How to Add a Folder or Application to ‘Send to’ in Windows

You can add your frequently used folders and programs to the ‘Send to’ menu as destinations for easy file transfer. Here’s how to do it.

Key Takeaways:

• The ‘Send to’ menu appears as an option when you right-click on a file or folder in the File Explorer or on the desktop.
• The ‘Send to’ menu lets you quickly transfer files and folders to a specific destination, such as a folder or application.
• You can customize the ‘Send to’ menu and add your own custom folders and applications for quick and easy file transfer.
• You can also remove entries from the ‘Send to’ menu to clean it up.

Are you tired of going through endless menus and clicks to send a file to a specific folder or program on your Windows computer? The good news is that you can add a folder or program to the “Send To” menu in Windows, which allows you to quickly and easily send a file to that location with just a few simple steps.

Let me show you how to add a folder or application to the ‘Send to’ menu in Windows operating system.

Table of contents:

1. How to open the ‘Send to’ menu
2. Why add a folder or application to the ‘Send to’ menu?
3. How to add a folder to the ‘Send to’ menu
4. How to add an application to the ‘Send to’ menu
5. How to remove an entry from the ‘Send to’ menu

How to open the ‘Send to’ menu

To open the ‘Send to’ menu, right-click on any file or folder in File Explorer or desktop and go to the ‘Send to’ option. You will instantly see the ‘Send to’ menu with all the available destinations such as Bluetooth device, compressed folder, desktop shortcut, documents, fax recipient, mail recipient, etc. The ‘Send to’ menu also lists any available removable drives, such as an external hard disk or a pen drive.

Selecting a destination from the ‘Send to’ menu will transfer the file to that location. For instance, if you select the “Documents” option, the file or folder will immediately be transferred to the “Documents” folder.

Why add a folder or application to the ‘Send to’ menu?

Though some default options in the ‘Send to’ menu are good, some are not—fax recipient and mail recipient are two good examples. Even the other destinations are not that commonly or frequently used by many users.

As such, adding frequently used folders as destinations to the ‘Send to’ menu will speed up your workflow and eliminates the need to cut/copy and paste files and folders.

The same is true for applications. It allows you to send files or folders to the target application with just a few clicks. There is no need to open the application and then add files or folders manually. For example, since I compress images daily, I added the FileOptimizer application to the ‘Send to’ menu. Whenever I want to compress a file, I right-click on it and select ‘Send to -> FileOptimizer.’

Overall, adding folders and applications to the ‘Send to’ menu streamlines your workflow and reduces the number of steps needed to get the job done.

How to add a folder to the ‘Send to’ menu

All the entries in the ‘Send to’ menu are shortcuts in a special folder called ‘SendTo.’ As such, you can add your custom folder to the ‘Send to’ menu by adding a shortcut of the folder to the ‘SendTo’ folder. It sounds confusing, but it is really easy.

Here’s how to add a folder to the ‘Send to’ menu:

1. Right-click on the folder of your choice.
2. Select “Send to -> Desktop (create shortcut).”
3. Go to the desktop.
4. Copy the newly created shortcut with “Ctrl + C.”
5. Press the “Win + R” shortcut.
6. Type “shell:sendto” in the blank field.
7. Press the “Ok” button.
8. Paste the copied shortcut with “Ctrl + V.”
9. Close the “SendTo” folder.
10. With that, you added a folder to the ‘Send to’ menu.

Steps with more details:

First, we must create a shortcut for the folder you want to add to the ‘Send to’ menu. To do that, right-click on the target folder and select the “Send to -> Desktop (create shortcut)” option. This action creates a shortcut to the folder on the desktop.

Next, go to the Desktop, select the newly created shortcut and press the “Ctrl + C” keyboard shortcut to copy it.

After copying it, press the “Win + R” keyboard shortcut to open the Run dialog box. Next, type “shell:sendto” in the blank field and press the “Ok” button. This will open the “SendTo” folder in File Explorer.

In this folder, you will see shortcuts for the currently available options in the ‘Send to’ menu. Paste the shortcut we copied earlier using the “Ctrl + V” keybinding.

This step is optional, but you can rename the shortcut to anything you want. For example, you can remove ” – shortcut” from the shortcut name.

That is it; you’ve added the folder to the ‘Send to’ menu. From now on, the new folder will appear in the ‘Send to’ menu whenever you right-click on a file or folder.

Following the same steps, you can add as many folders as you want. However, I recommend you keep it simple and add only those folders that are frequently used.

How to add an application to the ‘Send to’ menu

You must add the application shortcut to the “SendTo” folder to add it to the ‘Send to’ menu.

Here’s how to add an application to the ‘Send to’ menu:

1. Open the Start menu.
2. Search for the application you want to add to ‘Send to.’
3. Right-click on the application name.
4. Select the “Open file location” option.
5. Copy the shortcut with “Ctrl + C.”
6. Press the “Win + R” shortcut.
7. Type “shell:sendto” in the blank field.
8. Click the “Ok” button.
9. Paste the copied shortcut with “Ctrl + V.”
10. With that, you’ve added an application to the ‘Send to’ menu.

Steps with more details:

First, we need a shortcut of the application you want to add to the ‘Send to’ menu. To get the shortcut, open the Start menu and search for the application. Next, right-click on the application name and select “Open file location.”

Select the application shortcut file from the opened folder and press “Ctrl + C” to copy it.

Note: If you cannot find the application in the Start menu. You have to create the shortcut manually. For that, right-click on the desktop and select “New -> Shortcut.” Click “Browse,” select the application’s exe file, and press “Open.” Click “Next” in the shortcut window, type a name in the blank field, and press “Finish.”

After copying the shortcut, press “Win + R” to open the Run dialog box. Type “shell:sendto” in the blank field and press the “Ok” button.

The above action will open the “SendTo” folder. Paste the copied shortcut in it with the “Ctrl + V” shortcut.

That is it; you’ve added the application to the ‘Send to’ menu. From now on, whenever you open the ‘Send to’ menu, you will see the newly added application.

How to remove an entry from the ‘Send to’ menu

You can keep the ‘Send to’ menu clean by removing unnecessary entries from it. For example, people rarely, if ever, use the “Fax recipient” option. So, why not remove it from the ‘Send to’ menu and keep it clutter-free? The same is true for all the ‘Send to’ options you don’t use.

Here’s how to remove an entry or option from the ‘Send to’ menu:

1. Press the “Win + R” keyboard shortcut.
2. Type “shell:sendto” in the blank field.
3. It will open the SendTo folder.
4. Select the shortcut you want to delete.
5. Press the “Delete” key.
6. Deleting the shortcut removes the associated option from the ‘Send to’ menu.
7. With that, you’ve removed an entry from the ‘Send to’ menu.

If you want to remove multiple entries from the ‘Send to’ menu, select the relevant shortcut in the “SendTo” folder and delete them.

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That is all. It is that simple to add a folder or program to the ‘Send to’ menu in Windows.

I hope this simple and easy Windows how-to guide helped you.

If you are stuck or need help, send an email, and I will try to help as much as possible.