Despite some of the operating system’s merits, the widespread shift from using Windows 10 to Windows 11 has not been smooth, far from it. People continue to abandon Windows 11 in favor of alternative operating systems like Linux for all sorts of reasons, from performance issues to privacy concerns and unwanted AI integrations. One particular part of Windows 11 that has been a problem for users is the new context menu.
For a while, Windows 11 context menus – which appear when you right-click – may seem cluttered and load slowly. Now, Microsoft is finally rolling out an update that should make the menu less cluttered, easier to read, and perhaps most importantly, faster to load. This follows other changes that helped make the right-click feature faster and simpler in November 2025.
According to the Windows Blog, the “new redesigned context menu” is starting to roll out and will be available when you navigate in File Explorer. Currently, it is only available in Windows 11 Insider Experimental Preview Build 26340.9212, released on August 17, 2026. If you’re not a Windows Insider, you can most likely expect to see updated context menus alongside other File Explorer changes when Windows 11 version 26H2 launches or rolls out as part of subsequent updates.
What changes are coming to the Windows 11 context menu?
If the context menu changes in Windows 11 Insider Experimental Preview build 26340.9212, we have a reasonable idea of ​​how context menus might change in the near future. As mentioned, the menus will become lighter, with fewer options available at the top of the menu. Features you use often should be easy to find, with fewer other options cluttering the menu.
Based on an image shared on the Windows Blog, which you can see above, common functions like Cut, Copy, and Rename will be available as radio buttons at the top of the menu, while the rest of the menu will be simplified and reorganized. Features like Open and Open With return to the top of the list like they were in Windows 10, and several features will be hidden in the App Extensions submenu. However, keep in mind that the menus may change based on Windows Insider feedback, so they may look a little different in the final rollout.
You can also customize the appearance of context menus to better suit your needs via the Settings menu, where you can enable or disable functions as you see fit. This is especially useful if you have a lot of third-party software installed on your PC, which can easily infiltrate your context menus. Alternatively, after updating, you can go back to Windows 10 context menus completely if you prefer.
