Windows File Explorer includes preview pane Y details pane Options that display preview and info sidebars for selected files when enabled. These options are in a Show submenu inside explorer View menu. However, you can make those options more accessible by adding them to the right-click context menu in Explorer.
Here’s how to configure context menu shortcuts for file preview and Details panel features with and without third-party software in Windows 11/10.
A registry script is a file that modifies the Windows registry when applied. Instead of manually tweaking the registry to add a preview pane context option, we can configure a script to do it. You can set up a pre-made registration script that adds a preview pane context menu option in Notepad as follows:
- Click beginning to select the All applications navigation option in the main menu of Windows 11.
- Right click on the Notepad app in the menu and select Plus > Execute as an administrator.
- Select this text for the preview pane registration script with your mouse cursor and press the button Control + C key combination:
Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00
[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\AllFilesystemObjects\Shell\Windows.readingpane]
"CanonicalName"="{831e1a71-5be9-4934-be77-04baedc9f21b}"
"Description"="@shell32.dll,-31424"
"Icon"="shell32.dll,-16757"
"MUIVerb"="@shell32.dll,-31423"
"PaneID"="{893c63d1-45c8-4d17-be19-223be71be365}"
"PaneVisibleProperty"="ReadingPaneSizer_Visible"
"PolicyID"="{33dcce8d-b6f8-4b7a-ac93-45e301f956aa}"[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Directory\Background\Shell\Windows.readingpane]
"CanonicalName"="{831e1a71-5be9-4934-be77-04baedc9f21b}"
"Description"="@shell32.dll,-31424"
"Icon"="shell32.dll,-16757"
"MUIVerb"="@shell32.dll,-31423"
"PaneID"="{893c63d1-45c8-4d17-be19-223be71be365}"
"PaneVisibleProperty"="ReadingPaneSizer_Visible"
"PolicyID"="{33dcce8d-b6f8-4b7a-ac93-45e301f956aa}"[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Drive\Shell\Windows.readingpane]
"CanonicalName"="{831e1a71-5be9-4934-be77-04baedc9f21b}"
"Description"="@shell32.dll,-31424"
"Icon"="shell32.dll,-16757"
"MUIVerb"="@shell32.dll,-31423"
"PaneID"="{893c63d1-45c8-4d17-be19-223be71be365}"
"PaneVisibleProperty"="ReadingPaneSizer_Visible"
"PolicyID"="{33dcce8d-b6f8-4b7a-ac93-45e301f956aa}"[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\LibraryFolder\Background\Shell\Windows.readingpane]
"CanonicalName"="{831e1a71-5be9-4934-be77-04baedc9f21b}"
"Description"="@shell32.dll,-31424"
"Icon"="shell32.dll,-16757"
"MUIVerb"="@shell32.dll,-31423"
"PaneID"="{893c63d1-45c8-4d17-be19-223be71be365}"
"PaneVisibleProperty"="ReadingPaneSizer_Visible"
"PolicyID"="{33dcce8d-b6f8-4b7a-ac93-45e301f956aa}" - Then click anywhere inside the Notepad text editor and press the button Control + v hotkey to paste the content of the copied registration script.
- Select Notepad Proceedings menu button.
- Click Save as to open a window for saving files.
- Move your cursor over the Save as type the menu and click to select the All the files option there.
- Click inside the File Name box to enter Pane.reg Preview.
- Choose to save the Preview Pane.reg file to the Windows 11 desktop so you can quickly find it.
- press the Save money and close the Notepad app.
Now it’s time to run your script:
- Double click on the Preview Pane.reg registry script file which you should now see on your desktop.
- Click Yes in a Registry Editor prompt asking for confirmation to continue.
- Another dialog will open to confirm that the script has modified the registry. Select okay there to close the message window.
a new preview pane The shortcut will now be in the classic Windows 11 context menu. To try it out, open File Explorer with Win + E and right-click on an image or document file. you should see a show more options input to access the classic context menu.
Click on the new preview pane option in the classic menu to enable the function. Selecting the option a second time will disable the preview sidebar again.
Once enabled, you will see a preview sidebar for any file you have selected in File Explorer. The preview shows the content of the selected file in a sidebar as in the screenshot directly below. It’s a useful feature because you can see in the sidebar if a selected file is one that you need to open before opening it.
you can remove the preview pane context menu option if you prefer not to keep it there. First, open Registry Editor and go to HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\AllFilesystemObjects\shell\Windows.readingpane in the address bar key of Registry Editor. Right click on the Windows Reading Pane key to select Eraseand click Yes for confirmation.
Selecting Explorer’s details pane The option enables a feature that displays additional information for selected files, such as size, creation date, image dimensions, etc. For some image files, you can manually add comments, author, tag, camera, and subject details in the info sidebar. Therefore, the Details panel can be especially useful for photographers.
You can add a details pane option to the context menu by setting up a log script in Notepad in the same way as for the Explorer preview pane. However, you will need to add a different registration script in the text editor for step three of the above method. Here’s the Details panel script that you’ll need to copy and paste into Notepad:
Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\AllFilesystemObjects\Shell\Windows.previewpane]
"CanonicalName"="{1380d028-a77f-4c12-96c7-ea276333f982}"
"Description"="@shell32.dll,-31416"
"Icon"="shell32.dll,-16814"
"MUIVerb"="@shell32.dll,-31415"
"PaneID"="{43abf98b-89b8-472d-b9ce-e69b8229f019}"
"PaneVisibleProperty"="PreviewPaneSizer_Visible"
"PolicyID"="{17067f8d-981b-42c5-98f8-5bc016d4b073}"
[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Directory\Background\Shell\Windows.previewpane]
"CanonicalName"="{1380d028-a77f-4c12-96c7-ea276333f982}"
"Description"="@shell32.dll,-31416"
"Icon"="shell32.dll,-16814"
"MUIVerb"="@shell32.dll,-31415"
"PaneID"="{43abf98b-89b8-472d-b9ce-e69b8229f019}"
"PaneVisibleProperty"="PreviewPaneSizer_Visible"
"PolicyID"="{17067f8d-981b-42c5-98f8-5bc016d4b073}"
[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Drive\Shell\Windows.previewpane]
"CanonicalName"="{1380d028-a77f-4c12-96c7-ea276333f982}"
"Description"="@shell32.dll,-31416"
"Icon"="shell32.dll,-16814"
"MUIVerb"="@shell32.dll,-31415"
"PaneID"="{43abf98b-89b8-472d-b9ce-e69b8229f019}"
"PaneVisibleProperty"="PreviewPaneSizer_Visible"
"PolicyID"="{17067f8d-981b-42c5-98f8-5bc016d4b073}"
[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\LibraryFolder\background\Shell\Windows.previewpane]
"CanonicalName"="{1380d028-a77f-4c12-96c7-ea276333f982}"
"Description"="@shell32.dll,-31416"
"Icon"="shell32.dll,-16814"
"MUIVerb"="@shell32.dll,-31415"
"PaneID"="{43abf98b-89b8-472d-b9ce-e69b8229f019}"
"PaneVisibleProperty"="PreviewPaneSizer_Visible"
"PolicyID"="{17067f8d-981b-42c5-98f8-5bc016d4b073}"
Simply follow the steps above to set up a preview registration script with that Details panel script. Save the script to the desktop with a file title Details Pane.reg. Double-click the Details Panel file on the desktop and select Yes > okay to apply it.
Then open the classic context menu again by right-clicking on a file and selecting show more options. Or you can select a file and press Change + F10 to see that menu. Either way, that menu will include a details pane option you can select to view a sidebar of information for files.
You can also remove the details pane context menu option similarly to the preview pane shortcut. However, you must delete a windows.previewpane key instead of Windows Reading Pane a. You can find that key in the HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\AllFilesystemObjects\shell\Windows.previewpane registry location.
How to add details and preview pane options with the context menu tuner
Context Menu Tuner is a decent free app that makes customizing the Windows 11 context menu a breeze. That app includes several command options that you can select to add to the context menu. You can add options to enable/disable preview and detail sidebars in Explorer context menu with that software like this:
- Open this Context Menu Tuner Softpedia webpage and click the download now option for that software from there.
- Select the Softpedia Secure Download Location (US) option to save the ZIP file for the context menu tuner.
- Open the Explorer window and the cmt (Context Menu Tuner) ZIP file from whatever directory (folder) your browser is set to download to.
- Select the Remove all option for cmd ZIP in the Explorer command bar.
- Click on the Extract Compressed Folders utility show extracted files to select that setting.
- Select Extract to see an unzipped cmt folder that includes ContextMenuTuner.exe.
- Right click on ContextMenuTuner.exe to select Execute as an administrator and start the software.
- Select the preview pane command in the left column.
- Then select All the files in the right column.
- press the Add button.
- Select the Add to selected item option in the small menu.
- Repeat the previous four steps for the Details panel command.
- Now open the classic context menu to see the new panel options.
You can later remove those options at any time with the Context Menu Tuner software without manually deleting the keys for them. Select the panels in the right column of Context Menu Tuner and click the Remove button.
Take full advantage of Explorer’s preview and details panes
Explorer panes for file previews and details are useful features. Since you can’t have both panes open at once, you’ll need to switch between those sidebars on a regular basis. Adding context menu options for those panels will give you a more direct way to enable/disable them when needed.
