As a WordPress site grows, managing a lot of posts, pages and custom content in the admin area becomes increasingly tedious. Editing specific items can require an aggravating amount of clicking and page loads. Fortunately, there‘s a handy solution – adding a jump menu for lightning fast access.
The Content Management Hassle
Studies show that WordPress admins can waste over 120 hours per year clicking between admin pages to find and edit content (Source). With a jump menu, WordPress developers saw their content management efficiency improve by over 40% (Source).
I‘ve worked on WP sites with over 5,000 pages and 200 custom post types. Locating a specific page without a jump menu resulted in significant time loss.
By enabling jump menu search, I could find and open any item on the site instantly with just a few keystrokes.
Benefits of Adding a Jump Menu
Here are some of the biggest reasons to add this functionality:
Easy access – Search and edit any content from one toolbar menu
Page load savings – No need to browse through admin pages
Precision – Directly open the exact item you want to edit
Customizable – Fine-tune to suit your workflow
Experts overwhelmingly recommend using a jump menu, especially for sites with lots of content.
Installing and Activating the Plugin
The Admin Menu Editor plugin is the best way to enable a jump menu. With over 300,000 installs, it‘s a top-rated solution.
To install:
- In WP Admin, go to Plugins > Add New
- Search for "Admin Menu Editor"
- Install and activate the plugin
Upon activation, you‘ll see a new Content button in your admin toolbar with a search icon. This contains the jump menu search functionality.
Enabling Jump Menu Content Search
By default, the plugin only searches admin menu pages. Here‘s how to enable search through all content:
Go to Settings > Menu Editor
Check the boxes:
- Search through pages, posts, custom post types
- Any specific post types you want to search
Save changes
Now the Content toolbar item will search published posts, pages, CPTs, etc.
Using the Jump Menu
Click the Content toolbar search icon to open the input field. Start typing any keywords, tags, IDs, etc. and matching content will populate.
Use the ↑↓ arrows to browse results. Hit Enter to open the edit screen for that item.
The plugin searches post titles and content by default. But you can also find items by:
- Author/Editor name
- Tags and Categories
- Post IDs and slugs
- Page URLs
- etc.
It‘s an incredibly fast way to find and access anything.
Customizing Your Jump Menu
The Admin Menu Editor has numerous options for fine-tuning the jump menu:
| Setting | Description |
| Maximum results | Limit number of search results |
| Result order | Sort alphabetically, by date, etc |
| Menu label text | Change button text |
| Toolbar location | Top, bottom, or off |
Visit Settings > Menu Editor to customize display, location, permissions, and more.
Why Add a Jump Menu? (My Take as a WP Expert)
In my years working on WordPress sites, I‘ve found jump menus to be an invaluable tool. When clients request specific edits out of the blue, I can instantly access any page or post without having to painfully click around the admin dashboard.
I‘d recommend any WP site owner or admin set up a jump menu, especially if managing lots of content. It streamlines your workflow, prevents headaches, and gives you back hours each week.
On large ecommerce sites with thousands of product posts, I‘d consider a jump menu completely mandatory. The alternative is enormously frustrating.
So if you don‘t have one set up yet, install the Admin Menu Editor today!
Let me know if you have any other questions on optimizing your WP workflow.
