Custom Link menu items don’t show up in Dashboard -> Pages anymore

The way that you describe as “not working” is the only way it’s ever been. Did you used to have a plugin or maybe a theme that was changing how the menu creation worked?
Custom links only exist in the menu, where you create them, not as Pages.

Thanks Joy for clearing that up.

Actually, no, I haven’t used any plugin whatsoever. It’s always been working for me like that.

OK, so let’s say how it used to work for me–until today anyway–is rather unusual or–in your words–impossible even, how am I supposed to link child pages to (empty) custom link menu items? Because that’s the the way I’ve been doing it, it’s also the only way I know.

How do other people do it? I mean it has to be possible, right? It’s been working for me anyway.

Thanks again.

I just tried the Nested Pages plugin but it doesn’t do the trick either.

So how in the world have I ever been able to do it out of the box with no issues at all? Of course it doesn’t necessarily make sense because a custom link is not a page really — I’d agree. But that’s I how I’ve done it all the time. And it wouldn’t hurt if we were allowed to handle custom links them as pages either. It makes things so much easier.

Could anyone tell me how to add child pages to custom links any other way then? I can’t seem to reproduce the “bug.” ??

When I wanted to connect my child pages to those main menu items, I just had to edit them in the pages section and link them to their appropriate parent pages.

That’s the part that doesn’t make sense, and I can’t even tell what you mean (edit them and link?).
When you are in the Menu creation (either the admin page or in Customizer), you can create a Custom link with whatever value you want. To put a Page under it (as submenu), add the child page to the menu and drag it to the desired location (and indentation).

Sorry, I forgot the link:

https://www.wpbeginner.com/beginners-guide/how-to-create-a-child-page-in-wordpress/

I just created a child page—and the only way I was able to do that at all was through the Nested Pages plugin. But: The page doesn’t show up under Dashboard > Appearances > Menus, so there is no way I can drag it to the desired location, as you said.

On the other hand, the custom link folder doesn’t show up in Dashboard > Pages.

In other words: I can’t connect them. There is no way to bring them together. One doesn’t see the other.

Is there a way to reset WordPress and/or Dashboard somehow? I have a feeling something is off here. It started slowly, but I’m losing more and more functionality.

My original post is on hold for moderation for whatever reason. So here it is again. It refers to the link I posted:

That’s the part that doesn’t make sense, and I can’t even tell what you mean (edit them and link?).

By that I meant Dashboard > Pages > Quick Edit: Link the child page to the parent page (see second illustration in the linked website below).

When you are in the Menu creation (either the admin page or in Customizer), you can create a Custom link with whatever value you want. To put a Page under it (as submenu), add the child page to the menu and drag it to the desired location (and indentation).

I know I can create a custom link from both the admin page and the customizer—and it shows up in Dashboard > Appearance > Menus. But I can’t put any pages under it. That’s the funny part: I can’t do that anymore. I can’t even create child pages in the first place.

The only page attributes I can set when creating a new page is the template (default, full-width, or grid)—the “parent” part is gone (see first illustration in the linked website below).

But even I could, custom links don’t show up as an option for a parent page anymore. And they used to—even in Dashboard > Pages. They would show just like any other pages too. I could just go into the appropriate child page quick edit and set the parent page. Just like that. Now there is no way to do any of these steps.

That’s the whole issue here. I hope you’re getting what I’m trying to say here.

I hope you’re getting what I’m trying to say here.

Unfortunately, no, we don’t get what you’re saying here very well, because it doesn’t make a whole lot of sense. You’re going to have to simplify it quite a bit.

Menus are completely separate from Pages. They’re not at all connected. Creating one doesn’t create the other. They’re two different things, entirely.

Pages can be created as children of other pages. But that has nothing whatsoever to do with Menus. Quick Edit will do the job, just like you said:

View post on imgur.com

And menus can be created with sub menus as well:

View post on imgur.com

These two things are unconnected from one another. They have nothing to do with each other.

If you’re saying that you can’t set a parent anymore when making a new Page, then that starts to make a bit more sense. This box should appear for you in the sidebar of the new block editor:

View post on imgur.com

If you’re not seeing that in the right hand sidebar, then you might have problems with the REST API not working with your site. Install the Health Check plugin, and see what it says about the REST API working or not. This can help us diagnose the problem.

But again, Pages are not Menus. They don’t connect other than sometimes you put page links in menus.