How to display the Links toolbar as icons only in IE 8

Posted on May 23, 2009 at 5:21 am

I’ve been using Internet Explorer 8 recently and I have to say it’s definitely better than all of the older versions of IE. It’s faster and it’s got some nice features like favorite websites when you open a new tab, private browsing, and more.

The Favorites toolbar (aka Links toolbar) in IE 8 is just like the toolbar in previous versions of IE. You can drag a website to the toolbar and have 1-click access to that website.

What I realized recently, however, is that all of the icons on my links bar usually have favicons from the website. This makes it really easy to figure out which website each icon represents.

The fact is, all those text labels are just eating up space and causing me to only be able to add 5 or 6 links to my Links toolbar. Annoying! So why not just get rid of them and display only icons. You can make your toolbar look clean and simple, like this:

Can you tell which sites those are by the icons? Easily! Here’s how to display only icons on the Favorites toolbar in IE 8:

Step 1: Open IE and right-click on any of the icons in the Links toolbar to pull up the context menu. Make sure you click on one of the links, not the toolbar itself.

Step 2: Now expand Customize Title Widths and choose Icons Only. You can also choose Short Titles if you want to retain the text labels, but make them smaller.

That’s it! Now you can add way more links to your Links toolbar and be more productive! Make sure to add Online Tech Tips! Enjoy!

» Filed Under Internet Explorer Tips

Comments

7 Responses to “How to display the Links toolbar as icons only in IE 8”

Dave said on : June 3rd, 2009 at 8:05 pm

IE8 Favorites Bar is NOT like the IE7 Links Bar. It cannot be dragged up to the Menu Bar. Don’t tell me to uncheck the Lock the toolbars, it is already unlocked. Microsoft has decided they know more about what I want and need than I do. There are only 4 or 5 items on the Menu Bar, and I only had a few URLs on my Links Bar, so pretty much two blank lines taking up valuable web page space. So in IE7 I just dragged the Links Bar up to the same line as the Menu Bar, and whalla, I have more viewable web page space. IE8…YUCK! I uninstalled it.

Dolly said on : June 7th, 2009 at 9:16 pm

ummm i definitely DO NOT have a “Customize Title Widths” option available

Fred said on : July 21st, 2009 at 2:02 pm

I’m with Dave (3Jun09) on this. Microsoft’s ‘wisdom’ is not infinite. I pity those with netbooks where space is already at a premium. Rather than let MSFT waste __my__ pixels, I too am reverting to IE7 until & unless MSFT comes to its senses. Jeez, if you allowed it in IE7 how hard can it be to continue that flexibility in IE8?

Xemni said on : February 9th, 2010 at 11:48 pm

Good post! That really saves a lot of space and I can include way more links on the IE toolbar now. Appreciate it!

Paul said on : February 12th, 2010 at 10:27 am

Hi,

What is not made clear is that the Favourites Bar does actually replicate the previously loved and increasingly missed Links Folder. I even wrote a strongly worded email to MS querying its whereabouts, never got a reply though.

If sufficient icons/urls are added to the favourites bar then the right hand chevron will magically reappear allowing you to access all other URL’s stored in the favourites bar in the now familiar ‘Links’ style drop down box.

One minor inconvenience is that where new URL’s were previously added to the bottom, or back end, of the Links file they are now added to the beginning of the favourites bar. This makes organising your most used URL’s i.e. those you want to be permanently on display just that little bit more difficult.

claud said on : February 24th, 2010 at 9:12 pm

SO HELPFUL thanks!

sudhir said on : February 25th, 2010 at 9:20 am

I woueld value “links” bar more than all the new featurs put together in IE8. Not having links bar is a big punishment for surfers.