowerToys Run plugins.
• Productivity-Focused: It displays real-time data like CPU usage, memory pressure, and media controls without needing to open Task Manager. It brings that nostalgic, efficient feeling of Linux (GNOME/KDE) or Mac right to your PC.

The reason this new feature is going to be famous is simple: Users want a clean desktop aesthetic where the bottom taskbar is hidden, and critical tools live at the top, mimicking the efficiency of macOS and Linux environments.

How to Enable the Windows 11 Top Menu Bar (Preview)

As of late January 2026, this feature is in the "Proposal" and "Dev" stages on GitHub. It is not yet in the stable PowerToys release on the Microsoft Store. To test this feature before the general public, you must access the developer builds.

Step 1: Install Microsoft PowerToys (Preview)

If you haven't already, you need the latest build of PowerToys to get started.

• Go to the official Microsoft PowerToys GitHub repository.
• Download the latest UserSetup-x64.exe (look for "Pre-release" tags).
• Install and launch the app as Administrator.

Step 2: Access the Experimental Branch

The specific code for the Dock sits in the dev/migrie/f/powerdock branch.

• For Developers: You can build this branch from source using Visual Studio to run the Microsoft.CmdPal.UI project.
• For General Users: You must wait for the "Experimental Feature" toggle to appear in the Command Palette settings menu in the next public beta (expected February 2026).

Final Verdict: Should You Try It?

As this feature is just in its experimental phase, our best advice to you is to wait for some time until it is available to the general public, which is most probably in the upcoming updates. Currently, this requires a complex setup (unless you are a developer) and contains some bugs which will be solved when it comes to the general public.

But one thing is for sure: Windows 11 customization is about to get a whole lot better!