Tips & Tricks

Customizing Send To - Part 1

OK, what do you do if you would like to send a file to a place that's not listed on your "Send to" menu? Or perhaps you want to eliminate an item on the "Send to" menu that you don't use. Well, you can (it's easy too).

1. Right-click your Start Button, Explore.

2. Head to the Windows\Send to\ folder (it's probably just above the folder you landed in when Explorer opened).

Special Note for XP users:

If you're using Win XP, you'll need to make sure you have your computer set to Show Hidden Files and Folders. You can do this under Explorer by hitting the Tools menu, Folder Options. Next hit the View tab. You'll see an option for "Show Hidden Files and Folders" there. Select that and hit OK. You'll be able to see the Send To menu under the Documents and Settings/USER NAME folder (The USER NAME is the name you use for your custom settings on XP).

3. To remove items you don't want listed on the menu, just delete them. To add items, just drag their shortcut to the folder (I drag them right from the desktop / taskbar). Note that you want to use your RIGHT mouse button to do this. If you drag with your left mouse button, you may remove the shortcut from it's original location. If you right-click and drag, when you release you get a handy little menu that lets you choose to copy, move, etc. Choose Copy.

As a quick for instance, I didn't have MS Word as an option in my "Send to" menu, so I dragged and dropped its little shortcut icon into the Send to folder. I now have the option of sending something to MS Word.

Please note that you can't use this menu to "force" a program to open a particular type of file. If you're trying to make Outlook Express open a DLL file, it just ain't gonna work.

That's it for part 1!

On to part two :-)

Great Deals Just For You!