---
title: Menus
pubDate: 2026-08-17T09:53:44.266Z
antora:
  editUrl: https://github.com/couchbaselabs/docs-style-guide/edit/main/styleguide/modules/ROOT/pages/menus.adoc
  xref: xref:styleguide::menus.adoc[]
---

[Consult the llms.txt file for a full list of contents](/llms.txt)
[View original HTML](/styleguide/menus.html)

# Menus

A menu is a sequence of named clickable UI elements. Menus display vertically in the UI.

Menus never appear horizontally - those are [Tabs](tabs.md).

Like a tab, a menu changes the information that's displayed the UI. This could be for the whole application, or for a specific section.

The UI highlights the currently selected menu item for the user.

For example, the following is the **Data Tools** menu, as it appears when the user selects the **Data Tools** tab:

![menu example](_images/menu-example.png) 

When you need to describe a menu in the UI:

* Refer to the menu by its name, followed by the word "menu."  
For example, the **Data Tools** menu.
* Refer to the menu item by its name only. Do not add "menu item."  
For example, **Query**.
* Bold the menu name or menu item.
* If you need to tell the user to select a menu item after they select a [tab](tabs.md), use the [Menu UI Macro](menu-ui-macro.md), instead.