How to add new menu entries to the MainWP Dashboard navigation

Add custom menu entries to the MainWP Dashboard navigation sidebar using PHP filters and the mainwp_main_menu hook.

You can add custom menu entries to the MainWP Dashboard navigation sidebar using PHP filters. This lets you create shortcuts to frequently used pages or integrate external tools.

What You’ll Learn

• How to add custom menu items to the navigation
• How to control menu position
• How to customize menu icons

Prerequisites

• MainWP Dashboard version 4.5 or newer
• Custom Dashboard extension (free) or access to your theme’s functions.php

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Add a Custom Menu Entry

1. Open Custom Dashboard

   Navigate to the Custom Dashboard extension settings.

2. Add the PHP code

   Go to the PHP tab and add the following code:

   add_filter( 'mainwp_main_menu', 'mycustom_mainwp_main_menu', 10, 1 );
   function mycustom_mainwp_main_menu( $left_menu ) {
       // Position of the menu item (0 = first, 1 = second, etc.)
       $index = 2;
       $sub_menu_after = array_splice( $left_menu['leftbar'], $index );
   
       $addition_item = array();
   
       $addition_item[] = 'Updates';                    // Menu item title
       $addition_item[] = 'custom_updates';             // Unique menu key
       $addition_item[] = 'admin.php?page=UpdatesManage'; // URL or page slug
       $addition_item[] = 'updates_custom_id';          // HTML ID attribute
       $addition_item[] = '<i class="sync icon"></i>';  // Icon HTML (optional)
   
       // Add the item to the leftbar array
       $left_menu['leftbar'][] = $addition_item;
   
       // Merge arrays to maintain menu order
       $left_menu['leftbar'] = array_merge( $left_menu['leftbar'], $sub_menu_after );
   
       return $left_menu;
   }
   

   
3. Customize the values

   Modify the $addition_item[] values for your needs:

   Value	Description	Example
   Title	Text displayed in menu	'My Custom Page'
   Menu key	Use a unique internal key	'my_custom_page'
   URL	Page URL or admin slug	'admin.php?page=MyPage'
   ID	HTML element ID	'my_custom_id'
   Icon	Fomantic UI icon HTML	'<i class="chart bar icon"></i>'

4. Change position (optional)

   Modify the $index value to control where the menu item appears:

   • 0 = First position
   • 1 = Second position
   • 2 = Third position
5. Save changes

   Click Save Changes. The new menu entry appears immediately.

   

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Add an Icon

To add an icon, pass the full icon HTML from the Fomantic UI icon library:

$addition_item[] = '<i class="chart bar icon"></i>';  // Adds a bar chart icon

Common icon examples:

• '<i class="home icon"></i>' - Home icon
• '<i class="cog icon"></i>' - Settings gear
• '<i class="chart bar icon"></i>' - Bar chart
• '<i class="user icon"></i>' - User icon
• '<i class="envelope icon"></i>' - Email icon

If you use only the class name, such as chart bar, MainWP renders it as plain text instead of an icon.

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Self-Check Checklist

• Custom Dashboard extension installed
• PHP code added to PHP tab
• Menu title and URL customized
• Position index set correctly
• Changes saved
• New menu entry visible in navigation

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Related Resources

• Custom Dashboard Extension - Extension documentation
• Add WP Admin Button - Add admin link to navigation
• Change Default Page After Login - Customize landing page