New “Rich Text Format” (RTF) missing from Right-Click menu in Windows 11

In Windows 11, the New menu does not list the “Rich Text Format” (often abbreviated RTF) entry by default. This happens even though you associate all .RTF files with WordPad instead of MS Word.

(The Rich Text Format is a proprietary document file format developed by Microsoft for cross-platform document interchange with Microsoft products.)

This article tells you how to add the missing RTF entry to the New menu.

Add “Rich Text Format” to the New Menu

To add “Rich Text Format” to the New menu, follow these steps:

1. Download rtf_shellnew_windows_11.reg (zipped) to your computer.
2. Unzip and extract rtf_shellnew_windows_11.reg to the desktop.
3. Right-click extract rtf_shellnew_windows_11.reg and click “Merge”.
4. Click Yes to confirm.
5. Click OK.

Log off and log back in for the changes to take effect, or restart the Explorer shell via Task Manager.

Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00

[-HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\.rtf]

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\.rtf]
"PerceivedType"="document"
@="rtffile"

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\.rtf\OpenWithList\WordPad.exe]
@=""

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\.rtf\PersistentHandler]
@="{2e2294a9-50d7-4fe7-a09f-e6492e185884}"

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\.rtf\ShellEx\{8895b1c6-b41f-4c1c-a562-0d564250836f}]
@="{84F66100-FF7C-4fb4-B0C0-02CD7FB668FE}"

[-HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\.rtf\ShellNew]

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\.rtf\ShellNew]
"NullFile"=""

Additional Information

To remove the “Rich Text Format” entry from the New menu, open Regedit.exe and delete the following branch:

HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\.rtf\ShellNew

I hope the above information helps.