Personalization Customize Context Menu in File Explorer on Windows 11

This tutorial will show you how to customize what appears in the context menu in File Explorer for your account in Windows 11.

A context menu is a graphical user interface (GUI) that appears when you right click or press and hold on an item (ex: desktop, file, folder, drive, etc...) in Windows. A context menu can have menu items and sub-menus with a list of options or actions available for the item you right clicked on.

Starting with Windows 11 build 26340.9212 (Experimental 26H2) for Insiders, Microsoft is beginning to roll out an updated context menu experience in File Explorer, designed to feel faster, cleaner, and easier to tailor to the way you work. The new design reduces top-level clutter, keeps commonly used actions easy to access, and adds a new Settings experience that gives you more control over what appears in the menu. As Microsoft continues refining this experience with Insider feedback, their goal is to make right-click feel more responsive, predictable, and personal.

At the bottom of the new context menu, you’ll now find Customize menu, as a shortcut to its Settings page, where you can shape the menu around your preferences, your habits, or the years of muscle memory you’ve built with a specific configuration.

Starting with Windows 11 build 26340.9482 (Experimental 26H2) for Insiders, Microsoft is building on the work they've been doing to improve the context menu experience:

• Microsoft added a new teaching tip you might see as a first-time experience to help you learn about the customization options.
• In theme with giving you more control, you can also now turn off the customize context menu entry in the new context menu settings.
• Microsoft fixed a few small issues with the Send To option in the context menu not working as expected.

Reference:

If you don't have the new Customize menu context menu settings feature in the build above and would like to test it now, then you can use the vivetool command below to enable this feature.

vivetool.exe /enable /id:60813048




Here's How:

1 Perform either action below to open the Personalization > Context menu Settings page: (see screenshots below)

• Right click on something on your desktop or in File Explorer, and click/tap on Customize menu.
• Open Settings (Win+I), click/tap on Personalization in the left pane, and click/tap on Context menu.

2 Under File actions, turn on or off the context menu options you want. (see screenshots below)

Available context menu options depend on the selected file type. Only relevant items will be displayed in the context menu.

3 Under File actions, click/tap on App actions to expand it open, and turn on or off app extensions for context menus.

The App actions section is about options for app extensibility, so you can choose which app extensions appear in the main menu or submenu, including hiding the submenu altogether.

4 Under Additional options, turn on or off the context menu command options you want.

The Additional options section is about where the most common commands live. We know many people have years of muscle memory from the Windows 10 menu, so we’ve added options to bring that feel back. You can list the main commands (Cut, Copy, Paste, Rename, Delete, and Share) inline directly in the menu instead of as a row of icons, and you can move Properties down to the very bottom.

That's it,
Shawn Brink