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How to Show Different Menus to Logged in Users in WordPress

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Do you want to show different menus to logged-in users in WordPress?

By default, WordPress allows you to show the same navigation menu in a specific location in your theme. But what if you wanted to show a different menu to logged-in users on your website?

In this article, we’ll show you how to easily show different menus to logged-in users in WordPress.

Showing different navigtion menus to logged in and non-logged in users in WordPress

Why Show Different Menus to Logged in Users in WordPress?

Changing different areas of your WordPress website based on your visitors and their activity makes your site feel personalized for each user.

This personalized content helps you improve the user experience on your WordPress website.

Now, if you run a website where users don’t need to register or log in, then you can probably use the same navigation menus across your website.

However, other websites may greatly benefit from showing custom menus to logged-in users.

For instance, websites like an online store, a WordPress membership site community, or an online learning platform, can all benefit from personalized navigation menus.

A personalized navigation menu for logged-in users helps them more easily find things they signed up for.

For instance, a user on an online store can manage their account, or a member of a paid community can easily renew their subscription or view the online courses they purchased.

By default, WordPress does let you create as many navigation menus as you want. However, you can only choose to show one menu at a particular location in your WordPress theme.

That being said, let’s take a look at how to easily change this behavior and show different menus to logged-in users in WordPress.

Creating Menus for Logged in and Non Logged in Users in WordPress

No matter which method you use, you’ll first need to create both of the navigation menus that you want to show to your logged-in and logged-out users.

Simply head over to the Appearance » Menus page in the WordPress dashboard. If you already have a navigation menu that you use on your website for all users, then this can be your default menu.

Main menu

After that, click on the ‘create a new menu’ link to create a new custom menu for your logged-in users.

Here you can add menu items that you want to show to registered or logged-in users. For example, you might want to add a logout link to your menu.

On the left-hand side of the screen, you can see a list of your website pages. Simply check the box next to any page you want to add to your menu and click the ‘Add to Menu’ button.

Logged in menu

You can also drag and drop the menu items on the right side of the screen to rearrange them.

Further down the page, you can choose a location to display your menu. But, you don’t need to assign a location to this menu now. We’ll do that later in the article.

Don’t forget to click on the ‘Save Menu’ button to store your changes.

For more details on creating menus, take a look at our beginner’s guide to WordPress navigation menus.

Method 1. Show Different Menus to Logged in Users in WordPress Using a Plugin

This method is easier and recommended for all WordPress users.

First, you need to install and activate the Conditional Menus plugin. For more details, see our step-by-step guide on how to install a WordPress plugin.

Upon activation, you need to visit the Appearance » Menus page and switch to the ‘Manage Locations’ tab.

From here, you’ll see the list of available menu locations defined in your WordPress theme and the menus that are currently displaying.

Manage menu locations

For instance, it is showing that our Primary Menu location is showing a navigation menu titled ‘Main Menu’.

Now, we need to tell the plugin to show a different menu when a certain condition is matched.

To do that, click on the ‘+ Conditional Menu’ link, and then select the navigation menu you want to show to the logged-in users from the drop-down menu.

Select logged in menu

Next, you need to click on the ‘+ Conditions’ link.

This will bring up a popup where you’ll see a bunch of conditions to choose from.

Select logged in user aa the condition

Simply check the box next to the ‘User logged in’ option, and then click on the Save button.

You can now visit your website to see the logged-in user menu in action. You can also log out of your WordPress admin to view the navigation menu that’ll be shown to all other users.

Different menu for logged in users

Method 2. Manually Select Logged in Menu in WordPress Using Code

This method requires you to add code to your WordPress website. If you haven’t done this before, then take a look at our guide on how to copy and paste code snippets in WordPress.

First, you need to add the following code to your theme’s functions.php file or a site-specific plugin.

function my_wp_nav_menu_args( $args = '' ) {
if( is_user_logged_in() ) {
// Logged in menu to display
$args['menu'] = 43;

} else {
// Non-logged-in menu to display
$args['menu'] = 35;
}
return $args;
}
add_filter( 'wp_nav_menu_args', 'my_wp_nav_menu_args' );

Make sure that you replace 43 and 35 with the IDs for navigation menus you created earlier.

You can find the ID of a navigation menu by selecting it on the Menus page. You will see the menu ID number in your browser’s address bar.

Find navigation menu ID

We hope this article helped you learn how to easily show different navigation menus to logged-in users in WordPress.

You may also want to see our guide on how to get a free email domain, or see our expert roundup of the best business phone services for small business.

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Editorial Staff

Editorial Staff at WPBeginner is a team of WordPress experts led by Syed Balkhi with over 16 years of experience in WordPress, Web Hosting, eCommerce, SEO, and Marketing. Started in 2009, WPBeginner is now the largest free WordPress resource site in the industry and is often referred to as the Wikipedia for WordPress.

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97 CommentsLeave a Reply

  1. Syed Balkhi says

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  2. Clara says

    Works great! I have the problem that I have to menus at the top: A headliner menu and the main menu. When I use the Code and the user is logged in bove menus switch to the logged-in menu. How can I adjust the code so that the headliner menu remains the same?

  3. Echo says

    Would be much easier if you could do it for a specific menu item rather than an entire menu. What would someone with 499 menu items have to do?

    • WPBeginner Support says

      We would not recommend that many menu items as that would be far too many for someone to navigate through which would likely cause an SEO issue if your menu links don’t add value for your visitors

      Admin

  4. Evaldo Santos says

    100%. Just configured it with Sahifa Theme and works like a charm.

    Keep up with this good work.

  5. Bk Millanzi says

    this is so helpful, but is there a way to display a username and avatar which can act as a container of other profile menu items, as a drop-down menu?

  6. Amarnadh says

    The path you showed is well and good only for just showing custom menus. But what if i want to show my content to a specific logged in user based on his interests. That is in detail, like various deals sites, when we login and save our interests, the next moment we see deals only on that specific topic. Can we make that possible using WordPress plugins.

  7. Sam says

    Hey there, thanks for the great work. I have a question about multiple user roles.

    So I have two main menus, Menu 1 and Menu 2.

    I would like all users (logged in or out) to see the main menu unless they have the userole of “Alt”, in which case Menu 1 is replaced by Menu 2.

    How would I go about doing that?

  8. Curtis says

    @ERICLEE You can create a child theme to prevent that from happening. I just added this code and need to do the same thing.

  9. shahzaib sarwer says

    can it possible to add the menus in the subscriber profile accept than the home page these menu pages not show on the home page, just on the every subscriber profile. if it possible then please guide me, and tell me how use any pluging for this.

  10. shahzaib sarwer says

    can it possible to add the menus in profile of the subscriber in wp site , if it possible so please anyone guide me what i do and how use any pluging of this work.

  11. Yuda says

    How can the same be achieeved on a multi-language members site? For example show different menu for users logged in in english and a different menu for users logged in with german?

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