Cluttered context menu? Here’s how you can clean up the right-click menu by removing the options you don’t need in Windows 10.
In Windows, the right-click menu is one of the most useful and used parts of any program. The right-click menu hosts from basic options to custom options set by Windows and other programs. Depending on what you right-click on, the options you get will be different. That is the reason why it is called a Context Menu. Depending on the context, the options adapt or change. Simply put, the right-click menu is a versatile place to keep all the options while still being out of the way of regular use.
Since almost any program can add its own options to the right-click menu, it can become cluttered very soon. This is especially true if you have installed a lot of programs. This simply means that the right-click menu can also host options such as Edit in Paint 3D, Edit in Photos, etc., that you might neven use.
So, if you want to tidy up and remove useless options in the right-click menu, follow the below steps.
Note: Before proceeding any further, create a system restore point just to be on the safe side.
Steps to Clear Up Right-click Context Menu
Unfortunately, there are no built-in user-friendly options to quickly manage or rearrange the right-click menu. Rather, you have to fiddle with the Registry Menu. Thankfully, there is a simple and free third-party program called ShellMenuView which provides a clean UI to quickly enable or disable right-click menu items.
1. First, head over the ShellMenuView official website and download the software. It is a portable application. So, there is no need for any installation.
2. After download, extract the contents to a folder on your desktop.
Note: If your antivirus is showing a virus or threat alert, you can safely ignore it. That is just a false positive.
3. After extracting, open the folder and execute the EXE file. If you see a UAC prompt, click “Yes” to continue.
4. As soon as you open the application, it will list almost all the right-click items according to their Menu Name.
5. Find the option you want to disable, select it, and click on the “Red” dot icon appearing at the top navigation bar. This action will disable that particular item. Once disabled, you will see “Yes” in the Disabled column.
6. Sometimes, it can be hard to find what you are looking for. In those cases, use the different columns to sort the list. Just click on the column name the entries will be rearranged in ascending or descending order.
For example, I want to remove all the Paint 3D entries from the right-click menu. So, I sorted the “Menu Key” column by clicking on it. Then selected all the “3D Edit” entries and clicked on the “Red” dot icon to remove them from the right-click menu.
7. The changes are instant. Once you disable an entry in the ShellMenuView application, the target item will be instantly removed from the context menu. In my case, I disabled both “Edit with Paint” and “Edit with Paint 3d” options. As you can see from the below image, both options are removed from the right-click menu.
8. Do the same thing for all the right-click entries you would like to remove and you are done.
9. If you ever want to get restore a disabled or removed right-click item, simply select it in the application and click on the “Green” dot icon appearing on the top navigation bar.
Wrapping Up
Though not as elegant as selecting checkboxes with meaningful and straightforward names, the above method still is very useful and versatile in cleaning up the right-click menu. After all, the application eliminates the need to mess with the registry editor. One of the best things about the application is that it automatically hides standard entries so that you don’t disable them accidentally. But if you want to, you can unhide them from “Options → Hide Standard Menu Items”.
Keep in mind that even with the above application, you cannot completely remove some options because they are added on the fly. i.e, dynamically. If you want to deal with them then you need to use another application called ShellExView from the same developer.
Hope that helps. If you are stuck or need some help, comment below and I will try to help as much as possible.
