Recently one AskVG reader "G. M. Polard" asked us following question via contact form:
Whenever I select more than 15 files or folders in Windows 7 Explorer, I can't see Open, Edit and Print items in context menu. How to fix this problem so that I can perform these operations on 15+ files?
Actually its not a problem. Its a feature by design. Microsoft designed Windows 7 to automatically disable these 3 context menu options when user selects more than 15 items in Explorer to prevent accidentally performing these actions on large set of files.
If you want, you can remove this restriction and can enable these 3 items in context menu for 15+ files/folders selection.
Simply follow these simple steps:
1. Type regedit in RUN or start menu search box and press Enter. It'll open Registry Editor.
2. Now go to following key:
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer
3. In right-side pane, create a new DWORD value MultipleInvokePromptMinimum and set its value to 16
4. Close Registry Editor and log off or restart your system. It'll remove the restriction and you'll get Open, Edit and Print items in context menu even if you select more than 15 files or folders.
NOTE: To restore default function, simply delete DWORD value created in Step 3.
PS: If you want a ready-made registry script to do the task automatically, simply download following ZIP file, extract it and run the extracted REG file:
This article was posted by VG in following section: Troubleshooting, Windows 7.
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leomate
Lol, whats point this.
Only make your PC slow because many open programs @same time
death
it's depends on ur pc speed :-) this option not for pentium 4
Uewd
Thanks!
leomate
Lol, i just want to see open 99999999 files in Pentium 1 computer :p
Anonymous
I thought you could do this within the Explorer Folder Options (at least in XP). Has it been removed in Windows 7?
Jeff
I would like to correct your grammar:
Actually its not a problem. Its a "feature" by design.
I don't see how you can call a limitation a feature without at least putting quote-unquote around the word.
If they really wanted to protect me from (myself?) opening too many files, a simple warning would have done the trick, while still allowing me the feature (un-quoted) of opening many files at once. Not only do they think I'm too stoopid to open files properly, but they also seem to think I'm too stoopid to read a warning and act accordingly (of course, maybe it's the quality of their warning text that's the real issue - but I won't go there now - I'm way to stoopid to discuss two issues at once).
P.S. Thanks for the article on how to "disable" this limitation.
P.P.S. MultipleInvokePromptMinimum is being set to 16 hex (not decimal), right? We have two choices. Your picture indicates 16 hex.