How to open more than 15 files at once?

[Newbie2021]

When I select up to 15 files and show context menu (Shift+F10), there is item Open. But when selected files count exceeds 15 items this menu item is not there anymore.

Sometime I need to open more than 15 files (in their default application) at once how to do it?

[HolgerK]

That's a limitation added by Microsoft intentionally to prevent computer to stop responding when opening a huge amount of files.
You can try to add a registry entry under HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer
-> New 32Bit DWORD -> MultipleInvokePromptMinimum and set a value of e.g. 100

See also:
https://winaero.com/windows-10-context-menu-items-missing-when-more-than-15-files-are-selected/
https://www.tenforums.com/tutorials/94513-fix-context-menu-items-missing-when-more-than-15-selected-windows.html
https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/troubleshoot/windows-client/shell-experience/context-menus-shortened-select-over-15-files
...

HTH
Holger

[Dalai]

Thank Microsoft for this (useless) limitation in the Windows shell. The only way to open more files is by some means other than the context menu. It's possible to create a button that makes use of the CMD start command inside of a for loop to open all selected files. And I'm sure there are other ways to do this.

Regards
Dalai

[HolgerK]

Thank Microsoft for this (useless) limitation in the Windows shell.

Right.
Even a dialog:

Code: Select all

Do you really want to open more than 15 documents at once?
(This may take a while...)

[Yes] [No] [Never ask me again, just do it]

Would be a more user friendly option than searching the internet for a solution and tweaking the registry.

Regards
Holger

[Newbie2021]

Actually I was hoping there is something like in FreeCommander. Where you just select files and hit enter. TC opens only an item under the cursor.
Screenshot: https://i.ibb.co/GPdB36P/image.png

[solid]

That a nice workaround of the OS limitation. I guess in this case the FreeCommander uses built in lst2multi functionality.

Check lst2multi, or even better F4Menu or some similar tool. It gives you the choice to select the program for opening all selected files.

[HolgerK]

It's possible to create a button that makes use of the CMD start command inside of a for loop to open all selected files. And I'm sure there are other ways to do this.

PowerShell-button to open all selected files with default associated program:

Code: Select all

TOTALCMD#BAR#DATA
PowerShell.exe
ForEach ( $file in ( get-Content '%L' ) ) { & $file }
PowerShell.exe
Open all selected files

1
-1

Or create an em_command using the above script and assign a hotkey (e.g. <Ctrl+O>)

Code: Select all

[em_OpenAllSelectedFiles]
button=PowerShell.exe
cmd=PowerShell.exe
param=ForEach ( $file in ( get-Content '%L' ) ) { & $file }
menu=Open all selected files
iconic=1

Code: Select all

[Shortcuts]
C+O=em_OpenAllSelectedFiles

Code: Select all

TOTALCMD#BAR#DATA
em_OpenAllSelectedFiles

PowerShell.exe
Open all selected files

0
10016

Regards
Holger

[ghisler(Author)]

You can add extra commands to the context menu via Files - Internal associations, which don't have a limit.
Just leave the default open command empty.