Can you auto-generate menu items based on tags or product type?

[triple]

Looking for a way to generate menu items based on a tag, product type, etc. Looks like they only way to do this is manually. Is that right?

[triple]

Just to be clear, I'm looking for a way to do this other than manually entering the menu items in the Navigation page. 

[Kyle_W]

Hi @triple!

At the moment Shopify does not offer a Navigation API, and unfortunately there isn't a way to generate menu items automatically based on certain conditions. You will need to manually create menu items using the navigation settings in the Shopify admin (found under Online Store > Navigation).  

Hopefully this helps!

[triple]

Thank you for the reply. Is that absolutely the only way to create menu items? 

Is there anything in the API available for exporting an existing menu item and then importing it back to the store or another store?

[Kyle_W]

From my understanding the only way to create menu items is via the navigation settings in the Shopify admin. It looks like the GraphQL version of the Admin API includes a NavigationItem object, but I am not personally familiar with it: https://shopify.dev/docs/admin-api/graphql/reference/store-properties/navigationitem

[oneluca]

Any updates on this? 

[Danh11]

Doubtful about an update but damn we need API access for this. Creating megamenu's just for some development data only to be blown away when the client takes over the store is such a waste of time.

[RetroShirtsMan]

Any updates on this? I have like 350 collections and I really don't see me adding them manually to a navigation... 

[Kyle_W]

Hey @RetroShirtsMan!

Sadly Shopify has yet to release an API that allows for navigation menus (or their menu items) to be created/edited. At the moment these actions must be done through the admin UI. Technically you can use the Storefront API to get existing menu items if you have the menu handle, but that doesn't really help the use cases described in this thread.

Just my two cents: 350 menu items is quite a bit of links! Not only would it be difficult for you to set up, but it could also be difficult for customers to use. General best practices suggest that a user should only have to decide between 3-5 options at one time. Perhaps it would be better to use some filters instead? The idea here would be to simplify your website navigation and link hierarchy while using filters so customers can narrow down their results to find what they are looking for with minimal effort. A popular solution for this is using Shopify's Search & Discovery app: https://apps.shopify.com/search-and-discovery

That being said, we here at Helium are considering a new feature for our Meteor Mega Menus app that would automatically populate mega menus with products from specific collections. If you (or anyone else reading this thread) are interested in this type of feature please let me know!

[Sermgodts]

I would be interested in automatically populating mega menus with products from specific Collections.

[Kyle_W]

@Sermgodts Awesome! Our team is actively working on the development of this feature. No formal ETA at this point, but as soon as it's available I'll let you know 👍

[JoiaSoftware]

Is there any news for this feature? I have 500 collections created automatically by my software

Thanks

[Kyle_W]

@JoiaSoftware and @Sermgodts I am happy to report that we have released the feature in Meteor Mega Menus that allows you to automatically populate mega menus with products from specific collections. This feature is available on all of the app's plans, and you can find it when editing a collection menu item (max display of 50 products per collection).

See this screencast for an example of the feature when using the app's menu editor: https://share.heliumdev.com/eDueRjP1

Be sure to give the app a try, and don't hesitate to reach out to our Support team if you need any assistance along the way!

[JoiaSoftware]

Thanks @Kyle_W  

if I understand correctly you still have to enter each collection and enable the function... for me it's complicated... but the thing that can't be used is the limit of 50

[Kyle_W]

@JoiaSoftware Thanks for the feedback! Yes, you will need to define each collection in the app and enable the feature to auto-populate the menu with products from the respective collection(s). Luckily, if you've already set up your navigation menus with collection links in Shopify, then you can easily import them into the app so you don't have to start over from scratch. 

The app's new feature is intentionally limited to 50 automated product links per collection. This limitation is in place for several reasons, mainly to help with performance and ease of use. Regarding performance, the fewer links in a menu the faster it will load. Regarding ease of use, a good rule of thumb for website navigation is to display no more than 5-10 links to a customer at a time so they are not overwhelmed with too many choices on each tier of a menu.

That all being said, we're happy to consider increasing the limit if we get enough demand and example use cases. Can you provide some more details? Roughly how many products do you want to display at once in a menu?

[JoiaSoftware]

Hi @Kyle_W 

i see one collection with 99 products 

thanks

[den232]

Hello, a variant of this thread ... I'm developing an app.

When the app is installed on a store, it should change the online store menu by adding some new menu items that link to javascript in the app's code.

How can I accomplish this task?

Thanks!  jb