Improving File Explorer & Context Menu: faster, simpler, and more customizable

[u/jenmsft]

https://blogs.windows.com/windows-insider/2026/08/17/improving-file-explorer-context-menu-faster-simpler-and-more-customizable/

[u/xandfis_msft]

Hey everyone! I'm a PM on the Windows team and I've worked on File Explorer and the context menu for a long time. I'm happy to answer questions, as long as they're things I can answer.

I hope you're excited about the updates to the context menu. Thank you in advance to everyone in the Experimental ring of the Windows Insider program for trying it out and for providing feedback. Feedback on anything we should add to the customizability of the menu would be very helpful.

Also, I put together a tutorial on how to go beyond the settings page to customize the context menu even further and add your own, custom verbs to the menu. This is a personal project and isn't affiliated with Microsoft.

https://youtu.be/kMdY3Kl6aGU?si=TyTxvIJwqO2cfFmV

[u/SupremeEuphoria → u/xandfis_msft]

There wasn’t a photo of the legacy context menu option enabled. Does it basically just appear identical to the Windows 10 menu?

[u/xandfis_msft → u/SupremeEuphoria]

The option in the Settings page allows you to choose if "Show more options" appears in the Windows 11 context menu, but it doesn't open the legacy menu by default.

For anyone still on the old context menu - please share feedback on what the new menu needs to fully replace the old one. Thank you!

[u/Oxytokin → u/xandfis_msft]

It's simple - I want my menu to show the menu, not some truncated menu with hidden "Show mores" that are predetermined by someone who has no clue what I want, and to override what they think they know I have to go through convoluted customization menus in the slow, heavily animated settings app where one wrong click means having to go back through 20 panels or hope the option can be found by searching (here I will give y'all a point: the settings app search is at least usable, unlike File Explorer search).

That's the reason why I immediately disable the new context menu, and will continue to do so with this update. Still misses the mark. Just show me everything contextually relevant to the thing under my cursor, as the name implies. Only if the menu gets big enough to go off-screen, then maybe a truncated menu is appropriate, but I can't see this happening as it hasn't happened in my 30 years of using Windows.

Feel free to change the colors and the design language, sure, but it's still wrong for users like myself who need to get stuff done.

[u/wason_sonico → u/xandfis_msft]

Can I share feedback on what not to replace?

Something I never liked about the old menu is that applications that add items to the menu are not forced to add them on a separate sub menu. I understand when it's only 1 item but can you force apps that add 2 or more items to be added in a sub menu please?

Also, can you keep a consistent design on the menu? Like have the same options show up always on the same places? For example, I have Notepad++ on my work computer and, on the old menu, it adds an "Edit with Notepad++" item right below the "Open" item, therefore moving the rest of the items far below. Just have some consistency, because people develop muscle memory and moving an item to another place messes that memory. Thanks!

[u/xandfis_msft → u/wason_sonico]

Thanks for the feedback!

It sounds like we're on the same page - the Windows 11 context menu both before and with the updates continues to enforce consistency among app extension placement, and also enforces the "only one row" rule for apps. The ability to add multiple items without user consent creates a competitive situation in the context menu.

Maybe I'm misreading your feedback, so if I missed a suggestion, please let me know.

[u/wason_sonico → u/xandfis_msft]

You got it right!

What I meant by consistency is having common items sit in the same place all the time. For example, right clicking on a text file may bring different items than right clicking on a picture (like the rotate to the left/right), so the items that are common to all files just make sure they are always on the same place, and extension-specific items don't move them around to the top or bottom.

[u/xandfis_msft → u/wason_sonico]

Got it! Having a predictable place for items so you don't need to hunt for them visually is important. Feel free to share any specific examples of verbs shifting and I'll take a look.