Windows 11 arrives with refreshed context menus – that is the menus that are pulled up by right-clicking. Such a context menu ranks among the most crucial Windows functions. But more often than not, such menus include a whole lot of items. Sometimes users have to keep scrolling through a lengthy list with dozens of options to find the desired simple commands – for example, the ones for copying or renaming the file.
All this is a crystal-clear indication of a noteworthy problem with the user interface or with the way the context menu functions at the present day. Using this input as a starting point to go off of, Microsoft has designed a new, improved and modernized context menu interface specifically for Windows 11. But there is a nuance to note: the updated and upgraded context menu lacks the support for existing shortcuts. So now it groups all those options under the item named “Show more options”.
WinRAR, the well-known and users’ favorite utility for archiving files in Windows, now receives support for the modernized Windows 11 context menu. In 6.10 beta, the WinRAR utility brings all of its elements to the fresh context menu.
Looking at the above screenshot, you can notice that the context menu now has a new WinRAR option, which means you no longer need to fall back on “Show more options” to access the available WinRAR features.
As explained in the changelog by the WinRAR developers, applications can only add a command or submenu of the top level to the upgraded context menu in Windows 11.
In addition, 7-Zip, a free-to-use file archiver with open source code, is expected to receive support for these upgraded menus. If it’s too unbearable for you to wait for the update of 7-Zip, you can instead download a clone of it – the archiver is called NanaZip.
Now it’s merely a matter of time – before long, more developers will roll out updates for their apps to include the support for the fresh Windows 11 menu. At some point, “Show more options” won’t be needed anymore. However, given the rollout pace of the new operating system, as well as the rather slow development of legacy apps, it becomes quite obvious that the subsection “Show more options” and the previous version of the context menu are still to be seen in Windows 11.
Microsoft has plans afoot to finish the full-scale rollout of Windows 11 by the middle of 2022. And shortly after that, before the end of 2022, the context menus will obtain additional enhancements – in particular, these will include recycle bin integration.
