Here is how to set up context menu shortcuts for the file preview & Details pane features with and without third-party software in Windows 11/10.
How to Add a Preview Pane Option to the Context Menu With a Registry Script
A registry script is a file that modifies the Windows registry when applied. Instead of manually tweaking the registry to add a Preview pane context option, we can set up a script that does it. You can set up a pre-made registry script that adds a Preview pane context menu option in Notepad as follows:
Click Start to select the All apps navigation option on Windows 11’s main menu. Right-click the Notepad app on the menu and select More > Run as administrator. Select this text for the preview pane registry script with your mouse’s cursor, and press the Ctrl + C key combo: Windows Registry Editor Version 5. 00 [HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\AllFilesystemObjects\Shell\Windows. readingpane] “CanonicalName”="{831e1a71-5be9-4934-be77-04baedc9f21b}" “Description”="@shell32. dll,-31424" “Icon”=“shell32. dll,-16757” “MUIVerb”="@shell32. dll,-31423" “PaneID”="{893c63d1-45c8-4d17-be19-223be71be365}" “PaneVisibleProperty”=“ReadingPaneSizer_Visible” “PolicyID”="{33dcce8d-b6f8-4b7a-ac93-45e301f956aa}" [HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Directory\Background\Shell\Windows. readingpane] “CanonicalName”="{831e1a71-5be9-4934-be77-04baedc9f21b}" “Description”="@shell32. dll,-31424" “Icon”=“shell32. dll,-16757” “MUIVerb”="@shell32. dll,-31423" “PaneID”="{893c63d1-45c8-4d17-be19-223be71be365}" “PaneVisibleProperty”=“ReadingPaneSizer_Visible” “PolicyID”="{33dcce8d-b6f8-4b7a-ac93-45e301f956aa}" [HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Drive\Shell\Windows. readingpane] “CanonicalName”="{831e1a71-5be9-4934-be77-04baedc9f21b}" “Description”="@shell32. dll,-31424" “Icon”=“shell32. dll,-16757” “MUIVerb”="@shell32. dll,-31423" “PaneID”="{893c63d1-45c8-4d17-be19-223be71be365}" “PaneVisibleProperty”=“ReadingPaneSizer_Visible” “PolicyID”="{33dcce8d-b6f8-4b7a-ac93-45e301f956aa}" [HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\LibraryFolder\Background\Shell\Windows. readingpane] “CanonicalName”="{831e1a71-5be9-4934-be77-04baedc9f21b}" “Description”="@shell32. dll,-31424" “Icon”=“shell32. dll,-16757” “MUIVerb”="@shell32. dll,-31423" “PaneID”="{893c63d1-45c8-4d17-be19-223be71be365}" “PaneVisibleProperty”=“ReadingPaneSizer_Visible” “PolicyID”="{33dcce8d-b6f8-4b7a-ac93-45e301f956aa}" Then click anywhere within the Notepad text editor and press the Ctrl + V hotkey to paste in the copied registry script content. Select Notepad’s File menu button. Click Save as to bring up a window for saving files. Move your cursor over the Save as type menu and click to select the All files option there. Click inside the File name box to input Preview Pane. reg. Choose to save the Preview Pane. reg file to Windows 11’s desktop so that you can quickly find it. Press the Save button, and close out of the Notepad app.
Now it’s time to run your script:
Double-click the Preview Pane. reg registry script file you should now see on your desktop. Click Yes on a Registry Editor prompt that asks for confirmation to continue. Another dialog box will open confirming the script has modified the registry. Select OK there to close the message’s window.
A new Preview pane shortcut will now be on Windows 11’s classic context menu. To try it out, open File Explorer with Win + E and right-click an image or document file. You should see a Show more options entry to access the classic context menu.
Click the new Preview pane option on the classic menu to enable the feature. Selecting the option a second time will turn off the preview sidebar again.
Once enabled, you’ll see a preview sidebar for whatever file you’ve selected within File Explorer. The preview shows the selected file’s content in a sidebar as in the screenshot directly below. It’s a useful feature because you can see in the sidebar if a selected file is one you need to open before opening it.
You can remove the Preview pane context menu option if you prefer not to keep it there. First, open the Registry Editor and go to HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\AllFilesystemObjects\shell\Windows.readingpane in the Registry Editor’s key address bar. Right-click the Windows.readingpane key to select Delete, and click Yes for confirmation.
How to Add a Details Pane Option to the Context Menu With a Registry Script
Selecting Explorer’s Details pane option enables a feature that shows some additional info for selected files, such as size, date created, dimensions for images, etc. For some image files, you can manually add comments, author, tag, camera, and subject details in the info sidebar. Thus, the Details pane can be especially useful for photographers.
You can add a Details pane option to the context menu by setting up a registry script in Notepad much the same as for Explorer’s Preview pane. However, you’ll need to add a different registry script into the text editor for step three of the method above. This is the Details pane script you’ll need to copy and paste into Notepad:
Just follow the steps above for setting up a preview registry script with that Details pane script. Save the script to the desktop with a Details Pane.reg file title. Double-click the Details Pane file on the desktop, and select Yes > OK to apply it.
Then open the classic context menu again by right-clicking a file and selecting Show more options. Or you can select a file and press Shift + F10 to view that menu. Either way, that menu will include a Details pane option you can select to view an info sidebar for files.
You can also remove the Details pane option from the right-click menu similarly to the Preview pane shortcut. However, you need to delete a Windows.previewpane key instead of the Windows.readingpane one. You can find that key at the HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\AllFilesystemObjects\shell\Windows.previewpane registry location.
How to Add Preview and Details Pane Options With Context Menu Tuner
Context Menu Tuner is a decent freeware app that makes customizing Windows 11’s right-click menu a breeze. That app includes various command options you can select to add to the context menu. You can add options for enabling/disabling preview and details sidebars to Explorer’s context menu with that software like this:
Open this Context Menu Tuner Softpedia webpage, and click the Download Now option for that software from there. Select the Softpedia Secure Download (US) location option to save the ZIP archive for Context Menu Tuner. Open Explorer’s window and the cmt (Context Menu Tuner) ZIP file from whatever directory (folder) your browser is set to download to. Select the Extract all option for the cmd ZIP on Explorer’s command bar. Click the Extract Compressed Folders utility’s Show extracted files box to select that setting. Select Extract to view an unzipped cmt folder that includes the ContextMenuTuner. exe. Right-click ContextMenuTuner. exe to select Run as administrator and launch the software. Select the Preview pane command in the left column. Then select All files in the right column. Press the Add button. Select the Add to selected item option on the small menu. Repeat the previous four steps for the Details pane command. Now open the classic context menu to check out the new pane options on it.
You can later remove those options anytime with the Context Menu Tuner software without manually deleting keys for them. Select the panes in the right column of Context Menu Tuner, and click the Remove button.
Make the Most of Explorer’s Preview and Details Panes
Explorer’s panes for file previews and details are useful features. As you can’t have both panes open at once, you’ll need to switch between those sidebars with some regularity. Adding context menu options for those panes will give you a more direct way to enable/disable them whenever required.
