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I've been trying more and more to use the keyboard alone for most of my activities and avoid the mouse. The Context Menu key on most modern keyboards is an invaluable tool for this, as it brings the context menu for whatever the selected item is (just like right-clicking), something I didn't know until a few weeks ago.

However, my Dell Inspiron 1720 laptop keyboard does not have a context menu key (at least not that I can find).

Is there a key combination (Alt/Ctrl/Fn) that can be used to mimic that function, or a utility to remap the keyboard?

Thanks for your help.

2 Answers 2

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It's been a while since I used Windows, but wasn't SHIFT+F10 a replacement of that key a couple of Windows versions back when the majority of keyboards didn't even have it?

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  • 1
    Wow, good call. Works on XP, at least. Dec 10, 2009 at 20:09
  • Also works with Vista.
    – innaM
    Dec 10, 2009 at 20:14
  • 1
    Windows 7 as well =)
    – TJB
    Mar 8, 2012 at 8:21
  • Windows Server 2008 as well....keyboard ninjas rejoice! Nov 7, 2013 at 23:48
  • It doesn't replace it on Windows 7 taskbar. Pressing Win+T then Shift+F10 isn't the same as Win+T then Context or Win+Alt+1 which both opens the jump-list.
    – Adam L. S.
    Apr 18, 2014 at 0:55
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I don't believe there is a built-in key combination for that model. Go get SharpKeys, which will let you map another key you don't use often to the context menu key.

In SharpKeys, the context menu key is "Special: Application (E0_5D)".

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  • Ken, thanks for the pointer. I'd rather avoid loading my machine up with any more little utilities if there's another way to do it.
    – daveh551
    Dec 16, 2009 at 14:34
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    daveh551, SharpKeys don't have to run for the remapping to be working. They are only a GUI to specify the remapping and after restart, the remapping is handled by Windows. So it does not slow down your machine or anything. You can actually do it manually by editing the registry without SharpKeys.
    – Jirka-x1
    Nov 4, 2012 at 18:10

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