How to Customize (Rename, Remove or Hide) Command Bar Buttons in Windows 7 Explorer?

SUMMARY: After following this tutorial, you’ll be able to customize existing default buttons present in Command Bar (aka Folder Band or Toolbar) in Windows 7 Explorer. This tutorial will help you in removing unwanted buttons and renaming desired button text in Command Bar.

Customize_Command_Bar_Buttons_Windows_7_Explorer.png

We all know that Microsoft replaced the standard toolbar present in Windows XP and earlier OS Explorer with new Command Bar in Windows Vista and Windows 7. Windows XP toolbar was highly customizable compared to Windows 7 Command Bar.

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On the other hand Microsoft didn’t provide any option to customize Command Bar present in Windows 7 Explorer. You can’t add new buttons and can’t remove default buttons from Command Bar.

Long time back, we posted about a Registry tweak to add new buttons to Command Bar which can be found at following link:

How to Customize Command Bar in Windows 7 Explorer? Add Cut, Copy, Paste and Other Useful Buttons

The above tutorial helps you in adding new buttons to Command Bar such as cut, copy, paste, delete, rename, undo, redo, etc.

Recently an AskVG reader “Stägämies” asked us how to remove existing buttons from Command Bar? Actually there are some default buttons which are always shown in Windows 7 Explorer’s Command Bar such as “Include in library”, “Share with”, Burn, “New folder”, etc as shown in following image:

Default_Buttons_Windows_7_Explorer_Commandbar.png

Many Windows users might not need a few of these exiting buttons in Command Bar but unfortunately they can’t remove them from Command Bar because Microsoft doesn’t provide any option to delete existing buttons from Command Bar.

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Again I opened Registry Editor and started looking into various keys to find a way to remove existing buttons from Command Bar and after spending some time, finally I found a way.

So today in this tutorial, we’ll tell you how to rename and remove existing default buttons from Command Bar in Windows 7 Explorer. So without wasting time, lets start the tutorial:

1. To customize existing buttons in Command Bar, you’ll need to open Registry Editor. Type regedit in RUN or Start Menu search box and press Enter.

2. Now go to following key:

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

That’s the key which contains all buttons information which are shown in Command Bar.

3. To customize a button, first look for its key under “shell” key. The associated key name would be same as the button name but it would not contain spaces and would contain “Windows.” prefix. For example, if you want to rename or remove “Include in library” button, its associated key is “Windows.includeinlibrary” under “shell” key. So its easy to find the associated key for your desired Command Bar button.

4. Once you find the key, take ownership of it so that you’ll be able to modify it. You can take help of following guide in taking ownership of registry keys:

[Guide] How to Take Ownership (Permission) of a Registry Key in Windows?

5. Once you take ownership of the key, select it and look in the right-side pane. You’ll see various String and other values.

We just need to modify following 2 String values:

  • CanonicalName
  • MUIVerb

6. If you want to remove or hide a button from Command Bar, double-click on “CanonicalName” string and remove everything from its “Value data” field i.e. make it empty.

Remove_Buttons_Windows_7_Explorer_Commandbar.png

It’ll immediately remove the button from Command Bar.

Buttons_Removed_Windows_7_Explorer_Commandbar.png

7. If you want to rename a button present in Command Bar, double-click on “MUIVerb” string and set the value of “Value data” field to your desired label. You can set its value to anything you want to show.

Rename_Buttons_Windows_7_Explorer_Commandbar.png

Following is a screenshot showing almost all Command Bar buttons renamed:

Buttons_Renamed_Windows_7_Explorer_Commandbar.png

As you can see in the above screenshot, we can use any character in button name.

NOTE: Make sure to note down the default values before replacing or removing them, so that you can restore the values later if you want. You can also take a backup of the key before modifying it by right-click on it and select “Export” option. It’ll save the Registry key information in a .REG file.

8. That’s it. Have fun in tweaking and customizing Command Bar of Windows 7 Explorer.

Feel free to ask any kind of questions or share your feedback about this tutorial in your comment…

Published in: Windows 7

About the author: Vishal Gupta (also known as VG) has been awarded with Microsoft MVP (Most Valuable Professional) award. He holds Masters degree in Computer Applications (MCA). He has written several tech articles for popular newspapers and magazines and has also appeared in tech shows on various TV channels.

Comments

NOTE: Older comments have been removed to reduce database overhead.

  1. I have tried to remove burn button but it doesnt work for me I think something is wrong in this tutorial

  2. I accidentally removed “Organize” item in command bar, how I can get it back, forgot to make a backup.

  3. ^^ If you deleted Windows.organize key, you can restore it using following registry script:

    Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00

    [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\CommandStore\shell\Windows.organize]
    “CanonicalName”=”{7ddc1264-7e4d-4f74-bbc0-d191987c8d0f}”
    “MUIVerb”=”@shell32.dll,-31411”
    “Icon”=”shell32.dll,-16753”
    “Description”=”@shell32.dll,-31412”
    “SubCommands”=”Windows.cut;Windows.copy;Windows.paste;Windows.undo;Windows.redo;|;Windows.selectall;|;Windows.layout;Windows.folderoptions;|;Windows.delete;Windows.rename;Windows.removeproperties;Windows.properties;|;Windows.closewindow”

  4. Hello,
    I would like to add a “New readme.txt” button next to the “new folder” button, that would create this new file in the current folder.
    How to do this ?

    Thanks a lot!

  5. Is there any way to do the same in ‘Manage Wireless Networks’, where there are various buttons and I want to remove few.
    Is there any folder like Explorer(in this case), from where I can get commands for ‘Manage Wireless Networks’?

  6. How do you remove ‘Burn’?
    I tried editing the “Windows.burn” (without quotes) but it didn’t work

  7. I accidentally removed the Undo command button and i forgot to back it up. Can you tell me its canonicalname?

  8. ^^ If you accidentally deleted Undo command button, restore using following registry script below:

    Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00

    [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\CommandStore\shell\Windows.undo]
    “CanonicalName”=”{9220429d-663d-4b4e-be56-6be053c9a71c}”
    “MUIVerb”=”@shell32.dll,-31261”
    “Description”=”@shell32.dll,-31262”
    “CommandStateHandler”=”{3756e7f5-e514-4776-a32b-eb24bc1efe7a}”
    “CommandStateSync”=””

    [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\CommandStore\shell\Windows.undo\command]
    “DelegateExecute”=”{50cc2c18-b48c-4764-8f3f-0331ed295ce4}”

    And save it as .reg file.

  9. @Gigi Duru: If you deleted the key, you can restore it using following registry script (Win 7):

    Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00

    [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\CommandStore\shell\Windows.undo]
    “CanonicalName”=”{9220429d-663d-4b4e-be56-6be053c9a71c}”
    “MUIVerb”=”@shell32.dll,-31261”
    “Description”=”@shell32.dll,-31262”
    “CommandStateHandler”=”{3756e7f5-e514-4776-a32b-eb24bc1efe7a}”
    “CommandStateSync”=””

    [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\CommandStore\shell\Windows.undo\command]
    “DelegateExecute”=”{50cc2c18-b48c-4764-8f3f-0331ed295ce4}”

  10. I finally found a guide that tells me exactly what to do.. thanks!

    I was monitoring changes being performed by tweaking tools trying to work out how Shell Bags and MRUs work… this is really great stuff.

    Tried to remove the burn button (I almost never burn, and when I do I think I can load a program and make a collection…) but found other instructions on how to achieve this (attempted the quick registry solution first, ie removing canonical name, but it didn’t get rid of burn.. thought it might be a 64-bit issue thing)

    I’ve tried using the customtoolbar tool, which works when adding, but not with removing.

    I’ve just tried to remove the sharing button (on the contextual command bar in windows 7 explorer)… and it’s gone. But so is my sharing tab on all folders.

    I restored the key and the “Share with” button is back… but my Sharing tab is missing 🙁

    I tried turning off the sharing wizard in folder options, but still no sharing.

    How can I get my sharing tab back?

    Thanks

  11. Some tooltips, for tweakers:
    tune-up utilities registry editor lets you copy and go to keys, add favorites, traverse your reg history… (sorry no link not ‘free’: )
    also, for the insane, to replace any/all search terms in the reg (like notepad’s “replace all”, but for the reg). use advanced registry editor – sourceforge.net/projects/regedt33/

    Here again, after taking a baby step down the road to success. Here’s what happened.

    I ran the ete_en.cmd file in ExploreToolbarEditor’s folder (it just loads the exe with an en-US options) and, on each selected / no selected tab, expanded the option (burn, play all, email, print…) selected each folder type and removed. log off, and nearly a complete success (still had burn options on generic folders, fixed by enabling the ‘Remove CD Burning features) group policy)

    Now it’s try to retry removing ‘share with’ and ‘include in library’ and ‘new folder’ WITHOUT disabling the functionality (don’t wanna disable ctrl+N{ew folder}, etc)…

    BACKUP! (export HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\CommandStore\shell to
    C:\temp\Exports\REG\Defaults\command store shell.reg)

    remove new folder (CanonicalName “{E44616AD-6DF1-4B94-85A4-E465AE8A19DB}” = “”)
    remove include in library (CName “{9efeadc8-c484-48fc-be40-973d419fe58a}” = “”)

    It bl**dy works! I can still alt+enter changes to the sharing properties of a folder from the ctrl+tab, I can still include in library from the context menu… Cool. Now to add toggle nav pane, maybe try and make them icons… ooooooooooooh! Related q, is it possible to transfer any of this functionality to another toolbar location?

  12. Any idea why –

    it doesn’t work for slideshow?
    (removed canonicalname {73BCE053-3BBC-4AD7-9FE7-7A7C212C98E6} @ HKLM\SOFTWARE\Wow6432Node\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\explorer\CommandStore\shell\Windows.slideshow and HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\CommandStore\shell\Windows.slideshow)

    ****!!!!*** EVERYONE!! Is this the answer?!?!

    (search reg for windows.slideshow)
    Pictures.library
    HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Wow6432Node\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\explorer\FolderTypes\{0b2baaeb-0042-4dca-aa4d-3ee8648d03e5}

    I’ve removed slideshow from the command bar of ‘picture library folders’… but if I go to a pictures folder, slideshow is still there… getting there!

  13. for Stägämies (and everyone)

    search reg for windows.slideshow. remove traces in default keys under tasksselected/notasksselected, like all children of

    HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\FolderTypes
    (nearly 50!)

    I now only have slideshow on folders of type ‘pictures’… almost clean!

  14. I want to Know how to hide the menu bar from my computer explorer I have windows 7 and I’m using samrter 7 theme wich automaically hide it but something went wrong with my system and when I fixed it everything went back to normal but this the menu bar which have (file edit view tools help) it used to appear when I click alt but now it’s there all time and I want to hide it it’s driving me insane please help !!!!!

  15. Is there a way I can do this by users rather than a computer registry?
    im going to apply this within a school environment via a gpo.
    I only need to hide the “Customize” tab for pupils but allow for teachers,
    from the registry edit that you have shown this would be for all users right?

    can you help?

  16. Hi, if I understood your tutorial correctly, to remove buttons I will have to give the right permissions to the respective keys.

    I want to remove ALL buttons completely. I don’t want the command bar at all. But having to give the right permissions to all of the keys would take hours if not days. Is there any way to simplify this process? Is it possible to give multiple keys permissions?

  17. I would like to remove the command bar completely. Without editing the ShellStyle.dll
    only by using registry.
    Thanks.

  18. I tried this method wit the email button that appears when u select something either a file or folder inside a pictures folder but i don’t know its not disappearing even if i delete the whole button info from the registry.
    if you know of another method please let me know.
    thank you in advance for your help

  19. Hi people,

    To make it easy just add some dashes in front of the CanonicalName value.
    This way you can go back whenever you want and still have the proper value in the fields.

    You also can make an export (right click) of the registry entry before and after changing it.
    It also gives you a fast way to change the setting.

    ———- Windows 7 x64 Explorer – Button Include In Library Remove ———-
    Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00

    [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\CommandStore\shell\Windows.includeinlibrary]
    “CanonicalName”=”—{9efeadc8-c484-48fc-be40-973d419fe58a}”
    “MUIVerb”=”@shell32.dll,-31460”
    “Icon”=”shell32.dll,-16804”
    “Description”=”@shell32.dll,-31461”
    “CommandFlags”=dword:00000080
    “CommandStateHandler”=”{3756e7f5-e514-4776-a32b-eb24bc1efe7a}”

    [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\CommandStore\shell\Windows.includeinlibrary\command]
    “DelegateExecute”=”{f3cc4ca3-22c2-40ec-ac3c-89d8a43373b0}”

    ———- Windows 7 x64 Explorer – Button Include In Library Restore ———-
    Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00

    [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\CommandStore\shell\Windows.includeinlibrary]
    “CanonicalName”=”{9efeadc8-c484-48fc-be40-973d419fe58a}”
    “MUIVerb”=”@shell32.dll,-31460”
    “Icon”=”shell32.dll,-16804”
    “Description”=”@shell32.dll,-31461”
    “CommandFlags”=dword:00000080
    “CommandStateHandler”=”{3756e7f5-e514-4776-a32b-eb24bc1efe7a}”

    [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\CommandStore\shell\Windows.includeinlibrary\command]
    “DelegateExecute”=”{f3cc4ca3-22c2-40ec-ac3c-89d8a43373b0}”
    ————————————————————————————-

    I created a lot of registry items this way to change each system into a proper and clean working system.

  20. Should work even on 10 (Same reg path, same bar) but everything is still there (I’ve command bar as I removed metro in explorer). Hiding/removing bar tweak stopped to work in 10 TH2 (10586).
    I’m pretty sure I’ve to wait new uxtheme release XD

  21. thank you,u r a very good teacher and I appreciate your tutorial.I was sick and tired on win 7 c**p on the folder band.They had a lot of useless s**t on there.

  22. I’d like to add a “Customer Supplied Folder” button that creates a new folder named “Customer Supplied Folder” instead of “New Folder”. I don’t need to replace the New Folder button but in addition to would be best, but I’m not opposed to changing my default behavior to the custom one.

    Any ideas? I’ve tried a few things and so far nothing worked. 🙁

  23. VG, thanks so much for this great tip! It worked for the “Include In Library” button. However, it has no effect when I try to remove (or rename) the “Print” or “Slide Show” buttons. Plus I can’t find the key for “Open”.

  24. Hi VG

    Thank you for such a great tutorial 🙂

    I noticed when i tried to remove the “Uninstall or change a program” button on the explorer window through regedit it was not listed??

    Location i used: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\CommandStore\shell

    Would it be located under a different location with in regedit??

    Mick

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