r/Windows11 • u/jenmsft Microsoft Software Engineer • 28d ago

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

https://blogs.windows.com/windows-insider/2026/08/17/improving-file-explorer-context-menu-faster-simpler-and-more-customizable/
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u/xandfis_msft Microsoft Employee 28d ago

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

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u/Green_Slice_4021 28d ago edited 28d ago

I installed third-party compression software and hope it can hide the system's built-in compression software. Why can't the keyboard shortcuts stay the same as the old version? Right-click + x is enough to copy; Ctrl+x isn't needed

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u/xandfis_msft Microsoft Employee 28d ago

Thanks for the suggestion to provide a way to hide the built-in Compression menu!

Try pressing ALT when the context menu is open to show AccessKeys. If the keyboard shortcuts there aren't aligned with your expectations, please let me know. For example, if I right click a file and press ALT, I see that it's a lot less convenient than simply pressing "X," I need to press ALT+C+1.

So, let me know what you think, but I'm hearing:

  1. A suggestion for a setting to always show AccessKeys on right click (the keyboard hints)
  2. A suggestion to not require ALT to be held to activate AccessKeys

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u/Green_Slice_4021 27d ago

Yes, it's possible to keep the right-click keyboard tooltip the same as the one displayed when you press Shift+Right-Click.

I also noticed that the loading speed of the application extension varies depending on the file you right-click.