Sidebar menus
How Kingdom's sidebar menus work: primary and secondary navigation, up to three menu levels that open in side panels, and how they behave on mobile.
Applies to: Kingdom 6.2.0 and later. Added in: Kingdom 2.0.0. Last checked: 2026-10-13 against Kingdom 6.2.0.
Kingdom shows your store menus in the sidebar, not in a top bar. This page explains how the two sidebar menus work and how to build a menu with submenus. The menus themselves are created in Shopify admin; the theme only displays them.
Where to find it: Online Store → Themes → Customize → Sidebar → Primary navigation and Secondary navigation
Primary and secondary navigation
- Primary navigation is the main menu. It shows first, in larger text. Its size is set in Theme settings → Typography → Primary navigation.
- Secondary navigation is an optional second menu under the first one, in smaller text. Use it for links such as About, Contact or FAQ.
Both menus can have up to three levels:
- Top-level links show in the sidebar.
- When a customer moves the mouse over a link that has children, a second panel opens next to the sidebar with those links.
- A second-level link with children opens a third panel next to the second one.
Kingdom does not show a fourth level. Links nested deeper than three levels do not appear.
Setting up a menu with submenus
Open the menu
In Shopify admin, open Content → Menus and select your menu, or select Add menu to create one.
Add the links
Add the top-level links. To make a submenu, drag a link under another link and slightly to the right, so it becomes its child. You can nest links up to three levels.
Select the menu in the theme
In the theme editor, select Sidebar and choose the menu in Primary navigation. Choose a second menu in Secondary navigation if you want one.
Check it on a phone
On mobile, a link with a submenu only opens the submenu. If customers must also reach the parent's own page, add that page again as the first link of its submenu, for example "All shirts" under "Shirts".
How menus behave on mobile
On screens 948 px wide or less, the menu icon in the top bar opens the menus in a drawer.
- Tapping a link with a submenu opens that submenu inside the drawer, with a back arrow to return.
- The parent link itself is not followed, because the tap opens the submenu.
- On touch screens wider than 948 px, such as tablets, the first tap on a parent link opens its panel next to the sidebar, in the same way.
Why can customers not open the parent menu link on mobile?
Because on phones and tablets a tap on a link with a submenu opens the submenu instead of the link. Touch screens have no hover, so the tap is the only way to show the children. Add the parent page as the first link of its own submenu, so customers can still reach it.
How many menu levels does Kingdom support?
Three. The top level shows in the sidebar, the second and third levels open in panels next to it on desktop and as submenus in the drawer on mobile. The menus in the Footer section show only their top-level links: "This menu won't show dropdown items".
Why do my submenus not open?
Because the links are not nested in Shopify admin. A submenu exists only when its links are children of another link in Content → Menus. Open the menu, drag each child link under its parent and save.
Related pages
- Sidebar section: the menu pickers, the logo and the icons.
- Typography theme settings: the menu text size.
- Footer group: the footer menus.
- Troubleshoot the sidebar and menus: more menu questions.
Sidebar
The Sidebar section is Kingdom's header: the logo, menus, search, account and cart icons in a sidebar on the left, and a top bar on mobile.
Footer group
The Footer group of Kingdom: the Footer section with text, menus, email signup, social links and payment icons, and the sections you add above it.