Add Links to a Menu

A menu contains links to pages, blog posts, and other content so that your visitors can easily navigate around your site. This guide will show you how to add links to your menu.

In this guide

1. Types of Menu Items
2. Add Menu Items
3. Edit Menu Items

Types of Menu Items

Here is a list of each type of content you can add to your menu:

• Pages: a link to a page on your site.
• Posts: a blog post on your site.
  • Categories: a page of blog posts from a given category.
  • Tags: a page of blog posts with a given tag.
• Custom Link: a URL linking to another website.
• Testimonials: a link to testimonials.
• Projects: a link to a page of your portfolio projects.
  • Project Types: a link to a specific portfolio project type.
  • Project Tags: a link to a specific portfolio project tag.
• Buttons: a button-style link (via the Site Editor method only.)

If you have any plugins installed on your site, these may add extra menu options.

Add Menu Items

When you publish new content to your website, you want your visitors to be able to find it easily. Here you will learn how to add links to your navigation menu. If you’re using a Site Editor theme, you can even customize the menu with buttons and other design elements.

To determine which section of this guide to follow, visit your dashboard and check under Appearance on the left side. If you see Editor, use the Site Editor section of this guide. Otherwise, use the WP Admin or Customizer instructions.

Select the appropriate tab for your design interface:

Site EditorWP-AdminCustomizer

In the Site Editor, your menu is created using the Navigation block. Follow these steps to add a new menu item:

1. Visit your dashboard.
2. Go to Appearance → Editor.
3. Select the Template or Template Part you want to edit, or click the preview of your site to open the Site Editor.
4. Open List View at the top-left corner of your screen (it’s the icon that looks like three horizontal lines above each other.)
5. Select the Navigation block, which may be nested inside other blocks like Header, Group, and Row.
6. Click the “+ Block Inserter” icon that now appears on the Navigation block.
7. A pop-up will appear for you to add a new link. Choose from one of the following options:
   • Choose from any of your recently updated pages.
   • Search by name and select any published page, post, category, or tag. Private or draft content will not appear here.
   • Manually type or paste to add any link (including an external one from a different site) to your menu.
   • Click the “+ Add block” link to add buttons, custom links, spacers, social links and more.
8. After adding a menu item, you can click on the text to customize what it says, as shown in the next section.
9. Click the “Save” button to publish your changes.

Now that you have added the menu items, you can reorder the items, create dropdown menus, and do much more.

Video Tutorial

Slow down or speed up the video using the controls in the lower right corner after clicking the “Play” icon.

On sites with classic themes, you can add menu items using WP-Admin by following these steps:

1. Visit your dashboard.
2. Go to Appearance → Menus.
3. Ensure the correct menu is selected at the top of the screen:

4. Under Add menu items, tick the boxes for each of the new menu items you wish to add. You can choose from Pages, Posts, Categories, Custom Links, and more.
5. Click the “Add to Menu” button. Each of the menu items you selected in the previous step will be added to the menu.
6. If you wish to change the order the menu items appear in, click and drag each one to the desired spot. More on reordering menus.
7. Click the “Save Menu” button at the bottom of the screen when you’re done:

On sites with classic themes, you can add menu items using the Customizer by following these steps:

1. Visit your dashboard.
2. Go to Appearance → Customize → Menus.
3. Choose the menu you wish to add to. If there is no menu here, create a menu first.
4. Ensure you have selected at least one menu location, or the menu will not be visible.
5. Click the “+ Add Items” button.
6. Under Pages, you will see a list of your site’s published pages (private pages and draft pages will not appear in the list.) Click on any page title to add it to your menu. You may also add posts, portfolio projects, blog categories, custom links to other websites, and more.
7. If you wish to rearrange the items or make dropdown menus, click the “Reorder” link. Learn more about how to reorder menu items.
8. Click the “Save Changes“ button to publish the changes to your site.

A short animation showing the process of adding items to your menu.

Video Tutorial

Add New Page

When adding pages to your menu, you’ll see a list of your published pages followed by an Add New Page option that looks like this:

The Add New Page option will create a brand new blank page on your site and add that page to your menu. You can later add content to this page by going to Pages in your dashboard. Posts, projects, and testimonials have similar options.

If you have already created a page and wish to add it to your menu, do not use the Add New Page option. Instead, select the existing page from the list above. If your page is not listed there, it could be because:

• You have not published the page yet. Exit the Customize area and click on Pages. Check if the page is in Drafts or Scheduled. Remember, you can only add a page to your menu if it is published.
• You may have created a post or project, instead of a page.

Edit Menu Items

In this section you’ll learn how to change the text that appears on a link, create a submenu, delete a menu item or make other edits to your menu items. If you’re using one of our Site Editor themes, you can even change the color and style of specific menu items.

To determine which section of this guide to follow, visit your dashboard and check under Appearance on the left side. If you see Editor, use the Site Editor section of this guide. Otherwise, use the WP Admin or Customizer instructions.

Select the appropriate tab for your design interface:

Site EditorWP-AdminCustomizer

In the Site Editor, you can edit an existing menu item in a Navigation block by following these steps (also shown in the video below):

1. Visit your dashboard.
2. Go to Appearance → Editor.
3. Select the Template or Template Part you want to edit, or click the preview of your site to open the Site Editor.
4. Open List View at the top-left corner of your screen (it’s the icon that looks like three horizontal lines above each other.)
5. Click the List View icon (the three horizontal lines above each other) at the top of your screen.
6. In the List View, locate the Navigation block and the menu items within it.
7. Click on an existing menu item to select it.
8. Make your changes, which can include:
   • Typing new text for the menu item.
   • Editing the link of the menu item.
   • Changing the position of a menu item.
   • Re-arranging items into submenus.
   • Changing the color and style of a menu item.
   • Deleting a menu item.
9. Click the “Save” button to save your changes.

Slow down or speed up the video using the controls in the lower right corner after clicking the “Play” icon.

On sites with classic themes, you can edit menu items using WP-Admin by following these steps:

1. Visit your dashboard.
2. Go to Appearance → Menus.
3. If you have created more than one menu, ensure the correct menu is selected at the top of the screen.
4. Under the “Menu structure” section, click the down arrow to the right of a menu item.
5. Update any of the following settings:
   • URL (Custom Links only)
   • Navigation Label
   • Title Attribute
   • Checkbox: Open link in a new tab
   • CSS Classes and XFN/Link Relationship
   • Description
6. Or, click the “Remove” link to delete the menu item from your menu (this will not delete the page, post etc from your site.)
7. Click the “Save Menu” button to save your changes.

On sites with classic themes, you can edit menu items using the Customizer by following these steps:

1. Visit your dashboard.
2. Go to Appearance → Customize → Menus.
3. Choose the menu you want to customize.
4. Click the down arrow to the right of the menu item to customize the following:
   • Navigation Label (the text that appears on the menu)
   • Checkbox: Open link in a new tab
   • Title Attribute
   • CSS Classes and Link Relationship (XFN)
   • Description
5. Or, click the “Remove” link to remove the menu item. Removing an item from your menu does not delete the page, post, etc. from your site.
6. Click the “Save” button to save your changes.