Windows 10 context menu items missing when more than 15 files are selected

August 16, 2016

Windows 10 context menu items missing when more than 15 files are selected

If you have selected more than 15 files in File Explorer of Windows 10, you might be surprised that commands like Open, Print, and Edit disappear from the context menu. In this article, we will see how to allow all context menu registry verbs for more than 15 files selected.

This issue is not new to Windows 10. It also affects Windows 7, Windows 8/8.1 and Windows Vista. In File Explorer, there is a limitation added by Microsoft intentionally. When you select more than 15 files, File Explorer disables certain context menu commands. This is to avoid performing context menu registry actions on a large number of files at once which can cause the computer to stop responding.

The Edit and Print commands are visible for 10 selected files:

As soon as the 16th file is selected, they disappear:

If you need to get context menu entries working for more than 15 files, there is a simple Registry tweak to unblock them. Here is how it can be done.

Enable context menu commands for more than 15 files in Windows 10

Open Registry Editor.

Go to the following Registry key:

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer

Tip: see How to jump to the desired registry key with one click.

Create a 32-bit DWORD value named MultipleInvokePromptMinimum.

Even if you are running 64-bit Windows, you still need to create a 32-bit DWORD value.
Set its value data in decimals to the number of items in Explorer for which you wish to have commands like Open, Edit, or Print visible. In the example below, I set the DWORD value data to 200 in decimals, so context menu commands will remain accessible for up to 200 selected files.