Refresh Unbound - Put Refresh Back in the Windows 11 Context Menu

1.1) The extra menu
Windows 11 already knows how useful Refresh is. It remains visible when you right-click the Desktop (on newer builds). Inside an ordinary File Explorer folder, however... SOMEHOW... it's missing. You gotta hit Show more options first. Such weird choices they've made...

In any case, that extra step is small, but it is also completely avoidable. Refresh Unbound adds Refresh to the primary modern menu when you right-click the empty background of a folder. It does not change the menus for selected files or selected folders - to avoid extra bloat.

1.2) What Refresh Unbound changes
Once enabled, the command appears as a native modern context-menu entry. Select it and File Explorer refreshes the active folder view directly. There is no second visible application launching and no window flashing in front of the folder... Simple as that.

Obviously, adding another Refresh command to the Desktop would solve nothing. Windows already places its own Refresh entry there (3rd position, where I tried to position mine as well, but unfortunately I couldn't figure that out - apparently you can't - at least not without breaking some Store rules, I guess.), so Refresh Unbound checks the context and hides its command on the Desktop.

A traditional DirectoryBackgroundshell registry belongs to the legacy context menu, which is the menu already hiding behind Show more options. Using that as the primary integration would solve nothing essentially.

Refresh Unbound instead ships as a packaged native shell extension for the Windows 11 modern menu. It uses the supported windows.fileExplorerContextMenus package registration and implements IExplorerCommand.

Unfortunately, as stated earlier, Windows still decides the final order of modern context-menu commands. Refresh may move depending on Windows and the other shell extensions installed on your PC, so Refresh Unbound does not promise a fixed slot.

1.1) Get the app
Open the Refresh Unbound Microsoft Store page and install it normally. Windows selects the appropriate x64 or ARM64 package for your device.

After installation, open Refresh Unbound from the Start menu. The control panel shows whether its context-menu command is currently enabled or disabled. If it says it's enabled but not showing, hit the Restart explorer button.

1.2) Requirements
- Windows 11 version 21H2, build 22000, or later
- x64 or ARM64 processor
- Windows 10 is not supported

Press Enable Refresh in modern context menu. The preference is stored locally in the app's package settings, and the control panel updates its status immediately.

Now open an ordinary File Explorer folder and right-click an empty area in the folder view. Refresh should appear in the primary Windows 11 context menu - unless something else takes prio. Select it to refresh that active view.

As stated above, if the command does not appear immediately, return to Refresh Unbound and use Restart Explorer. This briefly closes the Windows shell and open File Explorer windows while Windows reloads the extension. Use it only when Explorer has not picked up the change on its own.

To keep the application installed but hide its menu command, open the control panel and press Disable Refresh in modern context menu. Restart Explorer only if the visible menu does not update immediately.

To remove everything, uninstall Refresh Unbound normally from the Start menu or from Settings > Apps > Installed apps. Removing the package also removes the packaged File Explorer command. Being a modern .msix, there is no separate cleanup utility or uninstall script.

The WinUI 3 control panel keeps the important choices large and obvious. A status card tells you whether Refresh is enabled, followed by separate controls to enable or disable the command.

This is a configurator, not a resident dashboard, so after you choose the state you want, you can close the app. The context-menu extension remains registered with Windows without keeping the control panel or a background service running.

File Explorer sometimes holds onto shell-extension state. The Restart Explorer control exists for that case. Refresh Unbound asks for confirmation, briefly restarts the Windows shell, and reports whether the reload succeeded.

You do not need to press it every time you open the app. It is a practical recovery button for the moment when Enable or Disable has changed the stored state but Explorer has not yet reflected it.

Refresh Unbound contains two native C++ components: the WinUI 3 control panel and a COM shell-extension DLL implementing IExplorerCommand.

The package manifest registers the command through windows.fileExplorerContextMenus for DirectoryBackground. That target is the empty background inside a directory view. The command checks whether the current location is the Desktop and remains hidden there.

This packaged registration is what lets the command participate in the primary Windows 11 context menu instead of being limited to the old menu behind Show more options.

When you select Refresh, the extension obtains File Explorer's active IShellView and calls its refresh operation directly. It does not start the Refresh Unbound control panel, open another visible program, or simulate a keyboard shortcut.

The enabled or disabled preference lives in local Windows application settings. The shell extension reads that value when Windows asks whether the command should be shown.

The control panel runs when you open it and closes when you exit. Refresh Unbound does not install a background service, analytics component, updater process, or permanently running tray application.

The shell-extension DLL is loaded by Windows only as part of File Explorer's packaged context-menu system. That is different from shipping a separate application that stays running all day merely to watch for right-clicks.

Both x64 and ARM64 Windows 11 devices are supported. The Microsoft Store delivers the architecture appropriate for the PC.

Refresh Unbound has no telemetry, analytics, advertising, accounts, or cloud service. It does not make automatic network requests. Its enabled or disabled preference is stored locally in Windows package settings.

Network access occurs only when you deliberately open an external link such as Donate, GitHub, the license page, or Unbound Planet. Those pages open in your default browser and follow the destination site's own privacy policy.

Read the full Refresh Unbound privacy policy.

- Windows 11 only: version 21H2, build 22000, or later.
- Architectures: x64 and ARM64.
- No Windows 10 support: the utility targets the Windows 11 modern context menu.
- Folder backgrounds only: it appears when you right-click empty space inside an ordinary File Explorer folder.
- Desktop unchanged: Windows already supplies Refresh there.
- No fixed menu position: Windows controls ordering, which can vary with other installed shell extensions.
- No selected-item command: Refresh Unbound is not intended to add Refresh to selected files or folders.

The project is free software under the MIT license. You can inspect the source, build it, report issues, or contribute through the GitHub repository.