How to Add a Printer to “Send to” Desktop Context Menu on Windows 11 / 10

The right-click context menu on the Windows 11/10 desktop is quick way to perform many actions like, opening a file, copy, paste, delete, compress to zip file, create, edit, share and much more. The menu also allows you to send the file to a Bluetooth device, fax, mail recipient and even to a printer. Moreover, if you want to add items to the context menu, and even remove or edit the menu, you can do so by using 3rd party application or by editing the registry editor. In fact, you can also restore the missing “New” option or the missing “Open” option in the context menu.

But, if the printer is not already added to the “send to” desktop context menu or it does not pick it up automatically, you would need to add the printer separately. Let’s see how.

 

How to Add Printer to ‘Send to’ Desktop Context Menu?

 

Adding the printer Send to menu on your Windows OS helps you send documents straight for printing, to the printer you have selected, without any need to open the file. Moreover, if you have multiple printers, adding those printers to the Send to menu, on your network, allows you to have a choice of getting your print from any of the printers added.

Let’s see how to add a printer to the Send to menu on your Windows 11/10 PC:

 

Step 1: Press the Win + R keys simultaneously on your keyboard to open the Run command window.

Step 2: Copy and paste the below path in the Run command search bar and hit Enter to open the Printers Folder in the File Explorer window:

 

shell:PrintersFolder

 

 

Step 3: In the Printers folder, go to the right side, look for the printer you want to add to the Send to menu, right-click on it and select Create shortcut.

 

 

Step 4: You will now see a prompt – Shortcut, which says ” Windows can’t create a shortcut here. Do you want to shortcut to be placed on the desktop instead?“.

Click on Yes to proceed.

 

 

Step 5: Now, go to desktop and copy the newly created shortcut for the selected printer.

Step 6: Now, go to Start, right-click on it and select Run.

 

 

Step 7: This will open the Run command window.

Here, type the below path in the search field and press OK to open the SendTo folder:

 

shell:SendTo

 

 

Step 8: Next, in the SendTo folder in the File Explorer, paste the shortcut of the selected printer you copied from desktop in Step 5.

 

 

Now, when you want to print a file using this printer, you can right-click on the file, select Show more options, click on Send to and you will see the printer you just added. Select it to print your document.

 

*Note – To add more printers to the Send to desktop context menu, repeat the Step 1 through 8.