How do I change my site's menu or navigation?

How do I tell which kind of menu my site uses?

1. Log in to WordPress and look at the left sidebar.
2. See Appearance, then Menus? Your theme uses classic menus. Follow the classic steps below.
3. No Menus item? Your theme is a block theme, and the navigation lives in the Navigation block.

WordPress notes that block themes manage navigation this way, on its Appearance Menus screen page.

The short version

• Publishing a page doesn’t add it to your menu. Someone has to add it.
• Classic themes: Appearance, Menus. Block themes: the Navigation block in the Site Editor. Then check on a phone.

How do I add a page with classic menus?

These steps follow WordPress’s Appearance Menus screen guide.

1. Go to Appearance, then Menus.
2. If your site has more than one menu, pick the main one from the Select a menu to edit list and select Select.
3. In the Pages pane on the left, select View All.
4. Tick the page you want and select Add to Menu. It appears at the bottom of the menu.
5. Drag the new item up to where it belongs.
6. To put it in a dropdown, drag it under the parent item and slightly to the right.
7. Select Save Menu.

Expected result: reload the live site and the new item shows in the header.

How do I add a link that isn’t a page?

Use the Custom Links pane. Enter the full address, such as a booking site or a PDF, give it a label, and select Add to Menu. If you don’t see a pane you need, open Screen Options at the top and tick it.

How do I rename or remove an item?

Click the small arrow on the right of the item to open it. Change the Navigation Label to rename it, or select Remove to take it out. Then select Save Menu. Removing a menu item doesn’t delete the page.

How do I change the Navigation block in a block theme?

These steps follow WordPress’s Navigation block guide.

1. Go to Appearance, then Editor. Select Patterns, then Header under template parts, and open your header. (Navigation in the same list also opens your menus.)
2. Select the Navigation block.
3. If it shows an automatic list of pages, select any item, select Edit in the toolbar, then Edit again in the popup. This turns the list into separate items you can change.
4. Select + (Add page), type part of the page title, and pick it.
5. Use Move left or Move right in the toolbar to place it (Move up or Move down in a vertical menu), or drag it in the list in the sidebar.
6. For a dropdown, select the parent item and choose Add submenu.
7. Select Save.

One catch from that guide: once you switch from the automatic page list to your own items, new pages are no longer added on their own. Each new page has to be added by hand.

Why does the menu matter so much?

The menu is how most visitors find their way around. A page that isn’t in the menu or linked from another page is close to invisible, both to customers and to search engines working out what’s important on your site.

It’s easy to miss: someone builds a new page, publishes it, and then can’t work out why nobody can find it. The page is fine. It just was never added to the navigation.

What are the common mistakes and edge cases?

The menu has too many items

Every extra item makes the others harder to find. Group related pages under one dropdown, and keep the labels to a word or two.

The menu looks different on phones

On small screens, menus usually collapse into a menu icon. In block themes, the Navigation block’s Overlay setting controls this. Some themes and page builders also have a separate mobile menu that has to be updated on its own. If the phone menu is missing pages, check for a separate mobile menu that nobody updated.

There’s a menu in the footer too

Many sites have a second menu in the footer. In classic themes, it’s another menu in the same screen. Check Menu Settings at the bottom of the screen to see which location each menu fills.

A link goes to the wrong place

Open the item and check its address. Old custom links often point to pages that have moved. See why some links or buttons are broken.

What if this didn’t work?

• You saved but nothing changed. Check you edited the menu assigned to the header location, not a spare menu. Then reload in a private window in case you’re seeing a cached copy.
• There’s no Menus option and no Editor option. Your user role may not allow it, or a page builder controls the header. Ask the site’s administrator.
• The dropdown won’t open on phones. That’s usually a theme setting rather than the menu itself. Ask whoever looks after the site.

How does E-3 handle this?

Tell us what should be added, moved, renamed or removed, and where. A person at E-3 makes the change, including any separate mobile menu. Website care includes daily backups, so an earlier version can be restored. Email support@e3help.me or call 814-399-4655.

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