How-To Geek
Add Copy To / Move To on Windows 7 or Vista Right-Click Menu
Here at geek central, we’re in the business of making things as easy as possible. There’s a registry hack for Windows that will let you add a Copy To Folder or Move To Folder to the right-click menu, which can be very useful when you want to move a file but don’t have the other folder open already.
Right-click on a file:
And up pops a nice dialog that you can use to easily drop a file into the right directory.
Install
Just download, unzip, and double-click on the registry files. You can choose to use the copy to, move to, or both.
Download Copy To / Move To Registry Tweak
Note: We’ve written about the manual way to do this before. This tip has been around for many years and also works on Windows XP.
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Comments (155)
Programmer by day, geek by night, The Geek, also known as Lowell Heddings, spends all his free time bringing you fresh geekery on a daily basis. You can follow him on Google+ if you'd like.
- Published 07/23/07
This is exactly what I expected to find out after reading the title. Thanks for informative article
THANK YOU!!!!!!!!!!!!! I can’t believe they left this out of Vista. I used this all of the time in XP. THANK YOU again!!!!!!!!!!
Really a wonderful tool which minimizes our lot of work.
Thanks for this tool.
thank you, thank you, thank you
so simple, so helpful
Why would Msoft leave this out of Vista? Insane. Thanks for your reg. files.
Send To and Move To are so important in my work that, just by themselves, they would be reason to dump the new Vista which Bill forced us to buy. In fact, I was in the very act of doing just that on this brand new laptop when I saw your article here.
Thank you very much. If Microsoft decides we plebians need no longer breathe, then people like you might re-instate our oxygen supply. BUT, the little registry fixes don’t seem to have the stamina they need. After a week or so, the problem has returned. I’m trying the registry fixes again.
Vista is definitely the Bimbo Operating System. It looks pretty, but it flounders over a hundred problems, some big and some small. If Bill is going to force it on a few million people because he needs the money, he could at least try for a bit of integrity.
Brilliant, how come Microsoft are too stupid too add this themselves?
Now all we need is a way to add this to the toolbar along with ‘Delete’.
This is terrific. Thanks for the download as wel!!!!!
Thanks for this. It’s just made life in Vista a whole lot easier.
I can only wonder why they left it out, must have been an oversight.
Cheers for the registry fix download, saves going in there and making problems for ourselves.
All the best.
Bill
It would have been useful to include undo files in case you wish to easily reverse it.
Great! Very useful.
Tahnk you!
One word… SUPERB!! Thanks a lot this is very helpful & useful.
Under XP and previous Windows versions I had a send to any folder which allowed a copy or move of a file(s). If the folder you chose did not exist then it was created and the move/copy performed. This move to and copy to can only move/copy to a pre-existing folder. How can uninstall the copy/move to option?
Does anyone know of a way to get the earlier ‘send to’ working in Vista? Originally it came out for Win 95, but worked on all versions up to XP.
I already use this right-click (Copy to Folder / Move to Folder) function, which allows you to create a new folder. Its a System Control Tweak in TuneUp Utilities 2007/2008.
If you need to get rid of ‘any’ right-click menu’s, try Context Menu Editor v1.0 (Gets the job done, but I would like a better GUI)
P.S. If someone knows of a better App than Context Menu Editor (ie GUI, Function), please Post.
I sometimes use “Copy To” and “Move To” on my Windows Explorer toolbar, but sometimes I can also use “Copy To Folder” and “Move To Folder” when I right-click on a file or multiple files at the same time. Works on Windows XP, Server 2003 and Vista as well! Thanks, Geek!
I Think Microsoft Accidently left this out, not on purpose. It will probably a fix “Vista SP1″.
Thanks a million…I was struggling with the lack of this feature in Vista, as I use it all the time…Wonderful!
I pay for a site that does not have as good of information that is as clear and as right on as this info was. Thanks and keep up the free work since it seems to be cheaper and works better.
Please. what is the actual registry edit for this?
@Lighthouse
There’s a link at the bottom of the article for the other article about the registry hack method. Otherwise, you could also just open up the downloadable registry file in notepad and check it out there.
You’re the best, Geek.
Thankyou for this. This not being able to move file was so annoying. I’ve only been using Vista for a few days now and I use that function quite often and I need to keep files after burning them for backups.
This is a great fix!! Thanks!
Thank you so much for such amazing control that Microsoft does not serve us.
Thank You So Much
Man do I love this site,,wonderfull thanks for all the help.
superb! excellent! mucho gracias for the tool and tip!
This is what I was looking for, should be default windows option.
THANKS!!
This is wonderful. Thank you so much. Sometimes the little things in life outnumber the big ones many times over
Excellent command. It used to be available for Win 9x.
Any info on how I can make an additional entry to move/copy to a specific folder. I have a temp folder and want to move all files I am done using quickly. I like the copy/move here, but still the folder selection popup is time taking.
After my computer crashed, taking all my downloaded programs etc. ( Yes No Back-up oopps), this was one of the first Items I looked for after my Install, Thanks again for sharing with us.
Cheers,
kiwi
This obvious minor asset makes things so much easier…your’re the best!
This is an excellant program to safely change your registry for resurrecting that favorite and useful Copy to Move to function. I tried the manual edit and had no luck, this solved it in under a minute! I will definitely recomend this site as I am in the graphics community. Thank you! John
tanx man.This is exactly what i was looking for.your great.
I share the sentiments of several others who posted here – this is an excellent addition to the folder tasks. I can’t believe Microsoft left this out of Vista as I think there were lots of people who used this or the Common Folder Tasks in XP.
Thanx a lot
You’re a star…exactly what i was after – Thank You :)
One of the most annoying problems to have when you want to move several files and folders. Thank you for solving yet another one of Microsoft’s blunders. Great add on to Vista. Thank you!
this is AWESOME! It was so easy to do yet saves me so much time. You guys rock.
LOL! For some reason my Windows Vista computer came with that function already when I first bought it about a year and a half ago. I didn’t need a registry tweak to add that option.
I thought it was one of Windows vista default options if I am not mistaken?
@Will: I don’t have that option on right click menus in my Windows Vista install. It sounds like the manufactor of your computer added that tweak for some reason.
thanx alot buddy…. i have searched alot for this. thnx alot.
Regards
JOJ~
Clearly, Geek, you should be running Microsoft’s Window development department. You understand their users’ needs much better than they ever will.
how can i use the move to option to move my files to a specific folder all the time
i have folder that contain hundreds of files i want to catalog and i need to move them to specific folders first.
can i add a right click option to move a selected file to a specific location rather that browsing to it?
Thank you so much fro this works like a charm how could Microsoft remove the MOVE FILE for god sake what next remove the right click option?
Many thanks for the fix, very handy. One question, is it possible to modify this reg key to always point to a default location?
I have a question, can we add items to “move to” like “send to” in Vista such as compressed, desktop, documents…
this is nice… i love it! this helps me move and copy files faster! thank a lot! Ü
Thanks, works great!!
How simple and yet how helpful. I couldn’t believe that Microsoft dropped all the simple, useful stuff that we Windows users are accustomed to. That’s why I don’t use Mac!
This is great, but how can I move it to the Extended context menu (Shift-RightClick)?
This is great, but how can I put Copy To and Move To on the Extended context menu (Shift-RightClick) instead?
This is great, but how can I put Copy To and Move To on the Extended context menu (Shift-RightClick) instead of the standard RightClick context menu? (I tried to post this question earlier but got a time-out error.)
Thanks! Very Useful.
Hello everybody,
I am running Vista Home Premium on a Sony Vaio computer Pentium-4
3.0Ghz 2-Gigs ram, everything is working pretty good but for some reason
when I right click on the recent items tab in the start menu I no longer see the
(Clear Recent Items List) in the context menu, what can I do to get it back.
Also do you know how I can expand the size amount for System Restore
so that I may have more restore points to choose from.
Thanks in Advance
Al Tann
Big_tann@hotmail.com
I have this on every computer I use, including work where I use it the most. However I’ve noticed a few bugs that are not deal killers but you might ought to know when using this.
When opening multiple files, for example say I want to open 10 files to work on at once, if I Ctrl-select them all, and right click, hit open, then I get dialogues to Move to/ Copy to for EACH file. I discovered this one time I opened about 20 or so files for editing and had to sit there canceling the operations for several minutes. All the files opened though. :-D
I have a shortcut button on my keyboard to my work program, and it is routed to a shortcut on my desktop. Both the copy to and move to dialogues appear when you press the button. Hitting cancel on both makes them go away. I may try to re-route the path to actually use the .exe for the program and see if it resolves the issue, but I rarely use that button now I’m out of the habit.
Other than those 2 things to avoid (even if they happen it’s not hard to get out of it) it is a great tool and I use it at work frequently as I release files to their appropriate folders. These may not happen for everyone or you may never be in a situation to trigger them.
Thanks!
THANKS!!!!!! I had been uber frustrated over the omission of such simple commands and thanks to you- it’s solved!!!!
THANKS AGAIN!
Chris,
Re: Does anyone know of a way to get the earlier ‘send to’ working in Vista? Originally it came out for Win 95, but worked on all versions up to XP.
The old sendtotoys.exe program works with Vista. It should be available on the Microsoft web site.
FYI, works on Windows 7 RC1 too.
very nice.Thank you for the very useful software
I’ve just change and a new user for vista 64 bit. I’ve found your
web via google. It’s work on vista 64 bit, I’m very appreciated,
with many many tks.
This is an invaluable time saver for me – thanks!
NICE WEBSITES.. AND ALSO IT IS USEFUL FOR ALL SOFTWARES..
These two REG files create keys named ‘{C2FB…’ with default values.
In your previous manual registry edit article, the approach was slightly different: the keys were named ‘Copy To’ and ‘Move To’, with values ‘{C2FB…’.
The two approaches produce the same right-click function for me, but I prefer the readability of the ‘Copy To’ and ‘Move To’ key names in the registry.
Otherwise, thanks for the great tip.
THANK YOU! :)
Thanks guys shame u dont work for microsoft :)
Thanks so much.It makes move and copy so simple.
Very nice little hack. Makes my life a lot easier.
Very useful, just what i was looking for.
Works in W7 RTM also!
I use XP pro. I have used the XP task pane to move/copy (files and folders) for a long time, to keep partitions and external drives the way I want them to be. I have found that using the “browsing” it offers is an excellent way to “learn” the “structure” of “your” filing system. I often “dive” into the areas that I have “partly” forgotten for a reminder of what is down that path. I do it, just in passing causually by.
Yes, I have now installed the right click facility. Noticeably, it only refers to “files”. Bearing in mind the extensive comments, Does this work on highlighted folders as well ?. I sometimes have folders (which include many deeply “embedded” folders) and move these to “distant” places in other drives. The transfers can take nearly an hour !!. The task pane does handle the situation with little “comment”.
The comments within this topic, do suggest some anomalies. I am still pleased to be able to shuffle “stuff” locally …. more or less instantly.
I am looking for comments about moving (complex) folders. Has anyone tried “doing” multiple highlighted files.
Fred
holy cow! thank you. I just spent an hour chatting with HP. only to learn that you cant move specific files like you can in xp. Its a real easy fix I have never been in to my registery before. The file did it all for me. thanks agian.
I wouldn’t import anything into my registry without first opening in notepad to see the changes. BTW, just press the “shift key” when you right click… and you will see an extended menu. Send to, Open in cmd, Share, Open Path – all kinds of options. Guess Microsoft didn’t leave this one out afterall.
Wonderful!!! You doing great job. Thank you very much. You save me a lot of times!
Thanks a lot.
Works like a breeze.
I tried using the download for Windows 7 and only the copy feature worked.
Hi, I use ‘Move to Folder’ everyday but there’s one annoyance for me…
The dialog window comes up in an awkward location on the screen and when I move it and try a move again it pops up in the same awkward location so it can’t be configured to stay in one place (and to open a default folder?). Any tricks (regedit ok) to tweak this?
Thanks!
Thank you
when i upgrade to 7 it was gone now it’s back thanks to you, works great ,.
Fantastic ! It works ! Thanks a million ! Any nore tricks , pls let us know !
Vista – right click menu:
All of a sudden when I go to the r-click menu to set up a new folder, when I click on new instead of ‘folder’ showing up there is ‘shortcut’. I have no idea how it happened but I can no longer make a new folder. Please help.
I just wonder if there is any trick to add to the right-cluck menu the options “Copy To” and “Move To” with submenus, similar to default “Send To” option. The submenu may include a list of the available Disk Drives and Removable Storages.
I got a laptop with Windows 7 on it yesterday, and being that I like to have multiple folders with my junk carefully organised in it, I quickly noticed that move / copy were missing. I have XP on my desktop, so was not amused at literally having to hurt my hands (Stupid disability that microsoft’s not helped with ‘fixing’ something that wasn’t broken!) to finally drag and drop folders where I wanted them!
So I can NOT thank you enough for the fix, that allows me to use the lappy like normal and not really hurt my hands in doing so with dragging / dropping files!
THANK YOU!
Blake :D
Thanks so much for your Move To/Copy To solution. Forced to go to Windows 7 — pulling my hair out past couple of days trying to find this capability. Thanks for giving it to us.
Ed
Thanks for the help on this Windows 7 right-click menu omission.
Awesome..you are truly a Genius…keep up the good work, I’ve been looking for this kinda site for a long time…glad to find you. Really appreciate your help…great solution & so easy to understand the instructions given….thank you!!
Yeah man…
I can’t believe they get busy putting nice make-up lipstick on user interface… aero this aero that…shaky shaky sh!t etc, but MISSED this ESSENTIAL menu handy daily little thing !
Thanks for the tweak file man !
Great tool guys , marvellous ! Many thanks .
Can’ t understand why Microsoft left this out of Vista and W7 . it’s just crazy .
I need to use this tool every day .
why there is no move option in windows 7 ultimate,only copy option
Again, for the third time in the third year my computer breaks again which is now like Frankenstein- fitted with new parts and stripped of its former soul, thank you for the hack.
This is a great tool, but in Windows 7 I’m having trouble with the “Move to folder” or “Copy to folder” screen opening partially off-screen.
I’ve played with it a bit, and find that if I drag the screen up to where I can see all of it, then resize it so the upper left corner is close to the middle of the screen, and the lower right down at the bottom right corner of my screen, hit cancel, then try again, the screen will come up the way I resized it.
However, if I resize the screen to fit most of the available real estate on my monitor, rather than leaving the upper left corner close to the middle of the screen, the next time I try to move/copy the window opens up partially off-screen again.
Any thoughts?
thanks
Thank you!
realy
Stopped working. I’ve been using this for years. I use it on my network at home. I now tell it to copy to the other computer and it says it goes but it is not there. When I do a search on the first computer I find it in the nethood folder. I deleted the network place and rebuilt it. Still the same.
Hope this hasn’t been addressed above, but it would be swell to include options to automatically overwrite any existing material.
Exelente!!!
I don’t see how this is realy any faster than cut and paste.
If you have 7 hard drives with hundreds of folders and you know the destination is only two folders away and don’t remember which harddrive and subfolder your working in this looks realy insane. I just want a ‘MoveTo’ shortcut that goes to the most commo destinations. And a working n key.
Fantastic I move & copy files all over the place I was lost without this.Thanks so much
This was missing in Vista and now Windows 7. Why do they always mess with the useful stuff? Thanks much for this–I see I’m not the only one out there who uses that feature, and misses it when it’s not there. Cut & Paste can be a chore sometimes.
To MountainMan38, I had a similar problem in Windows 7. Once I turned off the compatibility mode for the site, I was able to view the entire window. Might try that.
its gr8!!! Thanx!
Thank you very much!
Please let me know the sum I owe you and the preferred method of payment.
If there is anything I can do for you, please let me know.
Sincerely,
John
thanks a lot you make is easy keep it up :)
Thanks a million. I have missed that so much since changing from XP to Vista. My external hard drive has been lying empty as I couldn’t be bothered dragging and dropping thousands of pics. Wonderful x
Thank you so much, works a treat on windows 7 and reduces the ridiculous amount of time it takes to copy files across !!!
I have no words to say magnificent. this tool have save my day.
In Windows Vista Business… is there any tweak to get the dialog box that opens to remember the last used target folder? Its a pain traversing 5 subfolders everytime. I have it in windows 7 and windows 7 remembers the last used folder
Why didn’t Microsoft include this in Vista Ultimate as a standard feature the same as XP pro. Thanks so much for this fix, will make life using my PC so so much nicer.
Top job thanks
Wonderful article …!
Thank you for providing ‘copy to’ and ‘move to’ programs. I just installed Windows 7 from XP. XP left these files out and I was lost without them.
Thanks again!!
Thanks. It is a very useful util.
You guys are saints, really. I was so frustrated by the removal of this feature.
Mega thanks for this fix. I bought a new computer with Win 7 preinstalled before learning anything about the new operating system. First time I wanted to move a file, I found that the wonderful clicking I could do in XP was not available. Drag and drop. I was having enough trouble finding where files were located on my new computer. And then I had to resize windows so I could see to do my dragging and dropping. Thanks again.
Thank you SO much for you posting…….. I really appreciate so much, I wish you to know how much I like you share with us.
again thank you!
one of the best context menu tweaks ever!! thanks a ton….this is sooo much better than drag and drop copying.
Brilliant!! Amazing how simple things are so appreciated. Thanks for the tweak and the super-easy install.
thanks a million, I lost this ability and used it all of the time!
Vicki
Excellent!! Thanks very much, works a treat on Windows 7! (Why would they ever leave this out???!!!)
Muchas Gracias,Thanks a bunch I was missing the move to option and now hey presto it´s there, you are a fab geek
Thanks a Lot
Excellent reg entries I used to use this on Xp great to find it here for W7 many many thanks…
Came to download move to – can’t find any place to accomplish this. – Site would appear to be basically useless.
hvala!
Thanx I just got windows 7 & trying to get used to it after years of using XP. I rely heavily on the copy & move features. Downloaded this & it came right up. Awesome tweak, You Rock!!!
just got 7 and was so sad to see that missing…… glad i searched…
great stuff,,,,, thanks…….
yer my hero……
thank you . my life has been saved
Those morons at microsoft left this out. No wonder I don’t like windows7.
Thank you for showing me how to put it in.
excellent info . thanks
geek, that was “Get Ready To Feel The Thunder!” so full of AWESOMENESS…… Thanks for the share. Keep up the good work!
hi, this is good, but can u tell me the trick to move the file to a default directory and should not ask for select a directory.
for example :
when i click move to , it should automatically move the particular to “C:\Program Files” Folder.
This is going to save me loads of time. Nice one
I love this little idea. Another one that i also like is the ‘Send To’ Shortcut is the ‘Send To’ menu found here for Vista and 7 http://www.howtogeek.com/howto/22236/add-dropbox-to-the-send-to-menu-in-windows-7-xp-and-vista/ this can be used for email multipule network printers and anything else you can make a shortcut too. If you can imagine it, it can be done.
¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡Excelente!!!!!!!!!!!Ambos tĂ©rminos no los tenĂa en el meu contextual y lo descarguĂ©, quedando ahora en el menĂş.
Muchas gracias.
Thanx……….very useful
I am realy glad to have this feature again. I used all the time on windows xp. Why they did’nt include on vista or windows 7 was a mistake as far as i’m concerned Thanks for the info
Morons….my next computer will be an Apple: although why apple’s don’t have right click is indication that they have a too cool for school attitude (not to mention itunes is the blandest piece of software that becomes LESS useful with every update)….
Why change basic things that work so well and no one complains about…? Windows xp, windows vista, windows 7, even the names stink of a lack of imagination.
Thanjs for this quick fix!
Thank you so much!! I’ve only had new computer & win 7 a few weeks I missed these options so much as I do alot of photo’s on dolls and clothes I was about ready to go back to XP that I really liked.
I might give win 7 a little more tie now to get used to it.
Now if you could just get a couple of my really old photo editing programs to work with 7 I would be a happy win 7 user….maybe
Great program, I wonder why Microsoft left these two items out of Windows 7?
its working on windows7 x86
Great!!!!!!!!!!!
Working perfectly on win7.
Thanks.
Thank You!
Done Deal For Windows 7.
:-))
Very many thanks. It was a very useful tool to me as it made it easier to do what I want (copy and move docs). Thumbs up.
Works great.
Kudos to you sir :)
Also Rob nailed it with the shift key see comment up there for Win7
I wouldn’t import anything into my registry without first opening in notepad to see the changes. BTW, just press the “shift key” when you right click… and you will see an extended menu. Send to, Open in cmd, Share, Open Path – all kinds of options. Guess Microsoft didn’t leave this one out afterall.
Thanks – Much Needed
thanks :] helps with reports =] xD
thanks – this is small but very usefull,
what is the shortcut key for this command like we have “Ctrl + C” for copy.
And if it is not there how to make one.
Great tip. Thumbs up!
I couldn’t believe MS would leave the option of “moving” files (instead of copying by default) out of Windows 7. This has got to be the most airhead things.
Thank you for this tweak. It’s a life-saver!
Thank you for this tweak. Installed on Windows 7 64 bit and it works fine.
Thanx bro, it worked on Win 7
thanks you master, work on win7