Microsoft introduced a new File Explorer context menu in Windows 11. This streamlined menu replaced the classic menu by default, but users can still open it from the new context menu or by holding down the Shift-key before they right-click.
Windows 11 has been around for a few years now, and some Windows 11 users may have noticed that the new context menu has grown in size since then. This is understandable to a degree. Third-party app developers learned how to add entries to the new menu so that links to their apps were shown directly to users.
Good to know:
Microsoft did add a fair share of items to the context menu as well. You may notice a OneDrive folder, a Share with Skype option, an Edit with Notepad option for any file type and more there now.
Chance is, you may not need all of them. This guide explains how to remove the OneDrive entry.
Tip: you can remove the apps, if you do not use them, to get rid of the context menu items. If you do use them, you may follow the guide to remove them while leaving the apps untouched.
Remove OneDrive from Windows 11’s context menu
- Open the Start menu.
- Type regedit.exe and press the Enter-key
- Select Yes to continue.
- Paste HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Shell Extensions\Blocked into the Path at the top and press the Enter-key.
- Right-click on Blocked.
- Select New > String value.
- Name it {1FA0E654-C9F2-4A1F-9800-B9A75D744B00}.
- Double-click on the value.
- Set its name to OneDrive.
The change takes effect on the next restart. You may also log off and then on again, or restart the explorer.exe process.
The OneDrive listing should no longer be visible in the context menu afterwards. Note that this does not impact any other OneDrive functionality on the device. Also note that this applies only to the user account under which the change was made.
Now You: how do you handle context menu entries that you do not need? Do you remove them to streamline the context menu or keep and ignore them? Feel free to leave a comment down below.
corrected:
You listed the Share with Skype extension GUID. The OneDrive entry should be
{1FA0E654-C9F2-4A1F-9800-B9A75D744B00}
Thank you!
1. I “Enable classic full context menus” in Winareo Tweaker.
2. I further customize it by following guides found on Elevenforums to remove all the bloat I’ll never use and add useful things that are missing like, open admin terminal/command/powershell here, copy as path, take ownership.
Note: Removing “Bitmap” from the ‘New’ sub-menu hasn’t been done successfully last I checked. Why M.$ decided this entry was so important is very perplexing. Who ever creates a new bitmap?
Eliminate the entire issue:
https://winaero.com/uninstall-onedrive/
I appreciate WinAero and UWT for making those small tweaks that keep Windows 11 totally useful. I’m not so sure One Drive is even installed on my Windows 11 computers; I’ve never noticed an entry in the Context Menu.
Keeping the Context Menu clean–may want to write a self-help article on that one. I’ve found Kerish Doctor and Glary Utilities to have decent cleaners. CCleaner, not so bad. The usualy Nirsoft options.