Standard Windows menu bars in Windows Forms

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BoltClock picture BoltClock · May 6, 2010 · Viewed 32.3k times · Source

I noticed that adding a MenuStrip (from the Toolbox) to my form design doesn't yield a menu bar like the one seen in many native Windows applications. Instead I get a menu bar like Visual Studio's own. None of the style settings for MenuStrip appear to mimic the much more common native menu bar.

Is there a way to add a menu bar to my Windows Forms application that looks the same as the one you see in Notepad, Task Manager and others? (Preferably with the designer, but I wouldn't mind adding it programmatically either.)

Screenshot for illustration:

Answer

anon271334 picture anon271334 · May 6, 2010

This is easy.

Goto your Toolbox, right click anywhere inside and select "Choose Items". When the dialog loads and appears, scroll down til you see MainMenu. Add that to the toolbox, and you've got yourself a native Menu Bar!

Happy coding!

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