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Auto Submenu

By Diana van de Laarschot

Site Structure & Navigation / Menu Management & Mega Menus

Auto Submenu Review - In-Depth Analysis

Auto Submenu enhances WordPress menus by automatically adding child pages. Customize the nesting depth and titles using wildcards.

Performance Overview

WPS Score

6.79/10

User Rating

4/5 (based on 25+ reviews)

Active Installations

2,000+

Update Frequency

Below Average It is calculated using the weighted average of same category plugins.

Security Score

1 / 10 (Very Low Risk) It is calculated using the weighted average of all versions.

What It Does

Auto Submenu is a powerful tool that allows you to enhance your WordPress menus by automatically including child pages. This plugin provides extra functionality beyond the default custom menu options.

With Auto Submenu, you can easily manage your menu structure. Enable the plugin and navigate to Appearance > Editor to configure your menu settings. You can choose to add child pages as submenus, specify the maximum nesting depth, and customize the titles of the child pages using various wildcards.

The plugin also integrates with the WordPress Customizer and Full Site Editing, giving you flexibility in managing your menus. With the Free version, all subpages are added without control over nesting depth, making it easy to create dynamic menus.

Comparing to Alternatives

Auto Submenu is a straightforward plugin designed to automatically add child pages to menus, simplifying menu management compared to other similar plugins.

Top alternatives

Strengths

Simple and easy to use for beginners.
Automatically syncs page hierarchy with menus.
Requires minimal configuration.
Works reliably without complex settings.

Weaknesses

Lacks detailed documentation for setup.
No option to edit menu items after creation.
Cannot correct parent-child relationships once set without recreating pages.
Limited customization features compared to alternatives.

User Sentiment Analysis

User feedback highlights both the plugin's ease of use and some limitations in flexibility and documentation.

Positive highlights

"Works perfect" - mkoppen
"Working fine in 2023" - Claudio
"Page Structure sync to Menu rocks. Works like a charm" - emrock5
"An excellent tool" - thorshammer

Common complaints

Difficult to fix mistakes in parent-child assignments.
Lack of clear instructions for initial setup.
Does not always appear in the menu as expected.
Limited ability to modify menu after auto-generation.

Weaknesses

No way to adjust menu items after creation without cloning pages.
Setup can be unintuitive for some users.
Occasional issues with menu visibility despite correct settings.

Who Should Use This?

Best for

Beginners or users seeking a simple, no-fuss solution to automatically add child pages to menus without complex configuration.

Not ideal for

Users needing advanced menu customization, detailed control over menu items, or those who frequently restructure page hierarchies.

Pricing & Value

Free version includes

The free version provides automatic addition of child pages to menus, simplifying menu management without any cost.

Final Verdict

Auto Submenu offers a straightforward and effective solution for automatically syncing page hierarchies with menus, making it ideal for users who want simplicity and ease of use.

However, it lacks advanced features and flexibility, and users should be aware of its limitations in correcting menu structures once set.

Other Notable Features

Here are a few other notable features of this free Auto Submenu plugin.

Dynamic menus

Auto submenu

WordPress menus

Screenshots

FAQ

Here’s a walkthrough:

Create a page with title “Page 1”
Save the page
Create a child page with title “Child Page 1” and parent “Page 1”
Save the child page
Go to Appearances > Menus (or via Appearance > Customize or Appearance > Editor, in WordPress 5.4 or higher)
Add your page named “Page 1”
Open the menu item and check “Automatically create submenu with child pages”
Save the menu

If you now look at your website, “Page 1” has a submenu with “Child Page 1” below it. Add additional child page and you will automatically see these additional child pages in the menu.