I gather some apps have been designed to only appear in Explorer context menus so when right click file in DOPUS, it does not appear in the triggered context menu. Can I add it somehow?
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If BitDefender has a command line interface you could add commands manually, but I don't believe they do.
Thank you. I think what I should have asked is how to edit the right click context menu when I highlight a file in DOPUS. The menu that is triggered has some items that I have already removed from the IE menu [using regedit; couldn't figure out any of the easy to use utilities to add/delete menu items] and doesn't show ones that have been added by new apps.
You can add to context menus via Settings > File Types.
Removing items depends on the type of item.
In some cases, it's easier to block the shell extensions that add them using a tool like ShellExView, if they don't have proper options to turn off their menu items within the respective programs.
You can also hide all of them by default and explicitly add back just the ones you want. See but see Tip: Organise and Speed-Up Context Menus for how to do that.
Other methods that add/remove menu items from File Explorer should generally work in Opus, but some are specific to File Explorer.
Regarding BitDefender, AFAIK the only option is to use a better antivirus that doesn't block its menus from everything but Explorer. Something both they and Norton do for reasons no one from either company has ever taken the time to explain, despite many users asking them. See Bitdefender context menu not showing - #2 by Leo -- ESET NOD32 is a good alternative.
Open the Directory Opus program.
Go to "Settings" or "Options" (usually accessible through the menu or the icon on the toolbar).
In Settings, find the section related to the context menu or "File Types".
In this section you should see a list of file extensions or file types. Find the appropriate file type for which you want to add the application to the context menu.
In the file type settings, find the option associated with the context menu or file actions. This usually provides an option to add or customize context menu items.
Click on the option associated with the context menu and add a new item by specifying the path to the application you want to display in the context menu. Usually you will need to specify the path to the application's executable file.
Save your settings and close the Directory Opus program.
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Thanks, ChatGPT!
Something that might be worth testing (on a test machine!!)
- Create a hardlink to dopus.exe and name it explorer.exe:
- start an elevated Command Prompt (CMD)
- execute the following commands:
cd /d "C:\Program Files\Directory Opus"
mklink /H explorer.exe dopus.exe - close Command Prompt window
- Run explorer.exe
Does the Bitdefender context menu come up? Then you know that the problem is on BitDefender's side.
(you can now delete the explorer.exe hardlink or leave it; it will automatically be linked to the current dopus.exe version
I did briefly test running Dopus through explorer.exe.
Seems to work OK. dopusrt.exe can still communicate with "explorer.exe" too.
I do not have Bitdefender installed, so cant test that.
Doing that is OK for a quick test, but be sure to change it back afterwards, as running via a different exe name will break most of the viewer and archive plugins.
(They look for the plugin API functions exported by "dopus.exe" and won't find them if it's renamed.)
Good to know!
(previews worked when tested, btw. Maybe because it is a hardlink, leaving the existing dopus.exe as-is? )
Try opening the Gif viewer plugin dialog, for example. It'll probably fail.
It did (no response). And some "missing strings" entries too where the "Dither Ctrl-A images" entry should be shown.
So no permanent running as explorer.exe ... which wasn't my plan anyway 
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I would like to thank all who suggested potential solutions and approaches to solving this. Much was above my technical ability, so perhaps this powerful product is just not appropriate for me.
Steven
The solution is to use another antivirus; one that doesn’t intentionally remove its menu items from everything except File Explorer. Then you don’t have to configure anything at all on the Opus side because it’ll work automatically.