I think the "developers" are using 100" TV/Monitors, so the icons probably look reasonable to them... HAH !
Windows 11 File Explorer Right-click Menu was changed to include icons
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Anonymous
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
Locked Question. This question was migrated from the Microsoft Support Community. You can vote on whether it's helpful, but you can't add comments or replies or follow the question.
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Anonymous
2024-01-27T19:57:07+00:00 -
Anonymous
2024-01-04T00:26:57+00:00 Totally agree. It is much more efficient to for your eyes to scan in only one direction (downward) to look for what you want. Having first to look vertically then horizontally (or vice-versa) as well as changing between text and icons, I find to being very inefficient. Consistently takes more time.
That's one thing to make changes to try to appeal to new users. But for existing users, it's a sense of loss when things are made less efficient for them!
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Anonymous
2023-11-17T12:17:26+00:00 Well, I have "ducked" this problem and changed my computer's registry so that Windows 11 uses the pre-Windows 11 response to a right-mouse click on Windows Explorer.
Microsoft have very helpfully told us how to do this on the web page
Restore old Right-click Context menu in Windows 11 - Microsoft Community
Good luck!
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Anonymous
2023-10-04T13:25:25+00:00 so friggin annoying,,, do the developers even use the software??
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Anonymous
2023-09-03T11:29:30+00:00 Several have said it--UNNAMED icons. Scissors are ok, but copy and paste are not well differentiated. Then there is the context aspect wherein if you cut or copy something then right click you only get the paste icon. This is "logical", but it requires one to pause and process to complete the task. Had they put the words at the base of the icon, it would be a non-issue.
Additionally, my work computer is and will be Windows 10 based for the foreseeable future, when I use my new personal laptop, it's a completely different experience. Tasks that I have been doing for decades now require a pause and assess step. The menu may not be slower, but it is infinitely slower for me.
My point is that even if the menu needed to be updated, they failed to bridge between the old and the new, which defeats the "fix" they attempted.