What is the purpose of the Menu Key in the keyboard?
The keyboard of your computer or laptop contains a lot of useless keys, which have only been pressed a few times and may be by chance or accident.
Although their functions are no longer important or no longer have a place in the daily framework, most manufacturers still maintain their presence in keyboards. For example, Insert, Page, Scroll Lock, Pause/Break, and others.
If you're using a full-size keyboard, to the right of Ctrl, you'll find the Menu Key or Menu Key. If you press this button any time, it will show you the list of options for the selected program or folder, but what exactly is it for? Can its function be changed to make it more useful? Let's clarify the answer from the lines of this article.
First: Where is the menu key on the keyboard?
On full-size, or modular keyboards, the menu key between the right Win key and the right Ctrl key is to the right of the spacebar and left of the arrow keys. Sometimes the menu key is also called "Application Key".
On smaller keyboards, these keys, including the menu key – for example, laptop keyboards – are deleted to save space. Other smaller keyboards delete the right Win key and leave the menu key between the Alt and Ctrl keys.
In either case, if the keyboard has a menu key, it will be to the right of the Ctrl key. The button does not have the word "Menu" printed on it - it has a small image that looks like a menu.
This image is not standardized and will appear differently on different keyboards. Sometimes a small cursor hovers over a list, sometimes appears as a list in a certain style—a square or rectangular with some horizontal lines inside.
Second: Why was the menu key designed?
The Menu Key button opens the options menu for the current program that appears on your device's screen. It's like right clicking anywhere within the window of this program.
Try clicking on it yourself — press the Menu key while reading this article and you'll see the menu of options for the web browser in use appear, just as if you had right-clicked anywhere within the Shot computer site.
This key is useful if you do not have a mouse or do not have a mouse that has the right button. It works in many different programs. Side by side, if you select a file or folder in File Explorer and press this Menu key, you'll see the options menu as if you had right clicked the file.
Therefore, this button allows you to use the options menu using only the keyboard and without a mouse. Press the Menu key, then use the arrow keys to select an option from that list, and press Enter to click the option. Select text or other items using keyboard shortcuts and press the menu key to press the selected option within the list—all without taking your hands off the keyboard.
It should be noted that Microsoft is now working to replace this menu key to the Office key to work similarly to the Win key so that when pressed a certain action is performed within Microsoft Office programs.
Most computer users probably won't touch the menu key, which explains why Microsoft came up with the idea of replacing it. It is part of the abandoned keys along with Sys Rq, Scroll Lock and Pause Break.
But if you don't have a keyboard with a menu key and you want to open the options menu using the keyboard, don't worry. You can still press the Shift key + F10 key together on the keyboard to display the options menu similarly to pressing the menu key.
But keep in mind that this does not work in all programs, as developers do not usually support using this shortcut to open the options menu, but you must use the mouse. However, if nothing happens in the program you are using after pressing Shift+F10, try Ctrl+Shift+F10.
Third: How to benefit from the menu key?
The menu key is not as annoying as the Win key which can take you out of games and other full-screen programs if you accidentally press it. However, you may want to change the function of the Menu Key to make it do something more useful.
In such a case, you can use the SharpKeys tool to easily reassign keyboard keys to perform another function or replace another key that is not working. Although you can reassign keys through the registry in Windows, it's a more complicated method. So the SharpKeys tool provides a convenient graphical interface to perform the task without any complications.
After installing and running SharpKeys, click the "Add" button. Then in the menu on the left side, select "Special: Application (E0_5D" and you can also press the "Type Key" button and then click on the menu key on the keyboard to select it directly from the menu.
Read also: How to make a backup backup of the registry file in Windows
In the left menu, select which key you want to reassign the menu key to, or the function you want it to perform. For example, you can choose "Web: Refresh" and the menu key will act as a key to refresh the web page in the browser and any other program that supports this key.
After you're done, press the OK button and then click "Write to Registry" to apply your changes to the Windows registry. You will now have to close the SharpKeys program window and then restart your computer or log out and log back in. Your changes will take effect the next time you log in, so that if you now press the menu key an update will be done instead of displaying the options menu.
If you want to change what the key does or undo your changes, open SharpKeys again, and then press the "Edit" or "Delete" button to edit or delete it. And don't forget to press the Write to Registry button after you're done and then log out again or restart the device.
This was all about the Menu Key on the keyboard and what it was for, as it is useful for controlling without a mouse. But if you see it useless and don't use it at all, you can take the steps above to change its function and take advantage of it.