The 9 Dollar Menu Valet
Take full control of your WordPress admin sidebar — without touching a single line of code. Hide any menu item with a checkbox click, reorder everything via drag & drop, and keep your backend clean and focused.
Why you’ll actually like it
Let’s be honest: the WordPress admin sidebar can be a mess. Plugins keep adding their own menu items, custom post types pile up, and suddenly you’re scrolling past fifteen things you never use. Menu Valet gives you back control — no CSS hacks, no remove_menu_page() functions in your functions.php, no frustration.
Just checkboxes and drag & drop.
Core Features — LITE (free)
– See everything in one overview — all admin menu items and their submenus, clearly laid out
– Hide any menu item with one click — checkbox toggles via Ajax, instant result
– Reorder via drag & drop — grab any item and move it up or down. Also Ajax, also instant
– Changes apply to all users — anyone with manage_options sees the same clean sidebar
– Auto-hide submenus — hide a parent item, all its children disappear too
– Smart submenu locking — when parent is hidden, submenus are automatically disabled
– Supports everything — WordPress core, plugins, custom post types, you name it
– Snapshot system — captures original menu before you change anything. Safety net included
– High priority hooks — changes apply late, so no conflicts with other menu-altering plugins
– Delete data on uninstall option — your call whether to leave a trace
– Lightweight — no bloat, no external dependencies, no drama
PRO Version extras – Live search in the admin sidebar — start typing, menu items filter instantly. Great for deep backends – Rename any menu or submenu item inline — click, edit, done. Original name preserved as tooltip – Custom sidebar width — live slider from 160 px to 380 px. Make it narrow or spacious, your call – Priority support — because sometimes you need a human
How it works 1. Install and activate the plugin. 2. Go to Menu Valet in your WordPress admin sidebar. 3. See your entire menu structure — parents, children, everything. 4. Hide what you don’t need (checkboxes). Reorder the rest (drag & drop). 5. That’s it. Your admin sidebar is now yours.
Behind the scenes (for the curious)
The plugin hooks into the WordPress admin menu system and captures the full menu structure before any modifications are applied. That snapshot is your safety net.
When you hide or reorder items, your changes are saved via AJAX — no page reloads, no waiting.
Hidden items are removed from the global $menu and $submenu arrays before rendering. They simply don’t exist as far as the sidebar output is concerned.
Menu order uses WordPress’s built-in custom_menu_order and menu_order filters. The plugin merges your saved order with newly registered menu items — so when you install a new plugin, its menu item appears at the bottom (until you move it).
No core files are ever touched. Everything runs through standard WordPress hooks. Safe, clean, reversible.