This is a full vertical sidebar, about 400–500px wide, with a profile header, a search bar, a list of recent chats, and a "Meet" button to start a video call. It uses the same acrylic/Mica material and dark/light theme support. The sidebar can be detached into a standalone window, which is unique among these seven panels.
For power users who want a truly persistent sidebar (e.g., system monitoring, RSS feeds, calendar, to-do list), third-party tools like , SideSlide , or AquaSnap can restore classic sidebar functionality. But within Windows 11 itself, these seven sidebars represent the operating system’s current philosophy: “Sidebars on demand, not always on top.”
Click the “Open in Teams” or detach icon (a pop-out arrow), and the sidebar becomes a floating, resizable window that can be placed anywhere, including permanently docked to the side of your screen. This effectively turns it into a true persistent sidebar for messaging. 7 sidebar windows 11
Perfect for multitaskers who want to treat their screen as a dashboard of side panels—e.g., email on left, browser center-right, Teams right sidebar. 5. Taskbar Overflow Menu (Right-Side Mini Sidebar) With Windows 11’s centered taskbar, many users complained about limited icon space. Microsoft reintroduced the Taskbar Overflow panel (similar to Windows 10’s system tray expansion). When your taskbar icons exceed available space, a chevron ( >> ) appears on the right side of the taskbar, which opens a compact vertical sidebar.
Writers, coders, and designers love this as a semi-persistent side tool. You can keep the clipboard history open while dragging content from it into documents—true sidebar functionality. This is a full vertical sidebar, about 400–500px
It doesn’t dock to screen edges natively, but you can manually place it at the side of your monitor. Third-party tools like Ditto or CopyQ offer more advanced persistent sidebars. 7. Microsoft Teams Chat Flyout (Taskbar Sidebar) Microsoft deeply integrated Teams (Chat) into Windows 11. Click the Teams chat icon on the taskbar (or press Win + C ) to open the Chat flyout , which slides out from the right edge of the screen—directly overlapping the Quick Settings/Notification Center area.
It behaves exactly like a secondary taskbar section. You can click any icon to launch or switch to that app, drag icons from the overflow into the main taskbar and vice versa, and even see progress bars (e.g., file downloads) on the icons within the overflow. It supports right-click context menus too. For power users who want a truly persistent sidebar (e
Though small, it is a true pop-out sidebar that solves screen real estate issues. For ultra-wide or laptop users with many pinned apps, this is a lifesaver. It’s also a great example of a minimal, on-demand sidebar.
Clicking the chevron opens a small floating panel (roughly 250–300px wide) that lists all overflowed app icons in a vertical list with their labels. It has a clean, modern look with rounded corners and an acrylic background. The panel disappears when clicking outside.
The Widgets board occupies roughly the left third to half of the screen, depending on display resolution. It has a semi-transparent acrylic background (Mica or similar), with a clean, card-based layout. At the top, there’s a search bar powered by Bing. Below that, a weather widget typically appears first, followed by news, stocks, traffic, sports, and other dynamic widgets.
The Widgets Board is the most direct replacement for the old Windows Sidebar. Accessed by clicking the Widgets icon on the taskbar (or pressing Win + W ), it slides out from the left edge of the screen as an overlay.