Windows 11's cluttered and controversial context menus are going away

A Windows File Explorer window is open on the “Demo” folder, showing an image of an ibex on the right preview pane. The context menu displays options like Open, Set as desktop background, and Print. — (Image credit: Future)

Windows 11's messy context menus will be a thing of the past, according to Marcus Ash, VP of Design and Research for Windows & Devices. Microsoft is "working on making context menus faster [and] simpler by default," according to the executive.

The context menus of Windows 11 have been controversial since the launch of the operating system (and even before that if you consider preview builds). Many, including myself, consider them cluttered, inconsistent, and irritating to navigate.

Despite a busy week in which Microsoft announced the Surface Laptop Ultra and the Surface RTX Spark, Ash found some time to discuss Windows 11 context menus on X.

@TeaAndDates @marchr working on making context menus faster, simpler by default, configurable to what you use most. more will be shared on our approach soon.June 3, 2026

We've known about Microsoft's plans to improve context menus for a while. The company discussed a split context menu last year that groups relevant options into categories. For example, options related to images would appear in a split context menu labeled "Photos."

Microsoft is also working to improve the performance of context menus as part of its Windows K2 initiative.

Grouping options together would go a long way in those efforts. The screenshot shared by X users "Guilherme" takes up the entire height of their screen.

Ash's promise of configurable context menus is intriguing. There are several items that appear in the context menu that are entirely useless to a large number of people. While some may value a shortcut to edit a video in Clipchamp, many would be happier to never see that choice appear. It would be even better if Microsoft allowed users to replace that shortcut with their preferred video editor.

I compiled an overview of Windows 11 and Office context menus in 2026: still a mixed bag, still not done, but improving from r/Windows11

It would also be nice to see Microsoft clean up and unify all context menus on Windows 11 and Microsoft's in-box apps, but that seems less likely. Because Microsoft supports so many legacy apps and contains so many old components, mismatched context menus are ubiquitous across the OS.

It's not just context menus across different parts of Windows 11 that are not aligned, even some apps have different context menus depending on where you right-click.

A Reddit post by "NobleDiceDream" shows several of the different context menus present in Windows 11.

Hopefully Ash and Microsoft's vision of faster and simpler context menus ship soon. Fingers crossed that we'll be able to remove the AI actions section in File Explorer as well.

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Sean Endicott is a news writer and apps editor for Windows Central with 11+ years of experience. A Nottingham Trent journalism graduate, Sean has covered the industry’s arc from the Lumia era to the launch of Windows 11 and generative AI. Having started at Thrifter, he uses his expertise in price tracking to help readers find genuine hardware value.

Beyond tech news, Sean is a UK sports media pioneer. In 2017, he became one of the first to stream via smartphone and is an expert in AP Capture systems. A tech-forward coach, he was named 2024 BAFA Youth Coach of the Year. He is focused on using technology—from AI to Clipchamp—to gain a practical edge.