# Menu Designer

## Adding Main Menu items

There are multiple methods for building menus using the RadItem Collection Editor or the **RadMenu** designer. To add a new main menu item:

* Click the **RadMenu** area labeled *Type here*, and type your top level menu item directly into the entry space provided. When you're finished click `ESC` to abandon your edits or `Enter` to accept the edits and create a new **RadMenuItem**.

  ![WinForms RadMenus Design Time](https://www.telerik.com/products/winforms/documentation/assets/2ff16052bdc958da2f71f349d21af7a4/menus-menu-design-time-menu-designer001.png)

* Click the drop-down arrow to the right of the existing main menu items, and select *Add RadMenuItem*,  *Add RadMenuComboItem* or *Add RadMenuSeparatorItem* to create an item of the corresponding type. Once the menu item is created you can use the [Smart Tag](https://www.telerik.com/products/winforms/documentation/controls/menus/menu/design-time/smart-tag) to configure the **Text**, **Image** properties and edit the **Items** collection for the menu item.

  ![WinForms RadMenus Design Time Add MenuItem](https://www.telerik.com/products/winforms/documentation/assets/0c301debbeeccf81fcfa90560b918823/menus-menu-design-time-menu-designer002.png)

* Click the **RadMenu** control, open its [Smart Tag](https://www.telerik.com/products/winforms/documentation/controls/menus/menu/design-time/smart-tag) menu, and select **Edit Items**. Add a new **RadMenuItem** in the **RadItem Collection Editor**.

  ![WinForms RadMenus MenuItems Collection Editor](https://www.telerik.com/products/winforms/documentation/assets/57a60346986497d08e85940b18e489ff/menus-menu-design-time-menu-designer003.png)

> note The menu designer is decorated with rightward and downward pointing arrow buttons. Right-pointing arrows  indicate [Smart Tags](https://www.telerik.com/products/winforms/documentation/controls/menus/menu/design-time/smart-tag) for the **RadMenu** and the Down-pointing arrows let you add a particular menu item type, i.e. **RadMenuItem** , **RadMenuComboItem** or **RadMenuSeparatorItem** .

## Adding Sub Menu Items

To add a new sub-menu item to a main menu item, use one of these procedures:

* Select the main menu item, click in its **Items** property, click the ellipsis button, and then use the *RadItem Collection Editor*.

* Click a main menu item in the designer to invoke the **Add new** item. **Add new** will allow you to select from **RadMenuitem**, **RadMenuComboItem** or **RadmenuSeparatorItem**. Select one of these menu item types to create it and add it below the selected menu item.

  ![WinForms RadMenus Sub MenuItems](https://www.telerik.com/products/winforms/documentation/assets/867cd6aa46339594f70d569362033c42/menus-menu-design-time-menu-designer004.png)

Each **RadMenuItem** can have its own items to allow menu designs that require multiple levels of hierarchy.

![WinForms RadMenus Multiple Levels of Hierarchy.](https://www.telerik.com/products/winforms/documentation/assets/a76cd4bf0882e4103dccba109673ebe0/menus-menu-design-time-menu-designer006.png)

## Removing Menu Items

To remove a main menu or sub-menu item, select the item and press `Delete` or right click the menu item and select **Delete** from the context menu.

## See Also

* [Smart Tag](https://www.telerik.com/products/winforms/documentation/controls/menus/menu/design-time/smart-tag)
* [Getting Started](https://www.telerik.com/products/winforms/documentation/controls/menus/menu/getting-started)