Microsoft Adds Customizable Context Menu to Windows 11 File Explorer

Microsoft has introduced a redesigned and customizable context menu for the Windows 11 File Explorer, along with significant improvements in reliability and responsiveness.

Announced for Windows Insiders on August 17, this update addresses a common issue in Windows 11: slow and cluttered right-click menus that can be affected by various application extensions and shell integrations.

Customizable Context Menu

File Explorer plays a crucial role in the Windows desktop environment, as it facilitates routine access to local files, network locations, removable drives, and cloud-synced content.

Microsoft has stated that its ongoing modernization efforts are focused on reducing freezes, hangs, delays, and interface flashes that can disrupt tasks such as browsing, renaming, selecting, or moving files. Additionally, File Explorer now launches faster due to performance profiling and remediation efforts.

Several usability changes accompany the context menu refresh. For instance, file rename operations will no longer be interrupted by background synchronization, and case-only filename changes will be displayed immediately.

The address bar in File Explorer now accepts more path formats, including those with quotation marks and double backslashes. Users can also middle-click on folders from the address bar and the Home page to open them in new tabs, enhancing multi-folder workflows.

Microsoft has further modified the Home view in File Explorer, so that expanded and collapsed sections persist between sessions. File sizes are now displayed in more user-friendly units, such as KB, MB, and GB, and the Details pane has been reorganized for easier review of properties.

While these changes primarily aim to boost productivity, they also reduce confusion when users inspect files, downloads, or potentially suspicious content during incident response and forensic workflows.

The highlight of this release is the new right-click menu. Microsoft has indicated that the menu opens more quickly due to behind-the-scenes engineering changes and a leaner default configuration.

This is particularly important because context menus typically load entries registered by installed applications, and each extension can add processing overhead. This can lead to a slower menu and expose users to unnecessary or unwanted actions.

A new “Customize” option at the bottom of the context menu opens a dedicated Settings page under Personalization. From this page, users can enable or disable built-in Windows commands like “Send to” and “Create shortcut.”

Microsoft is also adding configurable support for commands like Print, which were not previously available in the default Windows 11 context menu.

The settings page also manages application extensibility. Users can choose whether an application’s context-menu extension appears in the main menu or a submenu, and they can even hide the submenu altogether.

This feature provides administrators and security-conscious users with a clearer way to reduce visual clutter from third-party integrations, although Microsoft did not describe this feature as a security control and did not indicate that it blocks malicious shell extensions from registering.

Additionally, Microsoft is restoring layout options that resemble earlier versions of Windows. Users can display core actions, such as Cut, Copy, Paste, Rename, Delete, and Share, as inline text commands instead of icons.

The Properties option can also be moved to the bottom of the menu to accommodate users’ familiarity with Windows 10.

The redesigned context menu is currently being rolled out to Windows Insiders. Microsoft has stated that it will continue to refine the experience based on feedback from the Feedback Hub as part of a long-term initiative to make File Explorer more predictable, responsive, and customizable.

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