What is “SkyDrive Pro” Option and How to Activate it or Remove it from Context Menu After Installing Microsoft Office 2013?

UPDATE: A new method added to remove "SkyDrive Pro" option from context menu. Check out method B.

Several Windows users who are using Microsoft Office 2013 are wondering about a new option "SkyDrive Pro" which was added in all files and folders context menu after installing Office 2013.

This new context menu option is greyed out so you can't actually use it. It just shows whenever you right-click on a file or folder in Windows. Following is a screenshot showing this option in context menu:

Actually SkyDrive Pro is a new name for Microsoft SharePoint. Since this option is currently disabled, it makes no sense to have it in context menu. Several AskVG readers have contacted me and asked me a way to remove it.

So I opened my favorite Registry Editor and started looking for its entry. After spending a few minutes, finally I found it and got success in removing as well as activating it.

So if you also want to activate the option or remove the option from context menu, follow these simple steps:

A. Remove "SkyDrive Pro" Option from Context Menu Using Registry Editor

1. Type regedit in RUN or Start Menu searchbox and press Enter. It'll open Registry Editor.

2. Now go to following key:

HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\AllFilesystemObjects\shell

3. Under shell key, you'll see another key "SPFS.ContextMenu". That's the key which is showing "SkyDrive Pro" option in context menu.

4. To remove the option from context menu, right-click on "SPFS.ContextMenu" key and select Delete. It'll delete the key and you'll no longer see the option in context menu.

B. Remove "SkyDrive Pro" Option from Context Menu Using Command Prompt

You can also remove "SkyDrive Pro" option from context menu using Command Prompt. You just need to unregister a DLL file.

1. Open Command Prompt as Administrator as mentioned here and then provide following command:

For 32-bit users - regsvr32 /u "%programfiles%\Microsoft Office\Office15\GROOVEEX.DLL"
For 64-bit users - regsvr32 /u "%programfiles(x86)%\Microsoft Office\Office15\GROOVEEX.DLL"

2. You'll get a confirmation message as shown in following screenshot:

That's it. It'll immediately remove the option from context menu. Thanks to our reader "Helper" for this tip...

If you get some kind of error such as file not found while executing the above mentioned command, it might be possible that you have installed more than one language in your Windows. In such condition, you should use following command:

regsvr32 /u "%programfiles%\Microsoft Office 15\root\Office15\GROOVEEX.DLL"

Thanks to our reader "DarkGhosthunter" for this tip...

C. Activate "SkyDrive Pro" Option in Context Menu

I also found a way to activate this option. Actually its disabled in context menu because Microsoft is using CommandStateHandler String to disable it. We can enable it using following steps:

1. When you select "SPFS.ContextMenu" key, in right-side pane you'll see a String "CommandStateHandler". Its value would be set to {573FFD05-2805-47C2-BCE0-5F19512BEB8D}.

To activate the option, double-click on CommandStateHandler String and remove the text from Value data field i.e. make it empty.

That's it. Now you'll be able to click on the "SkyDrive Pro" option in context menu and it'll show following 4 new sub-options:

• Browse on SharePoint
• Copy link
• Share...
• View errors...

2. As you can see although we can enable the "SkyDrive Pro" option but its sub-menus are still greyed out. To enable them, you'll need to go to following key:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\CommandStore\shell\

Under shell key, you'll see following 4 keys:

• SPFS.BrowseOnSharePoint
• SPFS.CopyLink
• SPFS.ResolveError
• SPFS.Share

Select each key one by one and in right-side pane, double-click on "CommandStateHandler" String and remove the text from Value data field i.e. make it empty as you did in Step 1.

That's it. As soon as you do it for all 4 keys, all 4 sub-menus will also get enabled as shown in following screenshot:

PS: If you don't want to edit Windows Registry manually. You can download following ZIP file which contains ready-made Registry scripts to remove, activate and restore "SkyDrive Pro" option in context menu:

Download Registry Script to Remove or Activate "SkyDrive Pro" Option

Posted by: Vishal Gupta | Categories: Microsoft Office, Troubleshooting, Windows 7, Windows 8

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