Windows Vista – Add “Move to Folder” And “Copy to Folder” Options to Windows Explorer Right-Click Context Menu
If you wish to move a file or make a copy of a file to another destination in Windows, you normally need to cut or copy the file and navigate to the desired destination via Windows Explorer and paste it. However, if you are a Windows Vista user, you have an easier way to browse to the desired destination folder.
You may use the “Move To Folder” or “Copy To Folder” options from the right-click context menu of your Windows Explorer. The moment you click on any of these options, you will get a pop-up window which will allow you to select a desired destination folder for moving/ copying the file to.
Although, this functionality is hidden in Windows Vista, you can easily add the “Move To Folder” and “Copy To Folder” options to the right-click context menu of your Windows Explorer by using a simple registry trick. You may make the necessary changes in the system registry manually or just create a registry file and run it so as to merge the respective registry values.
Manual Method:
- Open the Start menu and select “Start Search”. Type in “regedit” followed by “Enter” to open the Registry Editor. If you are prompted with User Account Control, simply click on “Continue”.
- Locate the below mentioned registry key HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\AllFilesystemObjects\shellex\ContextMenuHandlers
- Right-click on the registry entry “ContextMenuHandlers” and select “New” from the right-click context menu. Then, from the “New” submenu select “Key” and name this newly created key as “Move To”.
- Now, in the right window pane, double-click on “Move To” key and in the “Edit String” window, enter the value {C2FBB631-2971-11D1-A18C-00C04FD75D13} within the text field for Value data.
- Similarly, repeat step no. 4 to create another key by the name “Copy To” and then repeat step no. 5 to set its value data as {C2FBB630-2971-11D1-A18C-00C04FD75D13}
- Exit the Registry Editor.
Creating and Running Registry File:
- Copy and paste the following string into a notepad (or any text editor).
Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00
[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\AllFilesystemObjects\shellex\ContextMenuHandlers\Copy To]
@=”{C2FBB630-2971-11D1-A18C-00C04FD75D13}”
[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\AllFilesystemObjects\shellex\ContextMenuHandlers\Move To]
@=”{C2FBB631-2971-11D1-A18C-00C04FD75D13}”
- Save the notepad file by the name “AddCopyMoveTo.reg”.
- Simply double-click on the file “AddCopyMoveTo.reg” to execute it. This will automatically create the registry keys “Copy To” and “Move To” in the system registry.
Once you have added the registry keys “Move To” and “Copy To” to the system registry either manually or by running the registry file, the options “Move To Folder” and “Copy To Folder” will appear in the right-click context menu of your Windows Explorer when you right-click on a file.
Anytime in future, if you wish to remove these options from the right-click context menu, you just need to follow the below mentioned steps:
- Copy and paste the following string into a notepad (or any text editor).
Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00
[-HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Allfilesystemobjects\shellex\ContextMenuHandlers\Copy To]
[-HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Allfilesystemobjects\shellex\ContextMenuHandlers\Move To]
- Save the notepad file by the name “RemCopyToMoveTo.reg”.
- Double-click on the file “RemCopyToMoveTo.reg” to execute it. This will remove “Move To Folder” or “Copy To Folder” options from the right-click context menu.