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Remove dropbox items from the Windows 11 file explorer right click context menu dropdown list

I have tried to remove all of the Dropbox items from the right click context menu in FileExplorer Windows 11 by deleting all the share folders in Computer\HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Directory\Background\shell and shellex and Computer\HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Directory\shell and shellex. But the items don't leave the menu. Does anybody know how remove Dropbox items from the context menu?

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Jay

Hi @BarksySK, thanks for messaging the Community.

Currently, there isn't an official method to remove the Dropbox context menu items from Windows or Mac devices.

The desktop app might be re-creating the folders when it detects they are missing, or when the app updates.

If you have any further queries, feel free to message back.

PRFS

Well, dropbox, perhaps you should let us choose in a setting which context menus we want, LIKE A CIVILIZED APP.

And maybe, not override common keyboard shorcuts like "D" for DELETE, which you currently override, like an uncouth engineering team that thinks they're the only important thing going on on my computer.

And we HAD a working solution that worked for years by deleting the above reg entries via script, but no, you can't let us have control over our own computers, so now y'all have disabled THAT as well, instead of allowing us to use the registry to override settings as intended.

Stop trying to force your vision on my explorer window, and let the users use the app the way they want.

jrlbell

I love the way Jay writes, "...might be... ." I guess that means that Dropbox support staff don't actually know what Dropbox is doing to our computers. He also refers to "folders" which is not what the question is about. It is about Windows File Explorer context menu items related to Dropbox.

Rich

@jrlbell wrote:
I love the way Jay writes, "...might be... ." I guess that means that Dropbox support staff don't actually know what Dropbox is doing to our computers.

Jay is a Community Manager; not a Dropbox Engineer. The Community Managers are extremely knowledgeable in the Dropbox products and they're features, but it's impossible for them to know every specific detail about the inner workings of the application or update process.

Also, the "folders" he referred to are the registry keys, which were referred to as "folders" by the OP, so clearly Jay was using the same terminology that the OP used so as to not cause confusion for them.

Piknockyou

Remove Dropbox Context Menu Entries on Windows - Persistent Fix

I've seen dozens of threads here from people trying to get rid of the Dropbox right-click context menu entries on Windows. There is no official toggle for this. The common advice involves manually editing registry keys, but people report those changes revert after Dropbox updates. Here is my solution:

The linked script solves that differently. Instead of modifying Dropbox's own registry entries (which Dropbox overwrites on update), it uses Windows' built-in Shell Extensions Blocked mechanism — a per-user registry key (HKCU:\...\Shell Extensions\Blocked) that Windows itself respects. Dropbox updates don't touch this key because it's not theirs.

What it does:

Reads Dropbox's AppxManifest to find all context menu CLSIDs automatically
Blocks them using Windows' own sanctioned blocking method
Fully reversible — unblock everything with one click
Interactive menu or silent command-line mode for automation

Tested for 4+ months across three machines via PowerShell 7, through multiple Dropbox updates. The entries have never come back.

The script is open, readable, and modifies nothing outside that single user-scoped registry key. If you want an independent safety assessment, paste it into any AI assistant and ask.

You can vet and download it here:
https://github.com/piknockyou/Dropbox_Context-Menu-Blocker