Help310:Menus Menu Manager

Description

Provides an overview of the menus available on a Joomla site. The screen is used to find, add, edit and delete menus. This includes the details of each individual menu's number of items published, unpublished, trashed and names of linked modules.

The process for adding a menu to the site is normally as follows:

1. Create a new menu (using this screen)
2. Create one or more new menu items on the menu. Each menu item will have a specific menu item type
3. Create one or more menu modules to display the menu on the site. When you create the modules, you will select which menu items (pages) the modules will show on.

How to Access

• Click the Menu(s) button in the Control Panel.

• Select Menus → Manage from the dropdown menu of the Administrator Panel.

Screenshot

Column Headers

Clicking on the title of a column will sort the table view by the column. A down arrow next to the column title means ascending order and an up arrow means descending order.

• Checkbox. Check this box to select one or more items. To select all items, check the box in the column heading. Note: Many toolbar actions can work with multiple items.
• Title. The name of the menu.
• # Published. Number of published menu items in this menu.
• # Unpublished. Number of unpublished menu items in this menu.
• # Trashed. Number of trashed menu items in this menu.
• Linked Modules. Lists any menu modules associated with the menu. The column shows the module's name, access level, and position on template.

• ID. This is a unique identification number for this item assigned automatically by Joomla. It is used to identify the item internally, and you cannot change this number.

Column Filters

Above the column headers on the right, there are 2 dropdown input fields, Sort Table By: (preset to 'Title ascending') and a number (preset to '20') to display.

These column sorting input fields shows the current method of sorting applied to the table. Use the dropdown field choices and click the column heading name. Alternatively, click on the column heading to sort the list by that column's value.

This will also change the value in the drop field to correspond with the column header name. The list will then be sorted in order by that column and a sort icon (up or down arrow) will show next to the column name. Click a second time to reverse the sort, which will change the corresponding drop field.

• Order (default). Shows ordering of selected column, ascending or descending.

• Number of items to display. Shows the number of items to display on one page, default is 20 items. If there are more items than this number, you can use the page navigation buttons to navigate between pages.

Toolbar

At the top left you will see the toolbar:

The functions are:

• New. Opens the editing screen to create a new menu.

• Edit. Opens the editing screen for the selected menu. If more than one menu is selected (where applicable), only the first menu will be opened. The editing screen can also be opened by clicking on the Name of the menu.

• Delete. Deletes the selected menus. Works with one or multiple menus selected. Deleting a menu also deletes all the menu items it contains and any associated menu modules. On clicking Delete you will be asked to confirm that you want to delete the selected menus. Clicking OK button will delete the menus. Click Cancel to abort the deletion.

• Rebuild. Reconstructs and refreshes the relevant table. Normally, you do not need to rebuild this table. This function is provided in case the data in the table becomes corrupted.

• Help. Opens this help screen.

• Options. Opens the Options window where settings such as default parameters can be edited. See Menus Configuration.

Quick Tips

• It is expedient to give a descriptive title for new menus because, later, you will see it in the Menus menu. It is a good idea to fill in the Description field with information about the menu. If you enter a short title in the Title field, you can identify the menu's module using that title in the Module Manager.
• Though you can create a copy of a selected Module by clicking the Duplicate toolbar button, you can make another instance in the Module Manager as well.
• When you create a new menu, use only English alphanumeric characters without space in the Unique Name field. It is a good idea using only a-z, 0-9 and underscore (_) characters. Please read the tooltips as well.
• If you don't enter a Module title, no module will be created and the menu cannot be displayed in the front end. However you can use the Module Manager later to create a new menu module, and assign it to the menu.
• If you delete an existing menu, do not forget that all the menu items of the respective menu will be also deleted.
• The Main Menu has your default menu item, so it should not be deleted. The default menu item defines the page that is displayed when you visit www.yoursite.com, and your site will not function if it is deleted. It is usually your Home menu item but it can be set to any menu item including a menu item in a hidden menu. If you change the default menu item, make sure that you don't delete that menu item either! The menu with the default menu item is marked with a star (*) in the Menus menu.

Related Information

• To add new Menus: Menu Manager New/Edit
• To set action permissions for menus: Menus Configuration Permissions
• To add or edit Menu Items: Menu Item Manager
• To add or edit Menu Modules: Module Manager