How to Pass MULTIPLE filenames to a Context Menu Shell Command?

Question

Passing a single filename to a context menu shell command is simple:

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\*\shell\MyProgram\Command]
@="program.exe %1"

But if I select multiple files, program.exe is invoked for each such selected file.

What I would like to do instead is invokeprogram.exe only once, passing to it all the filenames currently selected.

How to do this?

Geanticline

I've successfully added an item to file context-menu (HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\*\shell). The item shows up when I right-click on a file. When I select multiple files and then right-click, it doesn't show up. How do I fix that? – Bourbonism

Answer 1

You may want to look at this post, as it says that this isn't really possible to pass multiple files to a single instance and you must rely on some form of IPC(Inter process Communication).

Entablature

Answer 2

You can use Send To for this. It supports multiple files.

In case this website goes offline:

Open shell:sendto with Windows + R or paste it into your explorer address bar. It should redirect you to:

C:\Users\<yourusername>\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Windows\SendTo

Create a shortcut to your program in this folder and you should see it in your explorer right-click menu under Send to

Vaniavanilla

It seems there's a limit to how many files can be sent depending on the files' path. I can send 504 files with paths C:\test\001.txt. 504 file names amount to 7560 chars (no space), 8063 chars (space delimited). Sending 505 files (7575 chars [no space]; 8079 [space delimited]) doesn't work. – Bourbonism

Saved me so much time. I use it for compare software.. Thanks – Puzzler

When trying to pass the file G:\New [folder] (4)\Untitled-2.txt to a Powershell script, the result becomes G:\New [folder] 4 \Untitled-2.txt. It seems that parentheses cannot be parsed correctly. Any solution? – Irresoluble

@Irresoluble try escaping parenths with a back tick: G:\New [folder] `(4`)\Untitled-2.txt – Fylfot

Answer 3

I created a small program that completely solves this problem. https://github.com/ge9/ExecuteCommand-Pipe

It is based on this Microsoft sample code: https://github.com/microsoft/Windows-classic-samples/tree/main/Samples/Win7Samples/winui/shell/appshellintegration/ExecuteCommandVerb

It uses COM (Component Object Model) technology of Windows, so there are no restriction on the number or path length of passed files. Also it doesn't involve any inter-process communication, preserving the order of files. The command for opening files is specified in registry values. See the repository for details.

Redeploy

While this link may answer the question, it is better to include the essential parts of the code here and provide the link for reference. Link-only answers can become invalid if the linked page changes. – Edgebone

Answer 4

Use: Command-Queuer.cmd

I wanted to do the same thing and ended up creating a 'wrapper' .cmd/bat file to queue the commands for me... I use a temporary queue file to: (a) self-nominate a control instance to run the process, and (b) signal to other instances not run the command(s) directly and instead just add their file/parameters to the queue and exit. The script waits X seconds for the other instances to queue their info and then processes the selected files sequentially.

Command-Queuer.cmd
------------------

@ECHO OFF
SETLOCAL

:: SETUP PARAMETERS: Control temp file location and delay before running
SET QueueFile="%TEMP%\Multi-Item-Queue.txt"
SET /A Secs=5

:: MAIN PROGRAM: If the first instance create the queue and wait, otherwise transfer to queue and exit
IF EXIST %QueueFile% ( ECHO %* >> %QueueFile% ) ELSE (
    ECHO %* > %QueueFile%
    ECHO Waiting %Secs% seconds for other files to finish queuing then will activate...
    TIMEOUT /T %Secs% /NOBREAK >nul
    
    REM - ADD YOUR CODE HERE TO PROCESS THE QUEUE FILE AS A WHOLE
    REM - Example: Display popup of all file paths selected: Msg %username% <%QueueFile%
    
    REM - ALTERNATIVELY, ITERATE THROUGH EACH LINE OF THE FILE
    REM - Example: FOR /F "tokens=*" %%Z in (%QueueFile%) DO ( COPY %%Z "C:\Backup" )
    
    :: Delete the queue file when finished
    DEL %QueueFile%
)
GOTO:EOF

NOTE: You will see a empty cmd window appear for a split-second for each file selected, i.e. if you select 30 files then 30 cmd windows will briefly appear, but these can be hidden if desired please check: Run a batch file in a completely hidden way (superuser.com)

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