Hidden (ghost) menu items

What is a hidden (ghost) menu item? 

In MC Professional, widgets (like custom sidebars, announcements, or calendar boxes) are assigned to specific Menu Items rather than individual Article pages.

This presents a challenge if you want to create a page with a unique widget layout, but you do not want that page to appear in your website's main navigation menus. For example, you might want a hidden page that users can only access through a direct link sent in an email.

A hidden menu item solves this problem. It is a hidden, invisible menu set. Any menu item created inside this set does not appear anywhere on your live website menus, but it still has its own web address (URL). This allows you to assign specific widgets to the hidden page, and any article linked to that hidden menu item will display those custom widgets.

How to access the hidden (ghost) menu

1. Go to Website > Menu Items.
2. Look through your active menu sets for one named "Ghost Menu" or a similar title.
3. If you see it, click into the set to manage or create your hidden menu items as you normally would.

Note: If you do not see a Ghost Menu set in your list, it means one has not been built for your site yet. An MC Professional team member must activate this for you. Contact the help team at help@memberclicks.com and request that a Ghost Menu set be created.

How to find and use the direct link

Once you have created your hidden menu item inside the Ghost Menu set, you can link people to it using two different methods:

Method 1: Using the direct web address (for external links) 

Use this method if you need to share the link outside of MC Professional, such as in a newsletter, social media post, or an external website.

1. Open your hidden menu item to edit it.
2. Locate the Alias field at the top of the settings page. 
   • Note: The alias is the short text string the system uses to build the web address (for example: "volunteer-thank-you").
3. Combine your main website address with this alias, separating them with a forward slash (/).
   • Example: If your site is "association.memberclicks.net" and your alias is "volunteer-thank-you", the full direct link is: association.memberclicks.net/volunteer-thank-you
     

Method 2: Using Site Links (for internal links) 

Use this method if you want to embed the link inside an MC Professional article, form, or email announcement.

1. Open the text editor where you want to add the link.
2. Use the Site Links button located at the very bottom of the article screen.
3. Browse your menu structure inside the pop-up window, locate your Ghost Menu set, and select your hidden menu item. This automatically embeds a safe, permanent internal link.

Assigning widgets

Because the hidden Ghost Menu is an advanced design tool, you cannot assign or move widgets to these hidden items on your own.

Once your hidden menu item is created and you know which widgets you want to display on it, contact our Support Team. Let them know the exact name of your new ghost menu item and which widgets you want turned on or off for that page, and they will configure it for you.