Your menu is the short list of links visitors use to find their way around your site. This is how to build one from scratch on the Menus screen — gathering your pages, posts, categories, and custom links, putting them in order, and telling WordPress where the menu should show up.

## Before you start

- An account that can edit menus (Administrators can, straight out of the box).
- The pages, posts, or categories you want to link to, already published.
- A theme that supports menus — every theme that ships with WordPress does.

## Steps

### Step 1: Open the Menus screen

In the admin sidebar on the left, open **Appearance** and click **Menus**. If you have not built a menu before, WordPress takes you straight to a screen that is ready for your first one. Type a name into **Menu Name** — something that tells you what the menu is for, like Main Menu — then click **Create Menu**.

![Open the Menus screen](https://wordpress.supportpages.io/rails/active_storage/blobs/proxy/eyJfcmFpbHMiOnsiZGF0YSI6OTcwNSwicHVyIjoiYmxvYl9pZCJ9fQ==--ed86e67e68948588b32bd7daa46b5c54c33f405e/block_open-menus.png)

### Step 2: Add your pages and posts

Open **Pages** in the **Add menu items** column on the left, tick the box beside each page you want in the menu, then click **Add to Menu**. Open **Posts** and do the same for any posts you want visitors to reach — each one moves across into **Menu structure** on the right. Drag the items there into the order you want visitors to meet them, dropping one slightly to the right of the item above it to make it a submenu.

![Add your pages and posts](https://wordpress.supportpages.io/rails/active_storage/blobs/proxy/eyJfcmFpbHMiOnsiZGF0YSI6OTcwNiwicHVyIjoiYmxvYl9pZCJ9fQ==--26a41348eb7ca6b704d7abb139c8a2db7922c734/block_add-pages-posts.png)

### Step 3: Add categories and custom links

Open **Categories** and tick the categories you want people to browse. Then, for anything outside your site, open **Custom Links**, paste the web address into **URL**, type the words visitors will click into **Link Text**, and click **Add to Menu**. Click **Save Menu** at the top of the editor when you are finished adding items — nothing appears on your site before you do.

![Add categories and custom links](https://wordpress.supportpages.io/rails/active_storage/blobs/proxy/eyJfcmFpbHMiOnsiZGF0YSI6OTcwNywicHVyIjoiYmxvYl9pZCJ9fQ==--bc2e93721e086b0808eb4b9620b4d71dfb5afafc/block_add-categories-links.png)

### Step 4: Choose where the menu appears

Open the **Manage Locations** tab at the top of the screen. Find **Primary menu** and choose your menu from the dropdown beside it, then click **Save Changes**. Use **Secondary menu** too if you want the same links in your footer.

![Choose where the menu appears](https://wordpress.supportpages.io/rails/active_storage/blobs/proxy/eyJfcmFpbHMiOnsiZGF0YSI6OTcwOCwicHVyIjoiYmxvYl9pZCJ9fQ==--bf6ba34caba9692b3a47a8ed8e283262a2d8e46b/block_set-menu-location.png)

## A few things worth knowing

- The same menu can be assigned to more than one location, so your header and footer can share one set of links.
- Nest items a little to the right in **Menu structure** to keep a long menu from sprawling across the page.
- Nothing here is permanent — you can come back and change any of it later from **Appearance** → **Menus**.

## Summary

You now have a real menu: pages, posts, categories, and custom links, arranged in the order you want and assigned to a spot in your theme. Save your changes and your visitors will see it on their next visit.