The “Send To” menu is a feature of Windows that has been around for a very long time. It provides a quick way of copying virtually any file or folder to another location on your computer.
Both Windows 10 and Windows 11 still support the “send to” menu, but by default, it only includes a few options and some of those are practically redundant these days.
The good news is that you can easily add and remove options from the menu.
How To Use The Send To Menu.
In Windows 10, right-click on an item (a file or folder) to open the Options menu. Then move your pointer onto “Send To”. A second menu will open. This second menu (or context menu) shows all the locations where you could send (or copy) the file/folder.
In Windows 11, the Options menu has been changed or streamlined. When you right-click an item, You’ll see a much-reduced Options menu. Left-click SHOW MORE OPTIONS and that will open the exact same options menu as in Windows 10.
Restore The Windows 11 Right Click Menu.
Microsoft changed the right click options menu for Windows 11. It’snow much shorter with far less options available until you click the “Show more options” button.
If you preferred the older style options menu, such as that in Windows 10, you can re-enable it. It involves creating a couple of new registry keys. To find out how to do it click How To Restore All Options To The Windows 11 Right Click Context Menu.
Then you simply left-click on one of the options in the context menu.
In this example, I’m sending my file to my Documents folder.
It’s important to note that the file is copied, not moved, to the Documents folder.
This doesn’t work like Cut and Paste, it’s much more Copy and Paste.
How To Add Locations To The Send To Menu.
To make the “send to” menu more useful, and more relevant to you personally, you can customise it by adding the locations that you use.
To add in new locations, you’ll need to open the Send To folder. It’s a special folder that’s part of Windows itself. There are two ways of getting to the folder.
The quickest and easiest way to open the Send To folder is to press the Windows key and the letter R on your keyboard at the same time.
That will open the RUN box. Type –
shell:SendTo
Into the box and then click the OK button.
Instead of typing it you could also Copy and Paste it from here.
Navigating To The Send To Folder.
Alternatively, you could navigate to the folder using File Explorer. Navigate to C:/Users/YourAccountName/AppData/Roaming/Microsoft/Windows/SendTo
Note that the AppData folder is a hidden folder. So to find it, you’ll need to change the folder view options to show hidden folders.
Adding Locations (Shortcuts).
When you’re adding locations to the Send To folder, what you’re actually doing is adding a shortcut. A shortcut to the folder or drive that you want to appear on the menu.
To add a new shortcut to the “send to” menu, right-click within the folder.
On the options menu, move your pointer onto the word NEW. Then on the second menu, left-click SHORTCUT.
Select A Folder.
The Create Shortcut window will open. Click the BROWSE button to bring up the folder selection window.
Use the folder selection window to navigate to the folder you want to add, select it and then click the OK button.
In the example below, I’m going to add the Pictures folder.
After clicking the OK button, you’ll be returned to the Create Shortcut window.
The location of your chosen folder will be automatically entered into the Location box.
Click the NEXT button.
Name That Shortcut.
You can give your new shortcut any name you would like. Anything that makes sense to you.
Simply type whatever you want into the Name box or just leave it as is to accept the default name.
Click Finish when you’re ready.
A New Location Is Added To Send To Menu.
After clicking the Finish button, you’ll see your new shortcut appear within the SendTo folder. Now all you need to do is to test it out.
Right-click on a file or folder, move to the Send To option and check that the new location is showing up.
How To Remove Shortcuts From The Send To Menu.
To make the Send To menu easier to use, it’s a good idea to remove any items that you’re not likely to need. Menus that have too many options are more complex than they actually need to be.
You can remove any or all of the default options as you see fit. Personally, if you’re using Windows 10, I’d definitely leave the Compressed (Zipped) folder option. But other than that, it’s up to you.
Open the Send To folder by pressing the Windows key and the letter R on your keyboard at the same time.
Then type (or copy and paste) –
shell:SendTo
Into the Run box and click the OK button.
Once you’re inside the SendTo folder, right-click on any of the shortcuts that you want to remove. On the menu that appears, left-click delete.
Summary.
The “send to” option on the right-click context menu is a great time saver. It’s worth taking a few minutes to get it set up with the folders and drives that you use.
Just bear in mind that when you send something to a location on the menu, you are copying and pasting it. So you will have duplicate files and folders.
