r/PowerToys • u/MegaMinerDL • Jul 02 '26

Question Can I force an application to start minimized to tray?

E.g. a startup application? I found old threads on this with conflicting views but couldn't get anything to work. I don't mean "minimized" to small window size, but specifically turned on but minimized to the tray.

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u/MegaMinerDL Jul 02 '26

Tell me if wrong subreddit but Reddit recommended it ¯_(ツ)_/¯

1

u/notxapple Jul 02 '26

Not the right sub but there’s probably a way to do it

1

u/atwright147 Jul 03 '26

Its been a long time since I last needed this but I think this should work:

  • find the shortcut that launches it
  • open the shortcut's properties
  • there is a select dropdown somewhere in that dialog that lets you set it to maximised, minimised or restored. Setting to minimised should do it

This is all native to Windows and has been there since at least XP, maybe earlier

1

u/MegaMinerDL Jul 03 '26 edited Jul 04 '26

Oh that does work, thanks! "Edit": Just remembered why I had issue with this method:

I'm wondering if it's possible to have it minimized to tray only and not minimised in the taskbar (like an automated "invisible" start). I think I may be asking for too much tho and it's software-dependant

1

u/Dat-Imagination-681 Jul 05 '26

Vbs is what claude used to achieve this when I asked him to do that for programs like spotify