How to Add New Options to the System Menu in Windows 10 & 11
Many software windows that you can maximize and minimize have a system menu. You can view a software window’s system menu by right-clicking its title bar. The default system menu includesRestore,Maximize,Minimize,Move, andSizewindow options, to name a few.
However, you can considerably extend that system menu with the freeware SmartSystemMenu software. This program expands the system menu with 18 new options. This is how you can extend the system menu with SmartSystemMenu in Windows 11/10.
How to Expand the System Menu on Windows Apps With SmartSystemMenu
SmartSystemMenu is a lightweight app compatible with 64 and 32-bit Windows 11, 10, 8, and 7 platforms. It’s a portable program you don’t need to install. However, you will need to extract SmartSystemMenu’s ZIP archive. This is how you can download, extract, and run SmartSystemMenu to expand the system menu.
Now you can try out a transformed system menu in Notepad. There are many useful new options you can select on that menu with SmartSystemMenu running in the background. Seven of those options are submenus from which you can select alternative settings for them.
For instance, you’re able to make windows transparent by selecting theTransparencysubmenu. Choose a percentage value on that menu to set a transparency level. Or you can selectCustomto input a transparency value.
You can minimize windows to the system tray. To do so, select theSystem Traysubmenu and theMinimize to trayoption. Then you’ll see a small icon for the minimized window in the system tray you can click to reopen the window.
ThePrioritysubmenu includes the priority settings for running programs you can usually only select via theDetailstab in Task Manager. There you can choose six priority level options to change the system resource allocation for the window’s software.
Check out our guide onhow to select the priority levelfor further details about program priority levels.
You can select different options for aligning windows from theAlignmentsubmenu. That menu includes nine options for aligning a window along the top, middle, or bottom. You can also pressAlt+Numhotkeys to select those alignment options.
Do you need to capture screenshots of software windows? If so, the newSave Screenshotoption on the extended system menu will come in handy. Select this option to save a BMP screenshot image of the active software window to a folder.
Always on Topis another useful new option available on the extended system menu. Selecting that option will keep your software window of choice always on top of any others.
Your selected window options will reset if you don’t save them. To save all your selected window settings for a specific program, click theSaveoption. Then all your selected options for a window will remain as you configured them after you restart its software.
Setting SmartSystemMenu to start automatically will save you from manually running the program after restarting your PC. To do so, right-click the SmartSystemMenu system tray icon and selectAuto start program. Selecting that option adds the program to the startup items.
How to Add Program Shortcuts to SmartSystemMenu
SmartSystemMenu adds a handyStart Programsubmenu to the system menu. That submenu enables you to add software shortcuts to the system menu. You can add new shortcuts to the Start Program menu via SmartSystemMenu’s Settings window like this:
How to Change SmartSystemMenu’s Menu Layout
You can also change the layout of the system menu with SmartSystemMenu’s options. To do so, open SmartSystemMenu’s Settings window from the program’s system tray icon. Then click theMenutab to view the options shown below.
you’re able to change the order of the system menu’s options from that tab. Select an option to change the position of and click the arrow buttons to move it up or down the menu. To remove options you don’t use, uncheck their selected checkboxes.
There you can also assign keyboard shortcuts to the menu options. Click the…(ellipses) button for an option to assign a hotkey. Then select three keys for hotkey in the drop-down menus, and clickOKto exit. SelectOKto close Settings, and then restart SmartSystemMenu.
Turbocharge the System Menu With SmartSystemMenu
The default system menu for software windows is somewhat basic, to say the least. SmartSystemMenu transforms that menu with all the new options it adds. With so many new options and submenus, the extended Windows 11 system menu SmartSystemMenu provides is much, much more useful than the default one.
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