Add Descendants As Submenu Items
by Alex Mills · Admin & Utilities
Also makes 4 other plugins · 1M+ installs across the portfolio →
Automatically all of a nav menu item's descendants as submenu items. Designed for pages but will work with any hierarchical post type or taxonomy …
Try it live opens a temporary test site in your browser, which can take about 20 seconds to load. Plugins that rely on outside services or a full server may not work completely there.
Health
D 51/100
Stale · Likely abandoned
Active installs
2K+
≈2.5K estimated
Momentum
+43%
downloads vs prior 30d
Biggest opportunity: Slipping on “descendants”. Down 6 places since 2026-10-02, now #15. Check what shipped around then, and what moved above you.
51 health vs 56 average across 5,902 Admin & Utilities plugins
Install conversion
How it's measured →5.7%
of downloads still active
At least 2K of 35.3K lifetime downloads are still running, above its category: the median Admin & Utilities plugin keeps 0.6%, across 4,193 plugins.
Downloads count every update, not just first installs, so older and more frequently released plugins read lower. Compare against other Admin & Utilities plugins, not across the directory. wp.org reports active installs as the bottom of a band, so the real rate is this or higher.
Removal-risk signals
53/100Maintenance and integrity signals that tend to precede a WordPress.org removal. Not an official status, a heads-up to act.
- Long abandoned. No update in 4+ years — the top precursor to removal once a vulnerability is found.
- Falling behind WordPress. Tested up to WordPress 6.0.18.
Details
Recent review vibe
read from the latest 12 reviews to 2023-01-17Reviewers say it saves hours of manual menu building on large sites, and several report it still working on newer WordPress versions, though a couple note it doesn't cover product categories and want it kept updated.
Directory ranking optimization
How it's scored →How well this listing is tuned to rank in WordPress.org search, on the factors an owner controls. Not popularity, optimization.
Room to improve
Most to gain: Update recency
Updated 1518 days ago, past the ~180 days where wp.org starts discounting
Tested up to WordPress 6.0.18; the current branch is 6.8
5.0★ over 20 reviews, smoothed to 4.36★ and held back under 25 reviews
4 of 5 tags set · short description in place
To rank higher: Last updated 1518 days ago — ship an update; wp.org decays a listing's search weight after ~180 days.
Get the full rank-higher report →Search visibility
How it's tracked →Directory searches this plugin turns up in, and which way each one is moving. WordPress.org publishes no history of search positions, so this starts the day we first tracked a keyword and never backfills.
Not enough tracked days yet to call a direction. Momentum needs at least three keywords measured a week or more apart.
wp.org is where the directory puts the plugin for that search. On merit is where it would sit if results were ranked on rating, support and updates, without the install boost. The last column is how far the wp.org position moved, from our first reading in the last 90 days to the latest.
| Keyword | wp.org | On merit | wp.org move, 90 days |
|---|---|---|---|
| descendants your tag | #15 | #4 | down 6 |
| children your tag | Not in the top 24 | ||
| menu your tag | Not in the top 24 | ||
| nav menu your tag | Not in the top 24 | ||
1 search this plugin appeared in over the last 90 days. 3 of its tags aren't in the top 24 for their own search.
What to do about it
- Slipping on “descendants”. Down 6 places since 2026-10-02, now #15. Check what shipped around then, and what moved above you.
- “children”, “menu” and “nav menu” aren't earning a slot. You list them, but you're not in the first 24 results for those searches. WordPress.org counts only your first five tags, so free the slot for a search you can win.
Daily downloads
Since 5 Oct 2022 · 1,490 days · wp.org + Plugin Pulse archive
30-day downloads
Rolling 30-day volume · peak 438 · peaks are release surges
Directory rank vs rivals
wp.org popularity rank over time · higher is better · when a rival's line climbs above yours, they've overtaken you
Rating trend
Star average over time · dips mark rough releases
Health trend
Composite health score, snapshotted daily
Update activity
How busy the existing users are, measured as downloads in the last 30 days for every 1,000 active sites. A spike means a new release everyone's pulling; a long, slow decline means an aging user base that updates less.
Release cadence
No release in a yearHow often this plugin actually ships. A steady rhythm is the maintenance signal a single "last updated" date can't show.
0
releases in the last 12 months
4.2y ago
latest release · v1.2.2 · 6 Sep 2022
3
tagged releases on record
Recent releases
What its installed base runs
via wordpress.orgShare of active installs on each version of this plugin · 100% run the current release. Green is the current release; a big slice on older versions is a user base that has stopped updating.
Estimated active installs
The public count shows “2K+”. Our estimate pins where the real number sits.
Crossed into this band 18 months ago; a band this size takes about a year or more to cross, which places it about 50% of the way through.
Install history since 30 May 2016
Recent reviews
All reviews on wp.org ↗- ★★★★★ Dominik3.8y ago
Amazing product to add all child categories to the menu (subcategories). It works in the fly!
Read on wp.org ↗ - ★★★★★ carlosvai4.1y ago
I really can’t believe WP doesn’t have a function like this built in. This plug in is amazing! I have a lot of categories in my menus, and we all know just how awful and difficult it is to add an item manually. This plug in saved me a LOT of time and I can’t be grateful enough. One caveat to all who try it, if you are creating new categories, make sure you have at least one post or page linked to it or else it won’t appear. And another thing, the items will appear in the frontend menu, not in the menu admin page. So be aware of that and test simply hitting F5 in the home page. Also amazing support, I had problems figuring out the issues I detailed above, and they were extremely helpful via the support board, so kudos to that too. Thanks again for this lifesaver plug in!
Read on wp.org ↗ - ★★★★★ flyingkites7.7y ago
Still works with WordPress 5.1 for Pages in menu. You need to add the Parent to the menu then save. Then edit again to see the checkbox to check the new flag. I was wanting to use it for WordPress Product Categories but it does not work for them (probably never did?). Only the parent shows for me. Be good if it did.
Read on wp.org ↗ - ★★★★★ mlipenk8.5y ago
I have a very large site with over a thousand pages. There are many pages in sections and subsections, sometimes to four levels, used in conjunction with main sections. To get what I need for a menu, sometimes I have to use Custom Menu Wizard. But in doing so, I have to create some very large, tiered, non-auto menus manually… sometimes in the hundreds of pages. If a user adds a page or re-orders a page, I’d have to go back into the menu used by Custom Menu Wizard and add/edit accordingly to reflect those changes. With this plugin and a simple checkbox I’ve cut the number of actual necessary menu items to a fraction of before, AND the user can make changes as they please. What a great plug in! It should be part of the default WordPress Appearance menu creator. This topic was modified 8 years, 2 months ago by mlipenk.
Read on wp.org ↗ - ★★★★★ fabsmoss8.7y ago
Estou usando a versão 4.9.4 do WordPress e funciona perfeito.
Read on wp.org ↗ - ★★★★★ Michael Dance10.4y ago
Still works great. Much better than Gecka Submenu – it doesn’t break the layout on the menu screen and there’s no unnecessary pro version upsell. I hope this is updated at some point because its age is hiding it from WP’s search results.
Read on wp.org ↗ - ★★★★★ lbrowning11.0y ago
This is such a time-saver. I am using this in conjunction with many nested Woocommerce product categories. The root categories don’t change on the main menu, but it’s possible the children will… so now the customer can change those until their fingers bleed and it just works! Thank you 🙂
Read on wp.org ↗ - ★★★★★ ShaOne11.2y ago
Why is this not included in WP Core?! Bafflement Sean
Read on wp.org ↗
Latest updates
via wp.org changelogRecent releases and news for this plugin
- — Version 1.2.2 Fix fatal error in customizer when using taxonomies in menus. Add POT file for translations. 1.2.2
- — Version 1.2.1 Minor update allowing for loading translation files from WordPress.org. 1.2.1
- — Version 1.2.0 _get_post_ancestors() will/was deprecated in WordPress 3.5 and no longer works. Parts of this plugin have been rewritten to more properly get post ancestors. Bug fix: Don’t highlight parents of different types. Post type 1.2.0
- — Version 1.1.0 Support for hierarchical taxonomies (i.e. categories). Props WPAddiction for the idea. Translatable plugin headers. 1.1.0
- — Version 1.0.1 Fix sorting by secondarily sorting by title. 1.0.1
- — Version 1.0.0 Initial release! 1.0.0
AI assistants
How it's measured →Whether ChatGPT and Claude name this plugin when asked the category question, and whether the readme gives them something to quote.
Not measured yet for this plugin’s topics. Its tracked searches are not among the measured topics. See the topics measured so far.
Readme readiness
1 of 8 pass · checked 29 Oct 2026Can an assistant quote this readme? Eight deterministic checks over the wp.org listing, no model involved.
- ! Says what it does Short description names no action; say what the plugin does for the site.
- ! Has a FAQ No FAQ section.
- ! FAQ asks real questions No FAQ to judge.
- ! Names who it is for Never says who the plugin is for or what they use it for.
- ! Names what it works with Names no plugin, service or platform it works with.
- ! Headings and lists 0 headings and 0 lists; assistants quote headed sections and bullet lists, not paragraphs.
- ! Enough to quote 359 characters of description; under 1,000 there is little to quote.
- ✓ Tags match the text All 4 tags appear in the text.
Growth timeline
Install-tier crossings we have observed, and how long each tier took to outgrow
- 2025-04-27 3K+ → 2K+ down after 1 days in tier
- 2025-04-26 2K+ → 3K+ up after 2 days in tier
- 2025-04-24 3K+ → 2K+ down
Competes with
The plugins that solve the same job, ranked by shared tags then reach, closest match first. The letter on the right is each plugin's health grade (A best, F worst).
-
Menu Image, Icons made easy 100K+ installs · 4.5★ · 2 shared tags B -
User Menus – Nav Menu Visibility 80K+ installs · 4.9★ · 2 shared tags A -
Nav Menu Roles 70K+ installs · 4.9★ · 2 shared tags A - N Nav Menu Images 6K+ installs · 4.1★ · 2 shared tags D
-
LuckyWP ACF Menu Field 5K+ installs · 4.6★ · 2 shared tags C -
Privilege Menu 1K+ installs · 4.3★ · 2 shared tags D
Embed this report card
Drop a live Pulse card for Add Descendants As Submenu Items into a readme, a review or a deck. It updates itself.
<iframe src="https://plugins.wpmayor.com/embed/add-descendants-as-submenu-items" width="480" height="300" style="border:0" loading="lazy" title="Add Descendants As Submenu Items — Plugin Pulse"></iframe> Add Descendants As Submenu Items: 2K+ active installs, 5.0★ (20 reviews). Plugin Pulse (WP Mayor), as of 2026-11-02. https://plugins.wpmayor.com/plugin/add-descendants-as-submenu-items
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