When I press Win + T to access the taskbar and then I press Shift + F10 to get the right click context menu, it gives me this
Unwanted context menu shown above
whereas what I expect if I press the context menu key on my keyboard
The Context Menu key on the keyboard
or a right click is this.
Expected context menu shown above
So how do I get the expected context menu if I don't have a Context Menu key on some other laptop or without a right click?
Note : I am right clicking on the google chrome icon and not the task bar and the goal is to open the context menu where the option to open an incognito tab is present and not access the taskbar context menu which would give me the options that would be present if I were to right click the icon in Windows Explorer.
I am using the google chrome as an example, it happens on other icons as well.Eg: Word to open a new page or excel to open a new sheet(not shown in screenshot)
I am looking for a universal solution that would work on any random windows 10 machine, so basically something that won’t require any third party applications and only inbuilt shortcuts can be used.
31 Answer
Given the screenshot you present, your application is at the 1st position in the taskbar.
Its context menu can be then accessed by pressing Win+Alt+1.
In general, corresponding keys 1234567890 apply to the leftmost 10 apps currently present in the taskbar.
If your application is at position higher than 10, simply drag & drop it somewhere between the first 10 applications and the shortcut for its new position will start working immediately.
Source: Keyboard shortcuts in Windows
Hint: pin your favorite applications to the taskbar so they will keep their position constant so your keyboard shortcuts will always remain the same.
The universal solution regardless of app position is sending the context menu key (technically known as AppsKey) using some other key combination using AutoHotKey.
Example for sending it using Ctrl+F10:
^F10::AppsKeySince keyboard input routines distinguish between the AppsKey and Shift+F10, you cannot force all applications by yourself to treat these two shortcuts in the same way (if the authors of the application do not want to). You either need to contact their tech support to fix possible discrepancy or implement a key mapping on your own as I did show you above. Without 3rd-party app, you can remap the key using Registry, but it is more difficult.
If you prefer keyboard shortcuts during most of your productive time, the AHK will soon become your life-long companion due to its practicality and endless possibilities. For example, you can limit the above mapping only to taskbar and not to other apps. Or you can extend the use of the AppsKey to be another gateway to your favorite actions, e.g. AppsKey+A, AppsKey+N etc.
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