The "Send to" menu has been a cool and useful feature in Windows for generations. Use it to send, copy, or print an individual file to a specific location, device, application, or other item. But you may not think of using the Send to menu, as it might contain entries you don't use or not include entries you want. Well, that problem can easily be corrected as you can tweak the Send to menu to suit your needs. Let's see how this works.
First, open File Explorer in Windows 10 or 8.1 or Windows Explorer in a prior version of Windows. Right-click on a file, such as a word processing document, spreadsheet, text file, or image file. From the pop-up menu, move your mouse to the Send to command. The Send to menu flies open, revealing various locations and applications to which you can send the file.
Click on a specific entry, such as a Bluetooth device, a compressed zip file, a Mail recipient, or your Documents folder. The file you click on is then sent to the entry you select.
Okay, that's cool. But how do we beef up the Send to menu to display the locations and apps that you want? Press the Windows Key+R. At the Open field, type shell:SendTo and then click OK.
File Explorer, or Windows Explorer, opens to the SendTo folder for your user account; specifically it's: c:\users\[username]\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Windows\SendTo. From here, you can delete any entries you would never use by right-clicking on them and selecting Delete from the pop-up menu.
For example, you may never send a file as a fax to someone, so might want to delete the entry for Fax recipient. Or perhaps you don't envision sending a file to a Bluetooth device, so you can delete that entry as well.
If you're on the fence about deleting a certain entry, you can cut and paste it into another location, such as a backup folder. That way you can always move it back to the SendTo folder should you want it in the future.
Adding New Entries
To add new entries to the SendTo folder, open up another instance of File Explorer or Windows Explorer. Position the two Explorer windows side by side with the first one still open to the SendTo folder.
Now, let's say you want to add your Pictures folder as an entry for the Send to command. In the second Explorer window, right-click on the Pictures folder and select Copy from the pop-up menu.
Move to the SendTo folder in the first Explorer window, right-click, and select Paste Shortcut from the pop-up menu.
A shortcut for the Pictures folder appears in the SendTo folder. You can rename the shortcut if you wish, perhaps to remove the word Shortcut. Now if you click on a photo, you'll be able to send it directly to the Pictures folder by using the Send to command.
As another example, you can add an application to the Send to menu. Let's say you use Adobe Photoshop from time to time to edit images, and you want to create a SendTo entry for it. In the second Explorer window, move to the following folder: C:\Program Files (x86)\Adobe\Adobe Photoshop CS5. Look for the file named Photoshop.exe. Right-click on it, and select Copy from the pop-up menu.
Then right-click in the SendTo folder in the first Explorer window and choose Paste Shortcut from the menu.
Now you can click on an image file and open it in Photoshop by sending it to the Photoshop Send to entry.
You can experiment with other locations, applications, and devices to set up the Send to menu just the way you want it.
For more, check out:
- How to Customize Your Default Apps in Windows 10
- How to Customize, Control the Command Prompt in Windows 10
- How to Tweak Your Tiles in Windows 10
- How to Use and Tweak the Start Screen in Windows 10
- How to Use and Tweak Your Windows 10 Lock Screen