Context Menu key on Dell Inspiron 1720 Keyboard

I've been trying more and more to use the keyboard alone for most of my activities and avoid the mouse. The Context Menu key on most modern keyboards is an invaluable tool for this, as it brings the context menu for whatever the selected item is (just like right-clicking), something I didn't know until a few weeks ago.

However, my Dell Inspiron 1720 laptop keyboard does not have a context menu key (at least not that I can find).

Is there a key combination (Alt/Ctrl/Fn) that can be used to mimic that function, or a utility to remap the keyboard?

Thanks for your help.

daveh551

Posted 2009-12-10T18:56:23.820

Reputation: 811

Answers

It's been a while since I used Windows, but wasn't SHIFT+F10 a replacement of that key a couple of Windows versions back when the majority of keyboards didn't even have it?

innaM

Posted 2009-12-10T18:56:23.820

Reputation: 9 208

Works with Linux too. (It's universal, I think.) – medmek – 2015-01-13T11:11:19.243

1Windows 7 as well =) – TJB – 2012-03-08T08:21:41.970

1Wow, good call. Works on XP, at least. – Kenneth Murphy – 2009-12-10T20:09:14.640

Also works with Vista. – innaM – 2009-12-10T20:14:46.940

Windows Server 2008 as well....keyboard ninjas rejoice! – Tim Partridge – 2013-11-07T23:48:46.857

It doesn't replace it on Windows 7 taskbar. Pressing Win+T then Shift+F10 isn't the same as Win+T then Context or Win+Alt+1 which both opens the jump-list. – Adam L. S. – 2014-04-18T00:55:06.403

I don't believe there is a built-in key combination for that model. Go get SharpKeys, which will let you map another key you don't use often to the context menu key.

In SharpKeys, the context menu key is "Special: Application (E0_5D)".

Kenneth Murphy

Posted 2009-12-10T18:56:23.820

Reputation: 343

2daveh551, SharpKeys don't have to run for the remapping to be working. They are only a GUI to specify the remapping and after restart, the remapping is handled by Windows. So it does not slow down your machine or anything. You can actually do it manually by editing the registry without SharpKeys. – Jirka-x1 – 2012-11-04T18:10:05.613

Ken, thanks for the pointer. I'd rather avoid loading my machine up with any more little utilities if there's another way to do it. – daveh551 – 2009-12-16T14:34:32.170