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Sometimes, when I right click on Steam in the system tray, I see my games. Sometimes I don't. This is very strange, and annoying because I cannot access my games without opening Steam. For example, when there is the menu:
Context menu Context Menu

See the difference? The really odd thing is that every other time I launch Steam, the menu is gone. Why is this?

Edit: This seems to have been fixed as of 5 June 2013. I don't know exactly when since I rarely reboot my computer.

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    You know, you should really crop your screenshots. It was kind of hard to see the original.
    – murgatroid99
    Commented Feb 13, 2013 at 2:13
  • You mean this Feed The Beast? It is connected with Steam updates and it views your last 5 games AFAIK
    – iber
    Commented Feb 13, 2013 at 2:38
  • So you mean, sometimes the "last five games" section doesn't exist at all in the right-click menu?
    – SevenSidedDie
    Commented Feb 13, 2013 at 3:17
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    (As for being able to access games without opening the Steam Library, an alternative to the task tray menu is to open Steam, right click a game in your library you want to access without opening Steam, then choose "Create Desktop Shortcut" from this menu. Do that for all the ones you want this access for and put them where you want them.)
    – SevenSidedDie
    Commented Feb 13, 2013 at 3:18
  • @SevenSidedDie - I tend to do this, then move the Shortcuts to something like /Documents/Games. I then Right-Click the Taskbar, Toolbars->Add Toolbar and select the 'Games' folder. You then get a nice little drop-list on the bottom right near the notification tray.
    – Robotnik ♦
    Commented Feb 13, 2013 at 3:35

1 Answer 1

Reset to default
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As the dropdown list you get by right-clicking on the steam icon is based on your most recently played games, and sometimes doesn't show up at all, I propose a workaround solution, based on SevenSidedDie's and my conversation in the comments above.

A possible workaround would be to create a toolbar with a list of your favourite games that is pinned to the taskbar, near the notification tray (where the steam icon sits). As Steam provides a handy function of being able to create shortcuts on the desktop, we can then move those shortcuts to a dedicated folder, and create the toolbar.

So, our process becomes

  • Create a folder somewhere that will hold the shortcuts. For example, C:\Games
    • Keep the name short, as it will also be on the taskbar.
  • Open Steam
  • Right-Click a game, and click Create shortcut on the desktop
  • Select the Shortcut on the desktop, and either Cut & Paste or Drag it into the open folder.
  • Right-Click on the taskbar, and click Toolbars->New Toolbar
  • Navigate to where the Games folder is, (in this case, C:\), select it (don't open it!) and click Select Folder

Repeat points 2-4 for as many games as you want. You can even put them in sub-folders within the Games folder if you wish.

You will now have a little drop-up menu, called Games near the notification tray on the task menu. clicking the button with two little right-pointing arrows will open the menu.

  • An added benefit of this system is that steam doesn't need to be open in order for you to browse your catalogue of games. Clicking a game will start steam, and jump right into the game.

  • Also, adding more shortcuts is really easy as well! Just Right-Click the name on the taskbar, and click Open Folder. Drag as many in as you wish!

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  • I thought it loaded the games in your 'Favourites' category. Shows what I know eh!
    – Neon1024
    Commented Feb 13, 2013 at 12:28

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