Copy to move to windows 10

*Applies to Windows Vista, Windows 7, Windows 8/8.1, and Windows 10

Do you remember the old “Copy to” and “Move to” options which were once part of the Windows right-click context menu? For some reason, beginning with Vista, Microsoft decided to do away with these two options. I remember, years ago, using a freeware tweaking tool to add the “Copy to” and Move to” options back in.

Anyway, it’s something which I’ve always found useful and, while there are still freeware tweaking tools around that will add these options for you, it’s very easy to do manually via a simple registry hack.

Not that it’s overly complicated to copy and move files around using drag and drop. Simply open the two folders/locations, right-click the file and hold down the right-click button, drag the file from its original folder to the new folder/location and release the right-click button. This will then present options asking if you want to “Move” or “Copy” the file:

Select either Copy here or Move here and the job’s done.

Adding the “Copy to” and “Move to” options into the right-click menu provides an alternative method to achieve the same result. Whether or not this method is simpler than drag and drop is probably a matter of opinion but I’ve found it to be more convenient and, I guess, it’s something which I’ve simply become used to. So, if you would like to bring back these options in any version of Windows since Vista, including Windows 10, here’s how.

These are pretty straight forward registry changes but I’ve provided a download which will get the job done for you without needing to manually edit the registry keys. Simply click the download button below to download the less than 1KB zip folder:

Once downloaded, you should see a file called copyto_moveto.zip in your default Downloads folder. Right click the file and select Extract All. Once the extraction is complete, you should now see 2 files in the extracted folder: copyto.reg and moveto.reg. Right click on one of the files and select Merge. You’ll receive a warning about changing registry values – this is a standard message, just click Yes to proceed:

Now go through the same process for the second file. Once you’ve finished merging both files you’ll now see the “Copy to” and “Move to” options included in the right-click menu.

To copy or move a file to another folder/location, right click the file and select the appropriate option. This will open a browse window where you simply select your destination folder and then click either the Move or Copy button (depending on your chosen action):

*Copy or move multiple files by holding down the CTRL key while selecting each file, when all files you want to copy or move to another location are highlighted, right-click one of the selected files and choose “Copy to” or “Move to” from the right-click menu.

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Windows 10 has a hidden function that allows you to right-click a file and either move or copy it to a specific location of your choosing. This little registry hack will have you copying and moving your files with ease.

We have to preface this with a standard warning, however. The Registry Editor is a powerful tool and, if it’s misused, it can render your system unstable or even inoperable. This is a pretty simple hack, though. As long as you stick to the instructions, you shouldn’t have any problems.

If you’ve never worked with the Registry Editor before, though, you might want to read up on it a bit before you get started. And definitely back up the Registry (and your computer) before you make the following changes.

RELATED: How to Backup and Restore the Windows Registry

If you want to be extra safe, you can also create a System Restore point before you continue. That way, if something does go wrong, you can just roll back to before things went haywire.

To add “Move to” to the context menu, the first thing you have to do is open the Registry Editor. To do so, press Windows+R, type “regedit” in the text box, and then press Enter.

Navigate to the following key in the left sidebar or you can paste it directly into the address bar:

HKEY_CLASSES_ROOTAllFilesystemObjectsshellexContextMenuHandlers

Once you’re there, right-click “ContextMenuHandlers,” and then select New > Key from the pop-up menu.

Name the new key “Move to,” and then press Enter.

Now, double-click “(Default),” paste the following string into the “Value Data” field, and then press Enter:

{C2FBB631-2971-11D1-A18C-00C04FD75D13}

You can now safely close the Registry Editor. You don’t have to restart or sign out to start using this functionality.

Add “Copy to” to the Context Menu

The same as before, to add “Copy to” to the context menu, you first open the Registry Editor. Press Windows+R, type “regedit” in the text box, and then press Enter.

Navigate to the following key in the left sidebar or paste it directly into the address bar:

HKEY_CLASSES_ROOTAllFilesystemObjectsshellexContextMenuHandlers

Once you’re here, right-click “ContextMenuHandlers” and select New > Key from the pop-up menu.

Name the new key “Copy to” and press Enter.

Now, double-click “(Default),” paste the following string into the “Value data” field, and then press Enter:

{C2FBB630-2971-11D1-A18C-00C04FD75D13}

When you’re finished, you can safely close Registry Editor. Again, you don’t have to restart or sign out to start using this functionality.

Download Our One-Click Registry Hack

If you’d rather not edit the registry yourself, you can download our Add Move to/Copy to registry hack. Just open the ZIP file, double-click either “AddMoveTo.reg” or “AddCopyTo.reg,” and then click “Yes” to add the information to your registry.

These REG files add the same registry settings we covered above. If you’d like to see what this (or any other) REG file will do before you run it, right-click the file, and then select “Edit” to open it in Notepad.

You can also easily make your own Registry hacks.

Using “Move to” or “Copy to” From the Context Menu

After you add these tweaks to the Windows registry and you right-click a file or folder, the context menu appears as usual, but it will now also contain the “Move to” and/or “Copy to” options.

A nice little dialog pops up so you can choose a destination folder. After you do, just click “Copy” to send that file to the folder you specified.