When you start a new site, a menu is created automatically. However, this guide will show you how to add a new menu from scratch.
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.
Your menu comes from the Navigation block in the Site Editor. To create a new menu, follow these steps.
- Visit your site’s dashboard.
- Navigate to Appearance → Editor.
- Select the Template or Template Part you want the navigation menu to appear, or click on the site preview on the right side of the screen to open the homepage editor.
- Click the + Block Inserter icon.
- Use the search field in the block inserter to search for “navigation”
- Click the Navigation block to add the block to your site.
Learn how to customize the Navigation block.
Video Tutorial – Create a Menu
You may want to create more than one menu for your site. For example, you may want a menu in your footer that shows different navigation links than the menu in your header. Or, you may want to create a sidebar with navigation to specific pages.
While classic themes have a predefined location for menus, you can create and add menus to any part of a Block theme.
To create another menu in a Block theme, follow the steps below:
- Visit your site’s dashboard.
- Navigate to Appearance → Editor.
- Click Templates or Patterns to select the Template or Template Part you want the navigation menu to appear.
- Add the Navigation block where you want the new menu to appear. By default, it will load your existing menu. Or, if your template already has the menu you want to change, you can click the existing Navigation block.
- In the sidebar settings on the right, where it says Menu, click on the three dots/ellipses icon.
If you do not see the sidebar on the right, click the Settings icon in the top right corner to bring up the settings. This icon looks like a square with two uneven columns:
- Click the “Create new menu” link in the drop-down menu. The existing menu will be removed from the page (but not completely deleted!), and a new, empty Navigation block will be added in its place.
- Optional, but recommended: visit the Settings section of the Navigation block’s sidebar settings and click Advanced to give the menu a descriptive name.
- Click the + Block Inserter to begin adding new menu items to the Navigation block.
- When you’ve finished adding the menu items, click the “Save” button in the top right corner of the editor to update the page and save your new menu.
All of your existing menus are listed in the Navigation section of the Site Editor under Appearance → Editor.
