Which registry key controls the right click options for selected text


  1. Posts : 232
    Win 10 Ver 1903
       #1

    Which registry key controls the right click options for selected text


    In almost any file that contains text such as notepad, or any windows 'box' where typing is allowed, when you select some or all of the text displayed by highlighting it, the right click menu offered for the selected text contains things like 'Open IME' or 'Right to left Reading Order' and a few others including cut, copy, paste, and delete.
    Is it possible to add any custom actions to the these and if so where would I do it?
    If I wanted to use the selected text in an application, is there a way to use the selection as a variable passed to the application by adding an option for that function to this menu?
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  2. Posts : 42,920
    Win 10 Pro (22H2) (2nd PC is 22H2)
       #2

    Hello, there are only general programs for adding items to the context menu, not specific to that context as far as I've seen. Some only add preset functions, others like those below allow you to add anything.

    Tthe more comprehensive context menu editors tend not to be free.
    This one is:
    Right Click Context Menu Adder: Freeware to Add Useful Shortcuts in Windows 7 and Later Desktop Context Menu - AskVG
    (See under 'Functions')

    More:
    http://www.1-abc.net/0023/index.htm
    Right click configurator

    Context Menu Manager by Fahmy - rather a cluttered GUI but potentially pretty much ever option

    As to whether the program you add to the context menu would process the clipboard (selected/copied text) that would be a function of that added program.
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  3. Posts : 232
    Win 10 Ver 1903
    Thread Starter
       #3

    Thanks. I will see if that program works with Windows 10. I certainly don't mind buying a tool that will get the job done. The problem right now is I cannot even do it manually because I cannot find the right key to edit. The lines displayed for selected text always show those same options but when iI search the registry for "Open IME" or 'Right to left Reading Order' it always times out and never returns a key with those values.
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  4. Posts : 42,920
    Win 10 Pro (22H2) (2nd PC is 22H2)
       #4

    Maybe the first tricky bit will be to find a way to get a new context entry appearing in that context...

    Using Context Edit I noted this (presumably ref. IME - note the parameter):

    Which registry key controls the right click options for selected text-snap-2016-05-14-14.54.33.jpg
    Last edited by dalchina; 14 May 2016 at 08:56.
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  5. Posts : 232
    Win 10 Ver 1903
    Thread Starter
       #5

    Yeah, i see what you mean. I have just run through every tool in the toolbox. I cannot find anything that points directly to the specific location and action and there may not even be one. In the search, i did find a nifty tool named Textify "http://rammichael.com/textify" by an author I happen to know of but even that isn't a direct path to the action i am trying to accomplish. But getting closer
    There are 100's of extensions to do this IF you are already in Chrome but getting a browser to open and use selected text is probably going to take some fancy scripting
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  6. Posts : 42,920
    Win 10 Pro (22H2) (2nd PC is 22H2)
       #6

    Actually you don't get that context menu in every case where text input is allowed- even if text is selected....
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  7. Posts : 232
    Win 10 Ver 1903
    Thread Starter
       #7

    Yes, such as in an email etc. I had seen that but i figured best to look for the most basic of entries and work my way up. I am now trying to write this into a vbs script and hopefully i can find a place to link that to the clipboard. Still not sure how to control the activation though.
    I can get VBS to open my browser , open google Search. But that was the easy part. The text is loaded into the clipboard .. now if I can get something to inject the contents of clipboard into the google Search box which is where the focus is when the vbs runs I may get there yet,
    Every site i searched from page 1 to page 15 in various google searches invariably leads back to already being in Chrome.
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  8. Posts : 131
    Windows 10 Pro 64-bit
       #8

    http://www.nirsoft.net/utils/nircmd.html

    has a clipboard handler that allows access in scripts to the clipboard data.

    Write your script using it and place that in the 'shell\name\ command' key under the file type you want the context menu.

    You can use registry entries '*' for every file type, 'Drive' for drives, 'Folder', etc.

    For example,

    Code:
    [HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\*\shell\Check MD5 Hash\command]
    @="C:\\Program Files (x86)\\md5deep\\md5hashCheck.bat %1"
    or

    Code:
    [HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Folder\shell\De-Stream\Command]
    @="\"C:\\SysinternalsSuite\\streams.exe\" -s -d \"%1\""
    or

    Code:
    [HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Drive\shell\MD5 Hash Drive\command]
    @="runas /profile /user:Administrator \"cmd.exe /k \\\"C:\\Program Files (x86)\\md5deep\\md5-hash-drive.bat\\\" %1"

    Here are more answers:

    Access clipboard in Windows batch file - Stack Overflow
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  9. Posts : 232
    Win 10 Ver 1903
    Thread Starter
       #9

    Thanks ARACHNAUT.!
    I have been a fan of Nir Sofer since i saw his first package back in the days of Bulletin board postings. Back then I used to put the nircmd on every system I built. But I admit that I have not looked at it for along time. Though i have used many of his standalone utilities.

    The only thing left to making this a perfect solution is my original search for a way to add ANY command to the right click options for selected text. Clipbrd.exe is no longer an "available" command in Win 10. While there are many replacements, most of them tried to one-up each other so i cant be sure that it only does the bare minimum needed.
    If i can find a way to put the exact nircmd string for loading the registry location i have selected to clipboard that would be perfect. I may have to settle for copy to clip then click a hotkey to activate nircmd though

    A short time back i asked a group of coders why someone hasn't written the app to scan all displayed text for any reference to a registry key and add a property to the text so it would work like a hyperlink. If clicked it would open regedit to that key if it exists or to the nearest matching location if not. I can already scan a full screen of data and have the text "READ" to me by a "bot" so obviously recognizing text is not the problem.

    In my case, i would want the 'bot' to highlight the keys much as hyperlinks are highlighted and add the "jump to key in regedit" feature to any that are clicked like hyperlinks jump to websites.

    Since no one has, that is what I am trying to do. A poor-man's simple version of the same capability done one by one as needed.
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