Advanced Custom Fields: Nav Menu Field

What is Advanced Custom Fields?

Advanced Custom Fields: Nav Menu Field is a specialized add-on that lets you add a navigation menu selector directly into an Advanced Custom Fields (ACF) field group. Developed by Faison, this plugin has been available for 13 years, bridging a clear gap for developers who need to assign dynamic menus to posts, pages, or custom post types. Despite its age, the plugin maintains a perfect 5.0/5 rating from 33 reviews, with 97% of those being five-star ratings and zero one-star ratings. It currently powers 8K+ active WordPress installations.

The plugin works with ACF version 5 and version 4. It allows you to select from menus created in the WordPress admin backend. You can then display those menus on your site’s frontend. The developer created it to solve a specific problem: displaying a secondary menu that changes depending on the page, especially when custom post types are involved. Instead of complex conditional logic, the plugin offers a simple dropdown menu for menu selection.

Key Features of Advanced Custom Fields

• Three Return Value Options: You can configure the field to return the menu’s ID for lightweight coding, the menu Object for more involved programming, or full HTML (generated by wp_nav_menu) for quick frontend display.
• ACF 5 and ACF 4 Compatibility: This add-on works with both major versions of Advanced Custom Fields, ensuring it fits into older and current site builds.
• Dropdown Menu Selection: The field renders as a simple dropdown in the WordPress editor, populated with all menus you have created under Appearance > Menus.
• Direct HTML Output Mode: When set to return HTML, the field outputs a styled or unstyled menu list that you can customize with your own CSS—the plugin does not inject any default styles.
• Location Rule Integration: You can assign the field to specific post types, pages, or taxonomy terms using ACF’s standard location rules.
• Lightweight Code Footprint: The plugin adds a single field type and does not alter core WordPress or ACF behavior, keeping your site’s performance predictable.
• No PHP Templating Required for HTML Mode: For the HTML return value, you only need to call the field value in your template—the menu renders automatically.

Who Should Use Advanced Custom Fields?

This plugin is built for developers and advanced site builders who already use Advanced Custom Fields. The ideal user has a site with multiple navigation menus—for example, a secondary sidebar menu, a footer menu, or a contextual menu that changes based on a page’s parent or custom post type. If you manage a site with 50+ pages or custom post types and need to assign different menus without hard-coding, this tool saves significant time. The 13-year plugin age and 8K+ installs indicate a stable, niche solution for this specific workflow.

Beginners can use it too, but they should be comfortable with ACF field groups and basic template editing. The plugin assumes you know how to add ACF code to your theme files. If you can create a field group and paste a line of PHP into your sidebar or footer template, you are ready. For those who only need a single, global menu, WordPress’s built-in menu system is sufficient—this plugin is for situations where the menu must vary per page or per post.

Installation & Setup

Installation follows standard WordPress plugin procedures: upload the plugin folder, activate it, and the Nav Menu field type appears inside ACF. Setup is beginner-friendly if you already have ACF installed. You create a new field group, add a Nav Menu field, choose your return value (ID, Object, or HTML), and set location rules—for example, “Post Type is equal to Page.” The only notable step is adding the necessary ACF template code to your theme file to display the field’s value.

Support & Community

The support data shows a mixed picture. Over the last two months, the plugin has recorded 0 open support threads and 0 resolved threads, yielding a 0% resolution rate. This likely reflects the plugin’s age and stability rather than neglect—the last update was Nov 28, 2017, and the developer has not released a new version since. The 97% five-star rating from 33 reviews suggests that existing users find the plugin works reliably without needing frequent assistance. However, if you encounter a bug or a compatibility issue with a modern WordPress version (the plugin was tested up to WordPress 4.0.38), you may not receive timely help. The FAQ section addresses common questions, such as why the menu looks unstyled (by design) and why the menu might not show (missing ACF template code). For a plugin with 8K+ installs, the small support volume indicates most users set it up and it runs without incident.