How To Remove Items From The New Menu In Windows File Explorer

The New Item menu in File Explorer lets you create new files in the current folder, but you might not ever use some of the options. Here’s how to remove unwanted entries from the list.

You can access the New Item menu by clicking the “New item” button option when you’re in a File Explorer folder.

You can also access it by right-clicking an empty area in a folder and then pointing to the “New” option on the context menu that appears.

Some programs will add new file types to this menu automatically, which can clutter up the menu if you’re never likely to use them. To remove an entry, you need to go into the Windows Registry and delete an entry.

RELATED: How to Clean Up Your Messy Windows Context Menu

Standard Warning: Registry Editor is a powerful tool and misusing it can render your system unstable or even inoperable. This is a pretty simple hack, and as long as you stick to the instructions, you shouldn’t have any problems. That said, if you’ve never worked with it before, consider reading about how to use the Registry Editor before you get started. And definitely back up the Registry (and your computer!) before making changes.

Open the Registry Editor by hitting Start and typing “regedit.” Press Enter to open Registry Editor and then permit it to make changes to your PC.

In the left sidebar of the Registry Editor will be a top-level key named HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT.

All of the files types are stored in here. We’re going to remove the “Contact” file type from the New Item menu. Expand the HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT key by clicking on the arrow next to it and then scroll down to find the file extension you want to remove from the New Item menu (in our case, this is “.contact” for a Contact file).

Expand that key, and you’ll see a subkey called “ShellNew.”

Right-click this key and click “Delete” on the context menu.

A confirmation message will appear. If you’re sure you want to remove the file type from the New Item menu, click “Yes.”

And that’s it. The file type—in this case, the Contact file type—is no longer in the New Item menu.

If you’ve deleted something incorrectly, you can add it back in, although you’ll need to create a template file first. This usually is as simple as creating a blank file and using that, but check out our guide for the full instructions.