How to Add a Move and Copy to Folder Context Menu Options in Windows 10 & 11

You may frequently need to move or copy files to alternative folders in Windows. To do this, you might move files to different folders by dragging and dropping them. To copy a file to another location, you can either hold the Ctrl key while dragging or utilize the copy-paste hotkeys.

It would be better to have context menu options for moving and copying files to selected locations. Then you could right-click a file and select a Move to folder or Copy to folder option. This is how you can add context menu options for moving and copying files to folders in Windows 11/10.

How to Add a Move to Folder Context Menu Option

To add new context menu options in Windows 11/10, you must tweak the Windows registry one way or another. The Registry Editor app enables users to customize Windows’ right-click menus by manually tweaking the registry. You can add a Move to folder option to the context menu with the Registry Editor as follows:

1. Bring up the Registry Editor with a method included in our how to open regedit guide.
2. Click inside the address bar at the top of Registry Editor and erase the current key location there.
3. Then enter this ContextMenuHandlers key location and press Return:

HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\AllFilesystemObjects\shellex\ContextMenuHandlers

4. Next, right-click ContextMenuHandlers and select the New submenu.
5. Click Key on the submenu.
6. Enter Move to folder for the new key’s name.
7. Select the new Move to folder key in the Registry Editor’s sidebar.
8. Double-click the (Default) string for the selected key.
9. Input {C2FBB631-2971-11D1-A18C-00C04FD75D13} inside the Value data box.
10. Select OK to set the new value for the (Default) string.
11. Exit the Registry Editor.

You can now try out the new Move to folder option on the context menu. Press the Explorer taskbar button to view the Windows file manager. Right-click a file and select the new Move to folder option. You’ll need to select Show more options > Move to folder in Windows 11.

A small Move Items window will then appear from which you can select a destination folder. Choose a folder to move the file to in that window. Then click Move to place the file in the selected directory.

How to Add a Copy to Folder Context Menu Option

The Windows context menu includes a Copy option, but that doesn’t enable you to select a destination for pasting the file. Thus, users must manually paste copied items into different folders after selecting that option. However, you can add a better Copy to folder context menu option that brings up a destination folder selection window like this:

1. Open the ContextMenuHandlers registry key as covered in the first three steps for adding a Move to folder option.
2. Click the ContextMenuHandlers with the right mouse button and select its New option.
3. Select Key to add a new one to the registry.
4. Type Copy to folder inside the text box for the new key.
5. Select Copy to folder and double-click its (Default) string.
6. Enter the value {C2FBB630-2971-11D1-A18C-00C04FD75D13} inside the Data box.
7. Click the OK button to apply the value.
8. Close the Registry Editor app’s window.

Then you can select the Copy to folder context menu option much the same as the move one. Right-click a file in Explorer, select Show more options (in Windows 11), and click Copy to folder. A Copy Items window will open from which you can choose a folder to include the copied file. Clicking Copy will paste the item into the selected folder.

You can remove the "Copy/Move to folder" options from the right-click menu by deleting their registry keys. Open the ContextMenuHandlers key location specified in step three for adding a Move to folder context menu option. Right-click the Copy to folder or Move to folder registry key and select Delete. Select Yes when prompted to confirm you’re sure about erasing that key.