How can I remove "new" context menu Office items without ShellNew key?


  1. Posts : 5
    Windows 10
       #1

    How can I remove "new" context menu Office items without ShellNew key?


    I have been trying really hard, but failing, to remove these items from the "new" context menu (as shown when right-clicking the desktop background):
    * Microsoft Access Database
    * Microsoft Word document
    * Microsoft Powerpoint presentation
    * Microsoft Excel sheet

    This is on a new computer with Windows 10 preinstalled.

    I have successfully removed other file types from the "new" context menu by disabling their ShellNew keys in the system registry. However, the four file types above lack ShellNew keys.

    Additionally, they do not show up the first time I right-click to check the "new" context menu items (after rebooting Windows), but they appear from nowhere the second time I right-click.

    These two things, taken together, make me suspect that these four file types are included in some sort of override of Explorer, rather than over the registry itself, and therefore I guess that this forum category may be a good place to start. Whatever is happening seems to be Office-related, as I got the same problem on my old Windows 7 computer after I installed the latest Office version (I never managed to remove these file types there either). I am completely at a loss concerning what to do. I have been googling for answers for the last 1-2 weeks, sometimes several hours per day, without finding any solution. I am increasingly frustrated by my inability to get rid of this unwanted clutter of the context menu. I just want to remove these four little entries.

    Does anyone know of anything that might help me with this problem?
      My Computer


  2. Posts : 42,985
    Win 10 Pro (22H2) (2nd PC is 22H2)
       #2

    Hi, you could try ShellmenuNew - although it says it applies only to Win 7:
    How can I remove "new" context menu Office items without ShellNew key?-untitled.png

    A Google search for
    edit new menu Windows

    offers this article which suggests two other tools:
    Edit, Add, Remove items from New Context Menu in Windows 10
      My Computers


  3. Posts : 5
    Windows 10
    Thread Starter
       #3

    Thank you for the suggestions. However, upon trying both ShellMenuNew and ShellNewSettings, neither of them show the file types in question. I can not disable what is not there.

    I guess this is because the Office file types lack ShellNew entries in the registry. My suspicion is still that they are added to the "new" context menu through some sort of override that takes place after Windows has finished loading - the Office file types are, as mentioned, not included in the "new" context menu the first time I right-click after loading Windows; only in subsequent right-clicks.
      My Computer


  4. Posts : 42,985
    Win 10 Pro (22H2) (2nd PC is 22H2)
       #4

    Unfortunate. I don't use Office so other than research can offer no further ideas. Sorry.
      My Computers


  5. Posts : 5
    Windows 10
    Thread Starter
       #5

    I finally discovered the solution:
    1. Open the Windows start menu
    2. Click on "Settings" (not to be confused with the Control Panel)
    3. Click on "Apps"
    4. Scroll down, click on Office products, click "Uninstall"

    The Office files are then automatically removed from the "new" menu within a minute or two.

    Basically, my new computer with preinstalled Windows 10 also had some preinstalled Office software, even though it was not listed in the Control Panel > Programs and Functions. I did not know about the whole Microsoft Store deal, and I was even less aware that apps installed from there could alter the Windows 10 interface without going through the registry.
      My Computer


  6. Posts : 42,985
    Win 10 Pro (22H2) (2nd PC is 22H2)
       #6

    Ok, uninstalling if you don't want it should certainly work...
      My Computers


  7. Posts : 5
    Windows 10
    Thread Starter
       #7

    Indeed.
    I just did not know there was any Office software to uninstall, until I stumbled upon the "Apps" thingy...
    (I even downloaded the Microsoft assistant tool for uninstalling Office, just in case there were somehow traces of it in my preinstalled Windows 10, but the assistant also came up empty.)
      My Computer


  8. Posts : 16,949
    Windows 10 Home x64 Version 22H2 Build 19045.4170
       #8

    You could have just removed them by changing the appropriate Registry keys. The following relates to Office 2007 and you would need to change the Access.Application.12 etc references to whatever keys you have, probably Access.Application.16.

    The entries can be changed manually using RegEdit or run as a set in a .reg file as shown. You can delete any bits of the .reg file that are not relevant to you such as the AutoRoute lines.

    ContextMenuRemovals.reg
    Code:
    Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00
    ; Reg files are not run as Admin, their shortcuts cannot be set to do so either - permission is sought when they run anyway
    ; Remove Office entries
    ; Access - remove Context menu, New entry
    [-HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\.accdb\Access.Application.12\ShellNew]
    ; AutoRoute - remove Context menu, New entry
    ; This is only installed on my older computers but the line does no harm on the others
    [-HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\.axe\Automap.Map.EU.12\ShellNew]
    ; Word - remove Context menu, New entry
    [-HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\.docx\Word.Document.12\ShellNew]
    ; Journal - remove Context menu, New entry
    ; jntfile key no longer found, possibly avoided by installation choices
    ;[-HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\.jnt\jntfile\ShellNew]
    ; PowerPoint - remove Context menu, New entry
    [-HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\.pptx\PowerPoint.Show.12\ShellNew]
    ; Excel - remove Context menu, New entry
    [-HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\.xlsx\Excel.Sheet.12\ShellNew]
    ; Remove Office 97 entries
    ; Bookshelf - possibly no entry seen lately even with this key in place - remove Context menu, New entry
    [-HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\.ofn\ShellNew]
    ; Other Office documents - created by BookShelf97 installation procedure - remove Context menu, New entry
    [-HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\WOW6432Node\Microsoft\Shared Tools\osa.exe]
    [-HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\WOW6432Node\Microsoft\Shared Tools\osaintl.dll]
    Denis
      My Computer


  9. Posts : 5
    Windows 10
    Thread Starter
       #9

    Try3 said:
    You could have just removed them by changing the appropriate Registry keys. The following relates to Office 2007 and you would need to change the Access.Application.12 etc references to whatever keys you have, probably Access.Application.16.

    The entries can be changed manually using RegEdit or run as a set in a .reg file as shown. You can delete any bits of the .reg file that are not relevant to you such as the AutoRoute lines.
    Thank you for the suggestion. In my case, however, the specified ShellNew keys did not even exist. Besides the previously mentioned context menu editors, I also used the search function for all ShellNew keys in the registry, and it did not find any for the MS Office file types.
      My Computer


 

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