What Menu Studio controls
Menu Studio changes the left wp-admin menu: order, hidden items, layout, colors, and custom links. Changes apply only after you save from the Menu Studio page (or when a layout preset replaces the sidebar baseline).
Changes disappeared or never showed
- You did not save from Menu Studio
- Open EdminBoost → Menu Studio.
- Make your edits.
- Click Save at the bottom and wait for success.
Saving Theme, Top Bar, or Layout Presets does not always write Menu Studio unless that page’s form was saved (Menu Studio sends its own save marker).
- Menu Studio is disabled
- On Menu Studio, turn on the main Menu Studio toggle if it is off.
- Save again.
If disabled, sidebar order/hide/color rules do not run.
- A layout preset overwrote the sidebar
Applying a preset on Layout Presets (or from Dashboard overview) replaces the saved sidebar baseline for that save.
- Expected: preset sidebar comes back; your separate custom sidebar links are usually merged back in at runtime, but order/hide from the preset may differ from what you had.
- Fix: reopen Menu Studio, adjust, Save—or save your layout as a custom preset before applying another template.
- Role preset overrides what you see
Role assignments apply a preset top bar and sidebar baseline per user role.
- You edited Menu Studio as admin, but an Editor sees their assigned preset instead.
- Check Layout Presets → role assignments and test while logged in as that role.
- Role visibility matrix hides items
Unchecked items in the matrix are hidden for that role even if Menu Studio shows them in the builder.
- Layout Presets → matrix → ensure the role should see those slugs.
- Save.
- Reset without second Save
Reset to defaults reloads the form only until you click Save again.
- If you reset by mistake, refresh the page without saving to restore stored values.
- Import or migration replaced settings
Import on Settings replaces all EdminBoost config.
- Reconfigure Menu Studio or re-import the correct JSON backup.
Tips
- Enable Menu Studio once, tune order/hide, then Save current layout as preset on Layout Presets for a snapshot.
- After installing a new plugin, open Menu Studio—new menu items appear in the discovered list.