Windows – Add other file types in the “New” context menu

Assume you add "Edit with Vim" command to the context menu of .txt file. This extension is usually associated with txtfile key. The commands are listed in the shell subkey. The default value of the command key is the name of the command displayed in the context menu. If you add & before any of the characters, then the following character becomes the keyboard accelerator.

Let me explain using an example.

HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT
    .txt
        (Default) = txtfile

    txtfile
        shell
            EditInVim
                (Default) = Edit with Vim

In this case, the command Edit with Vim would not have an accelerator key. Change the value to Edit with &Vim, and then V would be underlined and pressing it will invoke the command.

If your editor uses a context menu handler to add the item to the context menu, then the only way to change the accelerator key is to edit the string resources in its executable file.

I didn't answer the original question though.

The default Edit command for text files comes from the following registry keys:

HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT
    SystemFileAssociations
        text
            shell
                edit
                    (Default) = (value not set)

The shell make the first letter the accelerator. To change it, assign the value to (Default):

                    (Default) = E&dit

The accelerator for Edit command has changed to d now.

The first thing you need to do is set the Command string (Right Click > New > String Value) to %SystemRoot%\System32\cmd.exe /c "%SystemRoot%\ShellNew\WordTemplates.bat ^"%1^"" (assuming that the templates are at C:\Windows\ShellNew).

Then, create a new file at C:\Windows\ShellNew\WordTemplates.bat. In this file, place the following lines of code:

@echo off
echo What document would you like to create?
echo 1 - Template 1
echo 2 - The best template
echo 3 - Sample template
echo 4 - Template 4
echo 5 - Template 5
echo 6 - Template 6
echo 7 - Template 7
echo 8 - Template 8
echo 9 - Template 9
echo 0 - Template 10
choice /c 123457890>nul
copy "%SystemRoot%\ShellNew\Template%errorlevel%.docx" %1>nul

You can replace the descriptions of each template to your preference. The file names of each template must be Template1.docx, Template2.docx, ..., Template10.docx, Template11.docx, etc. The code above will only allow 10 templates. If you would like to specify 26 templates, you can use the alphabet as the choices. You can also change the file extension to .doc.