By default, user menu configuration files take precedence over system menu configuration files of the same name. For example, if an applications.menu file is present in the user's $XDG_CONFIG_HOME/menus directory, then that file will be used instead of the system applications.menu file to configure the Applications menu for that user. This replacement might result in the user not having access to all the menu items they would expect. To avoid this situation, a menu configuration file can specify that it should be merged with other menu configuration files, rather than replacing them. This process is described in the following sections.