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Microsoft's cure for the crowded right-click menu makes cleanup your job
A new customizable File Explorer context menu lets users toggle commands in Settings, but nothing stops third-party installers from crowding the menu in the first place.
The Product Desk · Product desk
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What happened
- Microsoft announced an updated, customizable context menu that lets users add commands they use and remove ones they do not want, described in its latest blog for Windows Insiders.
- The more applications you install, the more crowded and chaotic the File Explorer context menu becomes, making it difficult to navigate and use.
- Every control described operates on the user's side within Settings; none of them limits what a third-party installer may add to the menu.
- Microsoft said: "Today, we're excited to announce an updated context menu that delivers a faster, simpler, and more customizable experience. The new design reduces top-level clutter, keeps commonly used actions easy to access, and introduces a new Settings experience that gives you more control over what appears in the menu."
- Older versions of Windows had a context menu that grew longer and more unwieldy as more applications were installed.
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Why it matters
Microsoft has announced a customizable File Explorer context menu that lets users add and remove commands, described in a blog post for Windows Insiders [1]. The change is an admission that the right-click menu becomes more crowded and chaotic as people install more applications, and Microsoft's remedy is to let each user curate the list through Settings rather than to constrain what installers add [16][3].
Microsoft said the update delivers "a faster, simpler, and more customizable experience" and "introduces a new Settings experience that gives you more control over what appears in the menu" [4]. The fix is a settings surface, not a rule for developers.
This is not the first attempt at the problem. Older Windows versions grew a menu that got longer and more unwieldy with each application installed [5]. Windows 11 introduced a modern, simpler menu holding only core commands, but users still had to open the older legacy menu to reach additional commands, which defeated the purpose [6]. Microsoft says customizing the new menu should remove the need to fall back to the legacy one [7].
What you can toggle is specific. The Settings screen exposes several Windows commands - Send to, Print, Create shortcut, Copy as path, and Rotate image - each with an on/off switch [8]. It lists app extensions including Copilot, Microsoft Clipchamp, Notepad, Paint, OneDrive, and Photos, and the entire extensions submenu can be switched off [9]. You can also choose whether Cut, Copy, Paste, Rename, Share, and Delete appear in a row or inline, move cloud storage commands to their own section, keep an option to show the legacy menu, and push Properties to the bottom [10]. The more applications installed, the more entries you will find to add or remove [11].
Note what this does not do. Every control Microsoft described operates on the user's side, after the entries are already present; none of them limits what a third-party installer may write into the menu [3]. The clutter still arrives by default, and the work of clearing it sits with the person at the keyboard.
Trying it now is deliberate effort. The preview requires Windows 11 Insider build 26340.9212, and because the feature has not rolled out even to Insiders, ZDNET reports you must also install the free Vivetool utility and run vivetool /enable /id: 60813048 from an administrator command prompt [12][13]. ZDNET credited the phantomofearth account on X for surfacing the trick [14].
What to watch is timing. Microsoft hopes the feature reaches all Windows users by the end of the year, a schedule it has tied to user feedback and its own priorities [2][15].