Author Topic: Simplest way to add a command to Explorer's shell menu? (Read 18,570 times)

tranglos · « **on:** December 06, 2007, 11:42 PM »

Okay, I really should know this, but there it is, I don't

I need to add a single command to Explorer's context menu for all files (not folders), manually. I hardly ever use Explorer, since Total Commander is my thing, but there's an increasing number of apps that embed explorer's shell nenu in their file listings (Nero, Acronis True Image, etc). Often I want to view the contents of files in these contexts, but there is no viewer in XP and "Open with" doesn't qute cut it for effiiciency. So I want to add a command, for every file type, that will open the file in Total Commander's lister.exe.

I know there are tools to remove junk from the shell menu (e.g. Shell menu view by Nirsoft), but now I want to do the reverse, hopefully for free. I've no problems with editing the registry, and I think the entry should go under HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\*\shellex\ContextMenuHandlers, but that's about what I can figure out. In Explorer -> Tools -> Folder options -> File types you can only add a new action for a specific file type; specifying no extension or "*" doesn't work. (The former produces an error, the latter is ignored.)

I should really know this by now. I was sick with fever when they taught shell menus, I was.

.marek

kimmchii · « **Reply #1 on:** December 07, 2007, 12:23 AM »

create a shortcut in the "send to" folder then right click on file>send to>the program?

tranglos · « **Reply #2 on:** December 07, 2007, 01:44 AM »

Quote from: kimmchii on December 07, 2007, 12:23 AM

create a shortcut in the "send to" folder then right click on file>send to>the program?

Ah! It's been years since I used Send To last, but there it is, thanks! :) I'd still prefer a menu item that doesn't require fishing through a submenu, but this will do fine for now.

.marek

AndyM · « **Reply #3 on:** December 07, 2007, 03:40 AM »

Does this help:?

http://www.donationcoder.com/forum/index.php?topic=9357.msg69966#msg69966

tranglos · « **Reply #4 on:** December 07, 2007, 04:20 AM »

Thank you, Andy! It's "shell", not "shellex", after all. For the record, here's the two settings required:

The "OpenWithLister" key is just an internal handle, can be anything. For the "(Default)" value specify the menu item label (with hotkey):

Next, add a "Command" subkey, and for the "(Default)" value specify the path to program and argument:

Now I have my beloved lister everywhere and it's all good!
.marek