How to use “my people” on windows 10’s taskbar

tutorial by Diana Ann Roe published on 07.28.2020

The Windows 10 People app is Microsoft’s current attempt at creating an address book for all your contacts. The idea is that, after you import every contact from your email address(es), you can see them all sorted alphabetically in the People app and get in touch more easily. Unfortunately, the feature is not exactly user friendly, so we created this tutorial to illustrate how to use the People app in Windows 10:

NOTE: The features presented are available in Windows 10 May 2020 Update or newer. If you are using an older version of Windows 10, you might not have access to all the features. Check your Windows 10 build and, if necessary, get the latest Windows 10 update available.

How to access the People app in Windows 10

The fastest way to access the Windows 10 People app is to Search for it. Click or tap on your taskbar’s Search bar, insert “people,“ and then click or tap on the relevant result.

Alternatively, you can find the Windows 10 People app in the Start Menu, under the letter P. Click or tap on it to open it.

You can also click or tap on the People icon on the taskbar to reveal a fly-out. To figure out how to show or hide the icon, read 2 ways to remove the People icon from the Windows 10 taskbar.

How to add accounts to the Windows 10 People app

When you first access the People app in Windows 10, you get a welcome screen letting you know how you can use it. Click or tap on Get started.

The People, Mail, and Calendar apps are connected in Windows 10 to help you send emails and schedule appointments more easily.

As a result, you must grant some permissions if you want everything to work as intended. Click or tap on Yes if you want to connect your current email address with the People app.

Next, let People access your Calendar if you want to create appointments using the contacts in the app.

Any mail account you’re signed into is added to the app automatically. To add another account, click or tap on + Import contacts.

On the “Add an account” screen, choose one of the available options and then sign in to add that account.

IMPORTANT: Only contacts added to your email account’s address book are imported.

Once you finish adding accounts, click or tap on the “Ready to go” button.

If this is not your first time accessing the People app, and you want to add another account, open the app (not the fly-out), and then click or tap on the Settings icon in the upper-right corner.

On the next screen, click or tap on “+ Add an account.“

This opens the “Add an account” page, where you can choose the type of account and sign-in.

How to delete an account from the Windows 10 People app

To remove an account, open Settings, as seen at the end of the previous section, and then click or tap on its entry.

On the next screen, click or tap on “Delete account from this device.“

How to view and manage contacts with Windows 10’s People app

To start creating a new contact, click or tap on the New contact (+) button in the upper-right corner of the People app.

You can also begin to create a contact by pressing on the People taskbar icon, accessing More from the lower-right corner of the fly-out, and then clicking or tapping on New contact.

On the next screen, add any details you want, and then press Save.

To filter your contacts, click or tap on Filter contacts.

On the Filter contacts screen, tweak the available options to see only what you want. When everything is according to your preferences, click or tap on Done.

Clicking or tapping on the Settings button reveals more contact-related options.

Decide what you want to see when it comes to your contacts in the “Contact list display” section.

Clicking or tapping on any contact in the Windows 10 People app reveals more details and options, like sending an Email to that person, Edit, and Delete.

In the lower part of the window, you can see the sections for both Events and Conversations with that person. Unfortunately, the syncing is very buggy, and so is the Calendar app, which managed to create two meetings instead of one, then only let us edit one of them. We then removed both meetings (while trying to remove one), but the People app didn’t seem to get the memo, so our suggestion is to be careful using this feature. It is anything but reliable, as far as we’ve seen.

But the fun does not stop here! It’s not like you can count on the Conversations section, which either didn’t notice any of the emails received from my colleagues or simply decided against displaying them.

However, all is not lost. The app does let you pin contacts to the taskbar, which seems to be pretty much all it’s good for. To learn more about this useful option, read How to pin contacts to the taskbar or to the Start Menu of Windows 10. Clicking or tapping on a pinned contact reveals the same options and details available from the People app.

How to sync an account with the People app in Windows 10

A hidden feature of the People app is its ability to sync accounts. Unfortunately, this didn’t help with any of the out-of-date info the app was displaying, but maybe you will have better luck with it. Go to Settings again, and then right-click or press-and-hold on the account you want to sync. You get a menu with only one option. Click or tap on Sync.

Are you currently using the People app? Why?

You might have noticed that our experience with the Windows 10 People app wasn’t particularly successful. Luckily, once this tutorial is over, we can put this unnecessarily-complicated, mobile-wannabe, buggy app to bed. We do see its value if you’re using a lot of different email accounts, and your contacts are scattered all over the place. We also find pinning contacts quite useful. However, the user interface is anything but intuitive, and the syncing is apparently absent, so it’s not something we wish to experience again. Luckily, it looks like we won’t have to, since Microsoft already put the People app on a deprecated features list, so it should be removed very soon. What about you? Are you using the People app? Why? We are genuinely curious if we missed anything of value while reviewing this app. Please, let us know in the comments.

Here’s how to access your contacts in the Windows 10 Fall Creators Update.

Do you want fast and easy access to your contacts in Windows 10? The Windows 10 Fall Creators Update offers a new hub called My People through which you can tap into any contact. You can see all the contact details on any person, easily email people through the hub, edit the contact details, pin a contact to the taskbar for quicker access, and view a timeline of past emails to any contact. Let’s look at how to set up and use the My People app to access your contacts.

1. Are You Running Fall Creators Update?

First, make sure you’re running the Windows 10 Fall Creators Update. To do this, click on the Windows 10 Start button and select Settings. From the Settings screen, click on the System category and the About setting at the bottom of the screen.

Look at the version number listed for Windows 10. If the version is 1709, you have the Fall Creators Update. If not, go to Settings and select “Update & security.” Click on the setting for Windows Update, and click on the button to “Check for updates.” Ensure that the Fall Creators Update (“Feature Update to Windows 10, version 1709”) is being downloaded.

2. Get Started

3. People and Mail

Under apps, you should see at least two entries: People and Mail. You should also see Skype if you installed it. Some of the apps may already indicate that they’re connected. If you want to access contacts from an app not yet connected, click on its name. Follow the prompts to connect that app. When done, click on the People icon again and click on Apps, and all the listed apps should show a connection.

4. Add a New Contact

You can add a new contact from the My People window. Click on the
“See more” icon ( ) and click on “New contact” from the pop-up menu.

Share this story

• Share this on Facebook
• Share this on Twitter

Share All sharing options for: Microsoft’s latest Windows 10 preview lets you pin contacts to the taskbar

Microsoft was supposed to ship contact integration with its Windows 10 Creators Update, but the software maker mysteriously delayed the feature. While we’ve been waiting to see when it would appear, Microsoft is now testing it with its latest preview build of Windows 10 (16184). The My People feature allows Windows 10 users to pin contacts to the taskbar, and access chat apps and conversations easily. It’s a major change to the taskbar user interface, and one that will require a lot of feedback and testing from Microsoft’s 10 million Windows Insiders.

Alongside the new people feature, Microsoft is also bringing the best mail and calendar features of Windows 10 to Gmail users. That means Google accounts in the built-in Mail app will now support Focused Inbox to filter out important emails, and the calendar app will display travel reservations and package delivery details. These features were previously only for Outlook.com and Office 365 accounts, but Microsoft is now extending them to Google’s popular email service.

As always, you’ll need to be a Windows Insider on the fast ring to access the preview builds of Windows 10. Microsoft has listed a number of known issues with this preview, and it’s only at the early stage of testing what will become its next major update to Windows 10. Microsoft is expected to reveal new features for this release of Windows 10 at the company’s Build conference next month, and has committed to releasing this next update in September.

The Windows 10 taskbar sits at the bottom of the screen giving the user access to the Start Menu, as well as the icons of frequently used applications. On the right-side, the Taskbar features the Notification Area which informs the user of different things like the state of the Internet connection or the charge of the laptop battery.

The icons in the middle of the Taskbar are “pinned” applications, which is a way to have a quick access to applications you use frequently. “Pinned” applications will stay in the Taskbar until you “unpin” them.

Pin an Application to the Taskbar

Step 1 − Search for the application you want to pin in the Start Menu.

Step 2 − Right-click on the application.

Step 3 − Select “More” option at the top of the menu.

Step 4 − Select the “Pin to taskbar” option.

This will attach or “pin” the application icon to your Windows Taskbar.

Unpin an Application from the Taskbar

To “unpin” it, just right-click the icon in the Taskbar and select “Unpin from taskbar”. You can “pin” it back again any time you want.

Notification Area

The Notification Area is located at the right side of the Taskbar. It shows different types of notifications from your computer like your Internet connection, or the volume level.

At first, the Notification Area shows a limited amount of icons. But you can click the upward arrow on its left-side to see other icons as well.

Task View

Task View allows you to quickly move within your open windows and applications. You can access it by clicking the “Task View” button from the Taskbar.

You can also press and hold the Windows key, and then press Tab to achieve the same result.

By pressing the Alt+Tab keyboard shortcut also serves a similar purpose.

Windows 10 has seen quite a lot of new features added onto it over the years since its release. One of them is the “My People” feature which was implemented without much fanfare back in the Fall update. It’s a very useful tool that gives you easier access to up to three of your favorite contacts. The only problem is it was implemented with so little fanfare that most Windows 10 users don’t even know it exists! Let’s take a look at this new feature and see what can be done with it.

Finding “My People”

Finding “My People” is quite simple. If you’re running the most up-to-date version of Windows 10, you’ll find an icon on your taskbar that looks like the following image.

If you can’t see it, and you know your Windows 10 is up to date, you may have disabled My People. To re-enable it, click the Start button, then the Settings cog.

Click on “Personalization.”

Select the “Taskbar” category, scroll down to the “People” category, then turn “Show contacts on the taskbar” on.

Using My People

Getting started with My People can be confusing at first, but it’s easy to get used to! You can open My People by clicking the icon in the taskbar. When you first click this icon, the contacts list will be pretty sparse. This is because we haven’t given My People permission to load our contacts yet. To do that, first go to the “Apps” category, if you’re not already on it.

You’ll find three options you can import contacts from: People, Skype, and Mail. You’ll notice that options for big social media sites, such as Facebook and Twitter, are missing. This is because My People works off of Microsoft contacts, so it can only import contacts and use services that Microsoft controls. (And yes, Skype is a part of Microsoft!)

Choose which service you’d like to import someone from. Windows will dig through your contacts for people to add. Once this is done, you can pin your favorite contacts to the taskbar for easy access. You can do this by going to the “People” tab and clicking on the contacts that Windows has picked out for you. If Windows missed someone you’d like to add, click “Find and pin contacts” for a more in-depth list.

When you click on a name, you’ll notice that the person will now appear in the taskbar. You can pin up to three contacts on the bar this way. If you try to pin any more, they’ll appear within the My People window instead.

Using a Contact

Now that you’ve got contacts pinned to your taskbar, you can use My People to chat with them at any time. To do this, simply click the icon of the person you’d like to talk to. This will cause a small window to appear where you can talk to that contact. Your communication methods depend on what details Windows knows about that contact.

For instance, if it knows their email, you can email them and view past emails with them. If Windows knows you’re both connected to one another on Skype, you can chat with each other via Skype here, too. My People will remember if you used email or Skype last, so when you open the dialogue again, you can get directly back into the conversation.

Unpinning a Contact

If you want to remove someone from your taskbar (perhaps they’re just a little too chatty!), this can be done by simply right-clicking their taskbar icon and clicking “Unpin from taskbar.”

Pinning People

Windows 10’s My People was one of the lesser celebrated features implemented in the Fall update, but it still has its uses! Now you know how to import contacts, add them onto the taskbar, and talk to them via email or Skype.

Do you think My People has what it takes to be a central social hub in people’s lives? Or does it still need work? Let us know below!

Simon Batt is a Computer Science graduate with a passion for cybersecurity.

• Facebook
• Tweet

Affiliate Disclosure: Make Tech Easier may earn commission on products purchased through our links, which supports the work we do for our readers.

Add My People to the list of creative Windows apps that ultimately were never used.

Senior Editor, PCWorld |

Today’s Best Tech Deals

Picked by PCWorld’s Editors

Top Deals On Great Products

Picked by Techconnect’s Editors

Pour one out for the (My) People.

In its latest list of Windows 10’s deprecated features, Microsoft has said that the My People app, which normally lives in the Taskbar, is no longer being developed and will be removed in a future version. For now, My People lives on within the Windows 10 November 2019 Update.

My People was introduced within the Windows 10 Fall Creators Update, and normally dwells within a small “people” icon on the Taskbar. When clicked, it allows you quick access to email or Skype three close friends. Even better, those friends could send you a quick emoji that popped up on your screen simply to remind you that your friends were thinking about you.

If that sounds like a good idea, you were in the minority. Microsoft usually only removes features that weren’t being used or became outdated—Windows to Go, another feature that was removed earlier, used a sort of USB drive that isn’t supported by OEMs any more. It’s safe to say that My People never fell into this category. Instead, people used Snapchat or WhatsApp or any number of means of communicating with their friends. Just not People.

In fact, on a test machine we recently received, the Windows 10 November 2019 Update came preloaded—with My People turned off. While it’s possible that my personal Windows preferences carried over when I signed in—and I turned off People long ago—it’s also possible that this is the first step off a short pier for People.

The Windows 10 Fall Creators Update introduced a number of interesting, creative features—3D Builder, Mixed Reality Viewer, and more—that have all fallen by the wayside. Add My People to that list.

Correction: A version of this story incorrectly substituted “People” for “My People” in places. They are two separate Microsoft apps.

As PCWorld’s senior editor, Mark focuses on Microsoft news and chip technology, among other beats.

Source: Windows Central

Updated May 4, 2020: This article has been updated to include the link to TaskbarX on GitHub, which is free.

The taskbar is potentially the user interface element that you look at the most on Windows 10. It sits calmly at the bottom of your screen, holding icons for programs, pins, the shortcut to the Start Menu, and more. Windows 10 natively supports a couple of bits of customization for the taskbar, such as using your accent color, but options are generally limited. TaskbarX brings several ways to customize your taskbar, including centering your icons.

It’s a straightforward app that works well. Like CursorFX, it’s a customization program you can just set up and leave running in the background. TaskbarX is also quite affordable at just $1.09. The app recently changed names, so you might recognize it from its old name, FalconX. The developer of TaskbarX reached out recently to point out that the app is also avaialble for free from GitHub. You can download the app from either location depending on your budget and how you prefer to install applications.

Customizing the taskbar

TaskbarX

Bottom line: TaskbarX is an excellent utility for customizing the look of your desktop. It allows you to center icons and apply blur effects to the taskbar.

• Allows you to center taskbar icons
• Supports blur and acrylic effects
• Minimal CPU and RAM usage

• Occasional performance hiccups

• See at Microsoft Store
• See at Github (Free)

What you’ll love about TaskbarX

Source: Windows Central

Windows 10 looks alright, but sometimes you just want to tweak its look. TasbarX is a simple utility that lets you center taskbar icons and alters the look of your taskbar. It has some excellent options, such as allowing you to fine-tune where the “center” of your taskbar icons are. For example, you can offset your icons to center them between the edge of your Start Menu icon and System Tray icons. Some people prefer their programs and apps pinned to the center of their taskbar. If you’re coming from macOS, you’ll be used to moving your cursor towards the middle of the screen to find things, for example.

In addition to picking where your taskbar icons show up, you can also change how the taskbar itself looks. You can add blur effects, make it transparent, or add an acrylic effect. There are apps dedicated to just improving the transparency of the taskbar, so having those options along with TaskbarX’s other features.

What you’ll dislike about TaskbarX

Source: Windows Central

There’s not much to dislike about TaskbarX. It’s a lightweight program that works well in the background. As long as you’re okay spending money on a program to customize your desktop, it’s a solid option. The only real complaint I have is that I occasionally ran into some performance hiccups that saw the icons jump back and forth between their usual spot and the center. These issues usually showed up briefly after the program started. They almost never appeared after TaskbarX has been running for a while. Issues like that could always be system-specific to my device, but they showed up, so they’re worth pointing out.

Should you buy TaskbarX?

Source: Windows Central

If you like customizing the look and feel of Windows 10, TaskbarX is a great app to grab. It’s affordable, easy to use, and takes up very few system resources. It allows you to center your taskbar icons and customize the look of your taskbar with either blur or acrylic effects.

Pinning icons to the center or your taskbar is a nice change of pace. Microsoft also seems to like the idea since Windows 10X has its icons in the center of the taskbar. You can get a bit of that look now and on Windows 10 using TaskbarX.

Customizing the taskbar

TaskbarX

Centering the taskbar

TaskbarX is an excellent utility for customizing the look of your desktop. It allows you to center icons and apply blur effects to the taskbar.

• See at Microsoft
• See at GitHub

We may earn a commission for purchases using our links. Learn more.

Handhelds are hot again. Here’s how Xbox and PlayStation could capitalize.

With the rise of the Nintendo Switch, game streaming services, and mobile gaming, handheld gaming devices are getting hot again. Here’s a look at how both Xbox and PlayStation could (and should) capitalize in the portable gaming market.

Is Valve’s Steam Deck doomed to fail?

Valve has the money and talent to make incredible hardware. But is the market ready for its latest invention?

Song of Iron is officially releasing for Xbox and PC on August 31

Song of Iron is an incredible-looking indie game created by a solo developer, and it finally has a release date. Embark on an epic Norse-inspired adventure on Aug. 31, 2021, on Xbox Series X|S, Xbox One, and PC.

These are the best PC sticks when you’re on the move

Instant computer — just add a screen. That’s the general idea behind the ultra-portable PC, but it can be hard to know which one you want. Relax, we have you covered!

Is your taskbar looking a little cluttered? TaskbarGroups is here to fix that.

Windows 10’s taskbar provides easy access to frequently used and currently open applications, but adding shortcuts for every one of your favorite apps can clutter it up. Fortunately, TaskbarGroups can help you organize your taskbar to your liking.

Let’s check out why TaskbarGroups is the application for you.

What is TaskbarGroups?

Adding multiple apps or shortcuts to the taskbar can lead to it looking messy and leave you with little space for anything else. TaskbarGroups is a third-party application that allows you to create app groups for quick access shortcuts to apps, links, or other files in the taskbar.

It allows you to group these apps based on how often you use them, apps that are often used together, or any number of other organizational options. You can give names and add unique icons for easier visual navigation.

Related: Tweaks and Customizations to Make Windows 10 Look and Feel Totally “You”

How to Install and Use TaskbarGroups

To download this app, head over to TaskbarGroups’s website. To extract the files, you will need to use WinRAR. If you don’t have WinRAR, you can download it from their website.

After installing it, you can right-click on the archive and select Extract files. After you have extracted the files, run the Taskbar Groups app.

Once TaskbarGroups is running, it’s time to organize your taskbar:

1. Select Add taskbar group to create a new taskbar group.
2. Customize your group to your liking. You can add multiple applications to this group as well as give it an icon and name. Other settings include being able to change the width, opacity, and color of the group. When you are done, select Save to create your group.
3. Right-click your group to view it in a folder. In the folder that opens up, right-click on the highlighted shortcut and select Pin to taskbar.
4. You can now view your group on your taskbar.

Convenience at Your Fingertips

If you are someone who uses their computer for everything from work to relaxation, you know how important it is to have everything organized and easy to access. Fortunately, TaskbarGroups makes it easy to organize your taskbar just the way you like it.

If you’re interested in going further, there are plenty of Windows 10 tools that can help you customize your computer. These tools can range from adjusting the system icons to tweaking how the PC performs specific actions.

Want to give your PC a unique look? Learn how to customize Windows 10 with these powerful tweak tools!

About The Author

Maxwell Holland
(9 Articles Published)

Maxwell is a software developer who works as a writer in his spare time. An avid tech enthusiast who loves to dabble in the world of artificial intelligence. When he isn’t busy with his work, he is off reading or playing video games.

More
From Maxwell Holland

Subscribe To Our Newsletter

Join our newsletter for tech tips, reviews, free ebooks, and exclusive deals!

One More Step…!

Please confirm your email address in the email we just sent you.

Admit it, most of your social interaction is with the same three or four people. The latest Windows 10 update makes it easier.

The My People feature, new for Windows 10 Fall Creators Update, is designed to streamline communication with the handful of people with whom you communicate most often. You’ll know you have My People when its new icon consisting of two head outlines shows up in the Taskbar’s notification area after you update to the new version.

The idea behind My People is to let you more easily email, chat with (via both text and video), or send files or media to your closest contacts, friends, and loved ones. It also introduces a cute instant emoji notification for those closest contacts. Appealingly, My People is designed to save you from having to open up separate apps in order to do all those things.

At this early stage, only email, Skype, and the emoji sending capabilities are enabled, but any UWP app will be able to take advantage of it. I have no doubt that Facebook Messenger and other messaging apps will be available to connect with My People in short order.

I tested the new feature on a Microsoft Surface Book with a Core i5 CPU, 8GB RAM running 64-bit Windows 10 Fall Creators Update.

1. Get Started

After you update to Windows 10 Fall Creators Update, you’ll see this new icon in the Taskbar’s notification area. Tap it to get started.

2. Connect Apps

Before you can use My People, you have to connect the communication apps it works with. At this point, only Skype and Mail are options. If you’ve signed into your email accounts in the Mail and Skype apps they’ll already be connected. Also, the People address book app is connected from the get-go.

3. Find and Pin

4. Combine Duplicate Contacts

5. Using My People

6. The Best Part: Emoji

The idea behind My People is to let you more easily email, chat with (via both text and video), or send files or media to your closest contacts, friends, and loved ones. It also introduces a cute instant emoji notification for those closest contacts. Appealingly, My People is designed to save you from having to open up separate apps in order to do all those things. \n\n

This newsletter may contain advertising, deals, or affiliate links. Subscribing to a newsletter indicates your consent to our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. You may unsubscribe from the newsletters at any time.

Your subscription has been confirmed. Keep an eye on your inbox!