How can I add an item to the 'new' context menu?

Question

When I right click anywhere I get an option to add a new file file a specified extension. I would like to add some custom files into this menu, so I can right click and create a new PHP file for instance.

How can I do this?

Answer 1

To add extensions of your choice to the list: create a file, add the content below, save it as whatever.reg, and run it.

Note: Replace .png with the file extension you want to add and replace whatever with anything you want.

Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\.png\ShellNew]
"NullFile"=""

Source

Answer 2

One more thing:

If you want to add a file as a template for the new item, use

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\.html\ShellNew]
"FileName"="html.html"

and then place the file (html.html) in

C:\Windows\ShellNew

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One more detail: if you want to delete the "Windows Live Call" entry, use:

[-HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\.wlcshrtctv2\LiveCall\ShellNew]

Answer 3

Go in to registry editor and expand HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT

Go to .file_extention

and create a key called ShellNew

Inside that, create a new string key called NullFile with no value

For example, if I wanted to create a new entry for a blank .wil object* I would create

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\.wil\ShellNew]
NullFile = ""

*if the file extension such as .wil does not exist, I would first create a file with that extension and double click it. Open it with the program of my choice as this would then create the other needed registry keys and make your job easier.

Answer 4

ShellNewHandler helped me to restore my Windows 7 shell menu > New > txt document entry.

1. Uncheck .txt
2. Click Apply
3. Check .txt
4. Click Apply

Answer 5

For removing entries from the list, here is a program which allows you to enable/disable entries from a GUI. Much easier than searching the registry!

Unfortunately, it does not allow you to add entries.

Answer 6

I don't think you have to comb through every file extension in HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT to delete entries from your shell new menu.

To remove entries from the ShellNew menu in Windows 7, all you have to edit the "Classes" REG_MULTI_SZ in the following registry key:

HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\Discardable\PostSetup\ShellNew

Since it's in HKCU, it's per-user customizable.

Answer 7

The registry key:

HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\Discardable\PostSetup\ShellNew

cannot be changed to accomplish what is displayed or not displayed on the "New" context menu. If you change that value, it will be overridden by Explorer the next time you right click and bring up the "New" context menu. Try it and you will see what I mean.

Answer 8

Create a plain text file and add the following line to it:

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Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\.txt\ShellNew]
"NullFile"=""

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Save the file and rename it's extention to a .reg file. E.g. "myNewItem.reg". Be sure that you renamed the extention and not only the file name like (myNewItem.reg.txt)

Double click the file and it will update your registry.

The next step, and that is very important, restart your computer directly. So DON'T try to open the content menu to see if it's already works! First restart you computer.

If you open the content menu to see if your amazing new item is already listed, the registry will be restored ...

Also try this program: http://sourceforge.net/projects/shellnewhandler/

Answer 9

You didn't say what version of Windows you're using--if it's XP you can download the TweakUI PowerToy from Microsoft (also covered in Wikipedia). Click on Templates and add/remove file types to your heart's content. Here's what it looks like: