Windows has included the New option in its right-click menu for decades. It’s one of those features I never asked for, never really need or use, and even stopped noticing years ago. But I found PowerToys’ New+ module, and it feels like what Microsoft should have done with the New menu all these years. It lets me load a New menu with my own templates instead. This small change made the biggest impact, eliminating some of the most repetitive parts of my daily Windows workflow.

I was always copying an old file instead

Right before I started fixing my clumsy, repetitive manual routine, here’s exactly what I was doing: I needed to start a new MakeUseOf draft, so I picked an article from last week and made a copy of it. I renamed the copy, deleted most of the content, and left the structure. I’ve repeated this pattern for scripts and some spreadsheets.

The whole time, I’ve had the regular Windows New menu that includes Folder, Shortcut, and Text Document. You may also get a bunch of Office document entries on the menu, and a few other programs may include their own entries. So the New menu isn’t lying empty; I don’t use any of the items it includes, and so I rarely need it.

I never made a conscious decision not to use it, but once the habit of finding old documents and repurposing them took hold, I had the perfect workaround for what the right-click menu was trying to solve. I don’t really make blank files anymore, and I’m not sure that so many people are still doing that either.

I gave it my own files

Now every right-click hands me something already half-done

The New+ PowerToys module reads a folder on your PC and populates the New menu with its contents. New+ uses actual file templates rather than generated placeholders, as in the old New menu. It makes copies of the files you place in its template folder, so anything you can save as a normal file can become a starting point. It’s you deciding what you want to see when you click New+.

I first dropped an article draft that contained a structure I love to use. Then I added a YouTube script outline with my usual sections to the folder as well. I also included my most reused spreadsheet template, with formulas and column headers intact. These were three files I had been repurposing for a long time, now accessible from my right-click menu. New+ immediately replaced the copy-and-clean-up routine I’d been using for years.​​​​​​​

You wouldn’t be wrong to point out that I can do the same thing by copying an old file. The main difference is that to copy a file, you need to find the right file first. That also means remembering which version is clean and where you saved it. The template folder stores a single master copy that’s always up to date, reducing the need to search through project files to find the one that’s safe to repurpose.

Once I added my draft template and found out how much easier it made my workflow, I just kept adding more templates, and it has become the way I work now.​​​​​​​

Starting points, not blank pages

Ever since, my New+ folder has been growing. It holds title templates, pitch templates, and my meeting notes file with all the usual headers filled out. All these became natural parts of my New menu the moment I realized they required me to type the same things all over again.

I don’t recommend creating many files if you are still figuring out what this menu should include. The test is a simple question: do I keep creating the same kind of file? If the answer is yes, that template should become a part of your New menu. Easy picks are expense sheets you fill out monthly, reports that have identical sections, and a resume you often have to tweak for different applications.

The main thing that’s changed is that starting a document no longer requires building it from scratch. That whole shift is the difference between a menu you ignore and one that you rely on.

The feature is a module built into PowerToys. First, download PowerToys. Expand the File Management section and click New+ in the left pane, then toggle on the New+ option on the right.

A template placeholder

The New+ menu is very similar to the traditional Windows New menu. The one significant difference is that rather than accepting Windows’ defaults, you customize it to include the files you actually need. It has become the perfect placeholder for my templates, and one of the best changes to the right-click menu.