Steam Menu Doesn’t show games

steam

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.

Best Answer

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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