Windows 11 File Explorer Right-click Menu was changed to include icons

Anonymous
2021-12-06T15:53:47+00:00

Who did this and why do they do it (see picture below)? The File Explorer right-click menu has had the options: Cut, Copy, Paste, Rename, Delete listed (as words) in this menu FOREVER and now some genius decided that after all these years, Windows users are too dumb to read. The words were replaced with icons. THIS IS SO ANNOYING. THE MUSCLE MEMORY IN MY HANDS IS ALMOST IMPOSSIBLE TO RETRAIN AFTER YEARS OF THE MENU BEING THE SAME WAY. Now I have to stop and think about something that I've done instinctively for years. I can get to the ORIGINAL right-click menu by selecting "Show More Options," shown in the photo below, but WHY SHOULD I HAVE TO, THAT'S AN EXTRA STEP? If I am intelligent enough to boot up a computer, then certainly I can read the words: Cut, Copy, Paste, Rename and Delete. I don't need you to create icons to represent those functions. IF IT'S NOT BROKEN THEN DON'T TRY TO FIX IT. STOP DUMBING DOWN THE SOFTWARE AND MAKING THINGS HARDER PLEASE.

Windows for home | Windows 11 | Files, folders, and storage

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  1. Anonymous
    2023-07-26T15:56:16+00:00

    I wonder if anyone knows how to change the icons ( I mean i'm looking into it but I know it's a lot of messing about to find the DLL and make adjustments) It's just it would make more sense if the icons were more relevant.

    For instance the Copy Icon and the Paste icon are both two rectangles, one subtley looks like a clipboard (Paste). The problem of course is that they are similar and slow you up (if you are doing something quickly) everytime trying to work out if you are about to copy something or paste over something.

    What I would do is change the paste to look like a Gluepot (to reference paste) that way it's completely different from copy.

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  2. Anonymous
    2023-07-29T17:58:14+00:00

    Nah, what is annoying is those who want that everything remain the same even if it isn't well-designed in first place... the new menu is great and could be better but the old one is really very limited and retro.

    Elegance over design, eh? I value things that help me work faster, not harder with style.

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  3. Anonymous
    2023-07-31T14:01:56+00:00

    If you work in IT and have users, you will hate this change. Killed productivity like someone flipped half the circuit breakers on production floor. Microsoft was foolish to enable it by default. Could have left it as an option for us all to ignore and forget. They are only fracturing the user base. Imagine if Ford tried replacing the steering wheel with a joystick.

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  4. Anonymous
    2023-07-31T15:38:03+00:00

    I agree with your note about making it an option. That way someone who likes the graphical approach would be the one who would have to do something to turn it on. Leaving the rest of us to continue with our very familiar drop-down menu in English. Even though I know it's there in an icon - my eyesight is not so great - so I struggle to pick the right one out of the 5 or so in that lineup. I know it is somewhere in the middle of the group! Just have to remember it kind of looks like a squeegee on a window. LOL

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  5. Anonymous
    2023-08-07T23:12:29+00:00

    @shalmaneser - Yes and No. Everything I used was in the old menu, one click away. Now it is not. it definitely does NOT improve my productivity, that is what everyone is complaining about. I have no problem with progress, but I do not need it crammed down my throat, especially when it makes my life harder. By all means make the change. Just allow those of us who do not want to change to keep it the way that it works best for us.

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