Store Menu and Navigation - Feature Guide
Your store has a navigation menu at the top of every page. It is built automatically from the sections you have enabled, plus any custom links you add.
You control what appears in this menu using simple toggle settings and link fields.
What appears in the menu by default
When you create a store, the top menu includes links to your:
- Categories - your product category pages
- Brands - your brand pages
- Articles - your article/blog pages
Each of these sections is shown or hidden using a toggle switch in your settings.
How to show or hide menu sections
Go to Design > Store Options in your store dashboard.
Under the Header group, you will see these toggle switches:
- Show Categories in the Menu - turns the Categories link on or off
- Subcategories to Show in the Menu - how many subcategories are listed under each category in the menu
- Show Brands in the Menu - turns the Brands link on or off
- Show Articles in the Menu - turns the Articles link on or off
Toggle any of these off to remove that section from your top menu. Toggle them on to bring them back.
Tip: These same options are available for the footer menu under the Footer group on the same page. The footer also has a Show Pages in the Menu toggle.
How to show more subcategories in the menu
By default, the menu lists up to 10 subcategories under each category. If a category has more, the extra subcategories are not shown in the menu.
To show more, go to Design > Store Options. Under the Header group, change Subcategories to Show in the Menu to a higher number, up to 100. Then click Save.
Tip: A very long list is harder for visitors to scan. If one category has lots of subcategories, think about splitting it into two categories. The menu shows up to 20 top-level categories.
How to hide one category from the menu
You can take one category out of the menu and keep it live.
- Go to Store > Products > Categories and edit the category.
- In the Settings panel, switch off Show in Menu.
- For a subcategory, you can also switch off Show on Parent Page. This leaves it out of the subcategory list on its parent category page.
- Save your changes.
The category page stays live at its own link and stays in your sitemap, so you can still link to it yourself.
Sticky header
To keep your logo and menu on screen as visitors scroll, go to Design > Store Options and switch on Sticky Header in the Header group. It is off by default. Any header bar above your logo scrolls away as normal.
Sticky Header is not used with the Extra Large or Tall logo sizes, because the header would fill too much of the screen.
The footer Pages menu
The footer Pages menu lists your standard pages: About, Contact, Newsletter, Site Map and your legal pages.
It also lists any custom pages you have created, as long as the page's own Footer menu switch is on. That switch is on Store > Pages, on the page itself, and it is how most visitors will find a page you built.
How to add external links to the menu
You can add up to 5 custom links to your top menu. These can point to any URL, including external websites like your blog, social media, or any other page.
Go to Design > Links in your store dashboard, then select the Header tab.
For each custom link, you can set:
- Link - where it points
- Link Text - the text that appears in the menu (e.g. "Blog", "Contact Us")
- Open in New Tab - whether clicking the link opens a new browser tab
- No Follow - adds a nofollow attribute for SEO purposes
Fill in the fields for Custom Link 1 and save. Repeat for links 2 through 5 as needed. Leave a link blank to hide it.
The Link field is a search box over your own store: type a few letters and pick the page, category, brand, article or product you want. A link chosen that way follows its target, so renaming the category later does not break it. For anything off your store, use the "Use a web address instead" option and paste the URL.
Example: To add a link to your WordPress blog, set the Link to your blog URL (e.g. https://blog.yourdomain.com/), the Link Text to "Blog", and turn on Open in New Tab if you want it to open separately.
Where to find menu settings (quick reference)
| What you want to do | Where to go |
|---|---|
| Show or hide Categories, Brands, or Articles in the menu | Design > Store Options > Header group |
| Show more subcategories under each category | Design > Store Options > Header group > Subcategories to Show in the Menu |
| Add external or custom links to the top menu | Design > Links > Header tab |
| Change footer menu sections | Design > Store Options > Footer group |
| Hide one category from the menu | Store > Products > Categories > edit the category > Settings > Show in Menu |
| Keep the logo and menu on screen as visitors scroll | Design > Store Options > Header group > Sticky Header |
| Put a custom page in the footer menu | Store > Pages > the page > Footer menu switch |
Tips
- If the Brands section is not showing in your menu even though the toggle is on, make sure you have at least one brand created in your store. Empty sections may not appear.
- The same applies to Categories and Articles. The menu only shows sections that have content.
- Custom links appear in order (Link 1 first, Link 5 last). You cannot reorder them other than by moving the URLs between the link slots.
- The mobile menu uses the same settings as the desktop menu.
- If a visitor opens a page that does not exist, the page not found screen shows your header and menu, so they can carry on browsing.