Overview
- Microsoft acknowledged that File Explorer’s context menu has become cluttered and insufficiently contextual in Windows 11.
- A new WinUI control called SplitMenuFlyoutItem lets one menu entry act as a default action on the left side and open a secondary flyout on the right side.
- The design groups related actions into a single entry and can tailor secondary options to the selected file type, reducing repetitive items like multiple Photos commands.
- Developers can set the default action for each item, and Microsoft’s demo indicates Windows can promote the most frequently used app for a given file type.
- The API is available for experimentation via the Windows App SDK preview and WinUI GitHub, but it is not in Windows Insider builds and has no announced release date.