Menubar

What is a Menubar?

A menubar is a horizontal menu found in the main window of an application, typically located between the titlebar and the toolbar. Menubars have the items File, Edit, View, Window, and Help, in this exact order, by convention.

The menubar's main purpose is to categorize submenus of actions that can be performed in an application. Placing your mouse over one of its menu items opens its submenu. Alternatively, it's also possible to open a submenu without using the mouse, by pressing and holding the Alt key until some letters under the menu items become underlined. For example, if File becomes File, with a line under the F, that means you have to press Alt+F to select it. Doing so will open the submenu, and you can navigate around them using the arrow keys, and activate menu items using the Enter key.

Common Items

Some common menu items include:

1. File -> Open... - opens a document.
2. File -> Save... - saves the current document.
3. File -> Close -> close the current document.
4. File (or Edit) -> Preferences... (or Settings...) - application's settings.
5. File -> Quit (or Exit) - closes the application.
6. Edit -> Undo - undoes that last action.
7. Edit -> Redo - redoes the last undo.
8. Edit -> Cut - cuts the selection to the clipboard.
9. Edit -> Copy - copies the selection to the clipboard.
10. Edit -> Paste - pastes the selection to the clipboard.
11. The Window submenu typically lists the windows of the application, lets you open a new window to view the same document, and lets you customize the interface by showing and hiding panels (this last function is sometimes found in the View menu instead).
12. Help -> About - shows the name of the application and additional information, such as version, author, website, credits, license, etc.