The NotifyIcon is the class used to create an icon in the Windows System Tray, and can be used instead of creating a task bar item.

Creating a NotifyIcon on a Form

The following example creates a NotifyIcon in the systray. When the form is minimised, it disappears from the task bar, when the NotifyIcon is clicked, the form is displayed in the same state it was in before it was minimised.

private NotifyIcon notifyIcon = null;
private FormWindowState lastWindowState = FormWindowState.Normal;

private void FormMain_Load(object sender, System.EventArgs e)
{
  notifyIcon = new NotifyIcon(this.components);
  notifyIcon.Icon = Icon.FromHandle(((Bitmap)imageList.Images[1]).GetHicon());
  notifyIcon.Text = "Display";
  notifyIcon.Visible = true;
  notifyIcon.Click += new EventHandler(notifyIcon_Click);
}

private void notifyIcon_Click(object sender, EventArgs e)
{
  this.Visible = true;
  this.WindowState = lastWindowState;
}

private void FormMain_Resize(object sender, System.EventArgs e)
{
  if (this.WindowState != FormWindowState.Minimized) 
  {
    lastWindowState = this.WindowState;
  }
  this.Visible = (this.WindowState != FormWindowState.Minimized);
}