How to Guides
These workflows use plain examples. Rename menu items to match your site; keep the same depth pattern.
RCA-style documentation hub (three levels)
Menu shape:
Level 1 — Documents (anchor, category blog).
Level 2 — Bugfixes, Free Extensions, Pro Extensions (sections).
Level 3 — RCA ArrowChat Docs, RCA Themer Docs, … (hubs).
Level 4+ — Overview, Quick Start, FAQ, … (articles as menu items).
Module settings: anchor = Documents, section level 2, hub level 3, show all sections Yes, show sibling hubs Yes, hide outside anchor Yes, visibility anchor branch.
Reader experience: on ArrowChat Requirements, the sidebar lists all three sections, lists other free-extension hubs as links, and expands only ArrowChat’s article list.
Single product manual (no multi-section catalog)
If everything hangs under one hub item (only one “product docs” root), set section level and hub level to match where you still want grouping. Some sites set section level equal to hub level behavior by using one section and many hubs; others collapse hub level to 4 if the hub is deeper.
If the sidebar looks empty, open Menus, note the level number Joomla shows for your hub and article items, and align section level and hub level to those numbers.
Bugfixes lane beside retail docs
Put compat and bugfix doc hubs under a Bugfixes section at level 2, same as Free and Pro sections. Readers see Bugfixes as a peer section; hubs under Bugfixes accordion like any other section. No second module required.
When you disabled a duplicate Documents menutype
If you previously maintained a separate documents menutype and main-menu aliases, pick one tree. Point the module menutype and anchor at the surviving items (often main menu Documents only). Update the anchor field if Itemids changed. Clear cache and walk one URL from each section.
Pair with RCA Auto Menu
Auto Menu creates or updates menu items when articles save. Menu Scope displays the resulting tree. Workflow: configure Auto Menu parents so new articles land under the correct hub; Menu Scope picks them up on the next page load without module changes.
Intentionally shallow sidebar
Set depth below hub to 1 to show only immediate children under the active hub (for example hub landing plus one tier). Useful if deep menu trees exist for routing but you do not want every legacy page in the sidebar.
MaxiMenuCK and other mega menus
Mega menu extensions excel at horizontal flyouts and animation layouts. They generally do not provide “active hub accordion in the left doc column driven by the same menu Itemid trail” without custom menu duplication. If you tried megamenu tools and could not get doc-sidebar behavior, Menu Scope is the intended tool for that job on RCA documentation layouts.
When not to use Menu Scope
Do not use it for the top horizontal main nav (use mod_menu or your template menu). Do not use it for unrelated sidebars (blog categories, shop filters) unless that content already lives in the same anchored menu tree.