Menus

Menus display a list of choices on a temporary surface.

Usage

When opened, menus position themselves to an anchor. Thus, either anchor or anchorElement must be supplied to md-menu before opening. Additionally, a shared parent of position:relative should be present around the menu and it's anchor, because the default menu is positioned relative to the anchor element.

Menus also render menu items such as md-menu-item and handle keyboard navigation between md-menu-items as well as typeahead functionality. Additionally, md-menu interacts with md-menu-items to help you determine how a menu was closed. Listen for and inspect the close-menu custom event's details to determine what action and items closed the menu.

"Two filled buttons next to each other. The first one says set with idref and
the other says set with element ref. There is an opened menu anchored to the
bottom of the right button with the items: Apple, Banana,
Cucumber."

html

<!-- Note the position: relative style -->
<span style="position: relative">
  <md-filled-button id="usage-anchor">Set with idref</md-filled-button>
  <md-menu id="usage-menu" anchor="usage-anchor">
    <md-menu-item>
      <div slot="headline">Apple</div>
    </md-menu-item>
    <md-menu-item>
      <div slot="headline">Banana</div>
    </md-menu-item>
    <md-menu-item>
      <div slot="headline">Cucumber</div>
    </md-menu-item>
  </md-menu>
</span>

<script type="module">
  // This example uses anchor as an ID reference
  const anchorEl = document.body.querySelector('#usage-anchor');
  const menuEl = document.body.querySelector('#usage-menu');

  anchorEl.addEventListener('click', () => { menuEl.open = !menuEl.open; });
</script>

<span style="position: relative">
  <md-filled-button id="usage-anchor-2">Set with element ref</md-filled-button>
  <md-menu id="usage-menu-2">
    <md-menu-item>
      <div slot="headline">Apple</div>
    </md-menu-item>
    <md-menu-item>
      <div slot="headline">Banana</div>
    </md-menu-item>
    <md-menu-item>
      <div slot="headline">Cucumber</div>
    </md-menu-item>
  </md-menu>
</span>

<script type="module">
  // This example uses MdMenu.prototype.anchorElement to set the anchor as an
  // HTMLElement reference.
  const anchorEl = document.body.querySelector('#usage-anchor-2');
  const menuEl = document.body.querySelector('#usage-menu-2');
  menuEl.anchorElement = anchorEl;

  anchorEl.addEventListener('click', () => { menuEl.open = !menuEl.open; });
</script>

Submenus

You can compose <md-menu>s inside of an <md-sub-menu>'s menu slot, but first the has-overflow attribute must be set on the root <md-menu> to disable overflow scrolling and display the nested submenus.

html

<!-- Note the position: relative style -->
<span style="position: relative">
  <md-filled-button id="usage-submenu-anchor">
    Menu with Submenus
  </md-filled-button>
  <!-- Note the has-overflow attribute -->
  <md-menu has-overflow id="usage-submenu" anchor="usage-submenu-anchor">
    <md-sub-menu>
      <md-menu-item slot="item">
      <div slot="headline">Fruits with A</div>
        <!-- Arrow icons are helpful affordances -->
        <md-icon slot="end">arrow_right</md-icon>
      </md-menu-item>
      <!-- Submenu must be slotted into sub-menu's menu slot -->
      <md-menu slot="menu">
        <md-menu-item>
          <div slot="headline">Apricot</div>
        </md-menu-item>
        <md-menu-item>
          <div slot="headline">Avocado</div>
        </md-menu-item>

        <!-- Nest as many as you want and control menu anchoring -->
        <md-sub-menu
            menu-corner="start-end"
            anchor-corner="start-start">
          <md-menu-item slot="item">
            <div slot="headline">Apples</div>
            <!-- Arrow icons are helpful affordances -->
            <md-icon slot="start">
              arrow_left
            </md-icon>
          </md-menu-item>
          <md-menu slot="menu">
            <md-menu-item>
              <div slot="headline">Fuji</div>
            </md-menu-item>
            <md-menu-item>
              <div slot="headline" style="white-space: nowrap;">Granny Smith</div>
            </md-menu-item>
            <md-menu-item>
              <div slot="headline" style="white-space: nowrap;">Red Delicious</div>
            </md-menu-item>
          </md-menu>

        </md-sub-menu>
      </md-menu>
    </md-sub-menu>

    <md-menu-item>
      <div slot="headline">Banana</div>
    </md-menu-item>
    <md-menu-item>
      <div slot="headline">Cucumber</div>
    </md-menu-item>
  </md-menu>
</span>

<script type="module">
  const anchorEl = document.body.querySelector('#usage-submenu-anchor');
  const menuEl = document.body.querySelector('#usage-submenu');

  anchorEl.addEventListener('click', () => { menuEl.open = !menuEl.open; });
</script>

Internally menu uses position: absolute by default. Though there are cases when the anchor and the node cannot share a common ancestor that is position: relative, or sometimes, menu will render below another item due to limitations with position: absolute.

Popover-positioned menus use the native Popover API to render above all other content. This may fix most issues where the default menu positioning (positioning="absolute") is not positioning as expected by rendering into the top layer.

Warning: Popover API support was added in Chrome 114 and Safari 17. At the time of writing, Firefox does not support the Popover API (see latest browser compatibility).
For browsers that do not support the Popover API, md-menu will fall back to using fixed-positioned menus.

"A filled button that says open popover menu. There is an open menu anchored
to the bottom of the button with three items, Apple, Banana, and
Cucumber."

html

<!-- Note the lack of position: relative parent. -->
<div style="margin: 16px;">
  <md-filled-button id="usage-popover-anchor">Open popover menu</md-filled-button>
</div>

<!-- popover menus do not require a common ancestor with the anchor. -->
<md-menu positioning="popover" id="usage-popover" anchor="usage-popover-anchor">
  <md-menu-item>
    <div slot="headline">Apple</div>
  </md-menu-item>
  <md-menu-item>
    <div slot="headline">Banana</div>
  </md-menu-item>
  <md-menu-item>
    <div slot="headline">Cucumber</div>
  </md-menu-item>
</md-menu>

<script type="module">
  const anchorEl = document.body.querySelector('#usage-popover-anchor');
  const menuEl = document.body.querySelector('#usage-popover');

  anchorEl.addEventListener('click', () => { menuEl.open = !menuEl.open; });
</script>

Fixed-positioned menus

This is the fallback implementation of popover-positioned menus and uses position: fixed rather than the default position: absolute which calculates its position relative to the window rather than the element.

Note: Fixed menu positions are positioned relative to the window and not the document. This means that the menu will not scroll with the anchor as the page is scrolled.

"A filled button that says open fixed menu. There is an open menu anchored to
the bottom of the button with three items, Apple, Banana, and
Cucumber."

html

<!-- Note the lack of position: relative parent. -->
<div style="margin: 16px;">
  <md-filled-button id="usage-fixed-anchor">Open fixed menu</md-filled-button>
</div>

<!-- Fixed menus do not require a common ancestor with the anchor. -->
<md-menu positioning="fixed" id="usage-fixed" anchor="usage-fixed-anchor">
  <md-menu-item>
    <div slot="headline">Apple</div>
  </md-menu-item>
  <md-menu-item>
    <div slot="headline">Banana</div>
  </md-menu-item>
  <md-menu-item>
    <div slot="headline">Cucumber</div>
  </md-menu-item>
</md-menu>

<script type="module">
  const anchorEl = document.body.querySelector('#usage-fixed-anchor');
  const menuEl = document.body.querySelector('#usage-fixed');

  anchorEl.addEventListener('click', () => { menuEl.open = !menuEl.open; });
</script>

Document-positioned menus

When set to positioning="document", md-menu will position itself relative to the document as opposed to the element or the window from "absolute" and "fixed" values respectively.

Document level positioning is useful for the following cases:

There are no ancestor elements that produce a relative positioning context.
- position: relative
- position: absolute
- position: fixed
- transform: translate(x, y)
- etc.
The menu is hoisted to the top of the DOM
- The last child of <body>
- Top layer
The same md-menu is being reused and the contents and anchors are being dynamically changed

"A filled button that says open document menu. There is an open menu anchored
to the bottom of the button with three items, Apple, Banana, and
Cucumber."

html

<!-- Note the lack of position: relative parent. -->
<div style="margin: 16px;">
  <md-filled-button id="usage-document-anchor">Open document menu</md-filled-button>
</div>

<!-- document menus do not require a common ancestor with the anchor. -->
<md-menu positioning="document" id="usage-document" anchor="usage-document-anchor">
  <md-menu-item>
    <div slot="headline">Apple</div>
  </md-menu-item>
  <md-menu-item>
    <div slot="headline">Banana</div>
  </md-menu-item>
  <md-menu-item>
    <div slot="headline">Cucumber</div>
  </md-menu-item>
</md-menu>

<script type="module">
  const anchorEl = document.body.querySelector('#usage-document-anchor');
  const menuEl = document.body.querySelector('#usage-document');

  anchorEl.addEventListener('click', () => { menuEl.open = !menuEl.open; });
</script>

Accessibility

By default Menu is set up to function as a role="menu" with children as role="menuitem". A common use case for this is the menu button example, where you would need to add keyboard interactions to the button to open the menu (see W3C example).

Menu can also be adapted for other use cases.

The role of the md-list inside the menu can be set with the type attribute. The role of each individual md-menu-item can also be set with the type attribute. Anything else slotted into the menu that is not a list item in most cases should be set to role="none", and md-divider should have role="separator" and tabindex="-1".

html

<!--
  A simplified example of an autocomplete component – missing javascript logic for interaction.
-->
<md-filled-text-field
    id="textfield"
    type="combobox"
    aria-controls="menu"
    aria-autocomplete="list"
    aria-expanded="true"
    aria-activedescendant="1"
    value="Ala">
</md-filled-text-field>
<md-menu
    id="menu"
    anchor="textfield"
    role="listbox"
    aria-label="states"
    open>
  <md-menu-item type="option" id="0">
    <div slot="headline">Alabama</div>
  </md-menu-item>
  <md-divider role="separator" tabindex="-1"></md-divider>
  <md-menu-item type="option" id="1" selected aria-selected="true">
    <div slot="headline">Alabama</div>
  </md-menu-item>
</md-menu>

Theming

Menus support Material theming and can be customized in terms of color. Additionally, md-menu composes md-list, and each menu item extends md-list-item (see theming documentation), so most the tokens for those components can also be used for Menu.

Token	Default value
`--md-menu-container-color`	`--md-sys-color-surface-container`
`--md-menu-container-shape`	`--md-sys-shape-corner-extra-small`
`--md-menu-item-container-color`	`--md-sys-color-surface-container`
`--md-menu-item-selected-container-color`	`--md-sys-color-secondary-container`

Example

A filled button with the text Themed menu. Attached is a 3 item menu with the
items Apple, Banana, and Cucumber. They are both in a green hue and the menu has
a sharp 0px border radius.

html

<style>
  :root {
    background-color: #f4fbfa;
    --md-menu-container-color: #f4fbfa;
    --md-menu-container-shape: 0px;
    --md-sys-color-on-surface: #161d1d;
    --md-sys-typescale-body-large-font: system-ui;
  }
  md-menu-item {
    border-radius: 28px;
  }
  md-menu-item::part(focus-ring) {
    border-radius: 28px;
  }
  /* Styles for button and not relevant to menu */
  md-filled-button {
    --md-sys-color-primary: #006a6a;
    --md-sys-color-on-primary: #ffffff;
  }
</style>

<span style="position: relative">
  <md-filled-button id="theming-anchor">Themed menu</md-filled-button>
  <md-menu id="theming-menu" anchor="theming-anchor">
    <md-menu-item>
      <div slot="headline">Apple</div>
    </md-menu-item>
    <md-menu-item>
      <div slot="headline">Banana</div>
    </md-menu-item>
    <md-menu-item>
      <div slot="headline">Cucumber</div>
    </md-menu-item>
  </md-menu>
</span>

<script type="module">
  const anchorEl = document.body.querySelector("#theming-anchor");
  const menuEl = document.body.querySelector("#theming-menu");

  anchorEl.addEventListener("click", () => {
    menuEl.show();
  });
</script>

API

MdMenu `<md-menu>`

Methods

Method	Parameters	Returns	Description
`getBoundingClientRect`	None	`DOMRect`
`getClientRects`	None	`DOMRectList`
`close`	None	`void`
`show`	None	`void`
`activateNextItem`	None	`MenuItem`	Activates the next item in the menu. If at the end of the menu, the first item will be activated.
`activatePreviousItem`	None	`MenuItem`	Activates the previous item in the menu. If at the start of the menu, the last item will be activated.
`reposition`	None	`void`	Repositions the menu if it is open. Useful for the case where document or window-positioned menus have their anchors moved while open.

Events

Event	Type	Bubbles	Composed	Description
`opening`	`Event`	No	No	Fired before the opening animation begins
`opened`	`Event`	No	No	Fired once the menu is open, after any animations
`closing`	`Event`	No	No	Fired before the closing animation begins
`closed`	`Event`	No	No	Fired once the menu is closed, after any animations

MdMenuItem `<md-menu-item>`

Properties

Property	Attribute	Type	Default	Description
`disabled`	`disabled`	`boolean`	`false`	Disables the item and makes it non-selectable and non-interactive.
`type`	`type`	`string`	`'menuitem'`	Sets the behavior and role of the menu item, defaults to "menuitem".
`href`	`href`	`string`	`''`	Sets the underlying `HTMLAnchorElement`'s `href` resource attribute.
`target`	`target`	`string`	`''`	Sets the underlying `HTMLAnchorElement`'s `target` attribute when `href` is set.
`keepOpen`	`keep-open`	`boolean`	`false`	Keeps the menu open if clicked or keyboard selected.
`selected`	`selected`	`boolean`	`false`	Sets the item in the selected visual state when a submenu is opened.
`typeaheadText`		`string`	`undefined`

Events

Event	Type	Bubbles	Composed	Description
`close-menu`	`CustomEvent<{initiator: SelectOption, reason: Reason, itemPath: SelectOption[]}>`	Yes	Yes	Closes the encapsulating menu on closable interaction.

MdSubMenu `<md-sub-menu>`

Properties

Property	Attribute	Type	Default	Description
`anchorCorner`	`anchor-corner`	`string`	`Corner.START_END`	The anchorCorner to set on the submenu.
`menuCorner`	`menu-corner`	`string`	`Corner.START_START`	The menuCorner to set on the submenu.
`hoverOpenDelay`	`hover-open-delay`	`number`	`400`	The delay between mouseenter and submenu opening.
`hoverCloseDelay`	`hover-close-delay`	`number`	`400`	The delay between ponterleave and the submenu closing.
`isSubMenu`	`md-sub-menu`	`boolean`	`true`	READONLY: self-identifies as a menu item and sets its identifying attribute
`item`		`MenuItem`	`undefined`
`menu`		`Menu`	`undefined`

Methods

Method	Parameters	Returns	Description
`show`	None	`Promise<void>`	Shows the submenu.
`close`	None	`Promise<void>`	Closes the submenu.

Events

Event	Type	Bubbles	Composed	Description
`deactivate-items`	`Event`	Yes	Yes	Requests the parent menu to deselect other items when a submenu opens.
`request-activation`	`Event`	Yes	Yes	Requests the parent to make the slotted item focusable and focus the item.
`deactivate-typeahead`	`Event`	Yes	Yes	Requests the parent menu to deactivate the typeahead functionality when a submenu opens.
`activate-typeahead`	`Event`	Yes	Yes	Requests the parent menu to activate the typeahead functionality when a submenu closes.

Edit this page on GitHub

Menus ​

Usage ​

Submenus ​

Popover-positioned menus ​

Fixed-positioned menus ​

Document-positioned menus ​

Accessibility ​

Theming ​

Menu Tokens ​

Example ​

API ​

MdMenu <md-menu> ​

Methods ​

Events ​

MdMenuItem <md-menu-item> ​

Properties ​

Events ​

MdSubMenu <md-sub-menu> ​

Properties ​

Methods ​

Events ​

Menus

Usage

Submenus

Popover-positioned menus

Fixed-positioned menus

Document-positioned menus

Accessibility

Theming

Menu Tokens

Example

API

MdMenu `<md-menu>`

Methods

Events

MdMenuItem `<md-menu-item>`

Properties

Events

MdSubMenu `<md-sub-menu>`

Properties

Methods

Events