How to change the main menu in Shopify and check navigation

Edit menus through Content → Menus in the Shopify admin. The theme determines placement and opening behaviour, so check both the saved structure and the menu assigned to the header.

Useful navigation makes products and information easy to recognise. No magic number of links suits every store: labels and groupings should make sense to its buyers.

Find the menu the theme actually uses

1. Open Content, then Menus.
2. Select the menu to modify.
3. Review header navigation settings in the theme editor.
4. Confirm it uses that menu rather than another similarly named one.

If changes do not appear, do not immediately recreate every link. You may have edited a different menu, the mobile header may have separate settings or you may be viewing another theme.

Add and order links

Use resource pickers to link collections, products, pages and blogs where appropriate. Descriptive names help more than generic labels that leave visitors guessing.

Order links by shopping tasks and necessary information. A compatibility guide may matter in a technical store; finding a collection may matter elsewhere. Do not copy internal company hierarchy if it differs from customer search behaviour.

Create a dropdown

The dropdown menu guide explains nesting links. A top-level item can contain nested levels, but verify which structure your theme supports and displays.

1. Create or identify the parent item.
2. Add its child links.
3. Move them under the parent with the appropriate indentation.
4. Save and check opening behaviour in the store.

If the parent links to a general collection, verify users can visit it as well as expand the menu. If it acts solely as a control, the theme needs clear, accessible behaviour; a “#” link does not resolve the interaction by itself.

What to check on mobile and with a keyboard

Review the menu with a real catalogue. Three short links in a screenshot cannot demonstrate a structure containing categories and long names.

Menus, megamenus and visual configuration

Megamenu images and columns depend on the theme or implementing app. The menu resource provides links, not a guaranteed visual composition.

Check existing options before installing another app. Adding a dependency for something the theme already supports can increase maintenance and complicate future updates.

Links that change or disappear

Review destinations when retiring products or changing collections. A successful response leading to an empty category still creates a navigation problem.

When changing URLs with traffic or links, include redirects and update internal references. Do not use redirects as a permanent substitute for maintaining the correct menu.

A simple review before finishing

• Enter from the homepage, a product and an internal page.
• Find an item without search.
• Go back from a mobile submenu.
• Check help and contact links.
• Verify the logo and other controls still work.

The logo guide complements header review. If adding editorial content, the blog creation guide explains connecting it with navigation.

If you need to review the complete buying journey, we can help with a Shopify experience audit.

Editorial review: the Migraciones.io team · 30 October 2026. Features, plans and availability are checked against the linked sources.