diff --git a/exampleSite/content/basics/configuration/_index.en.md b/exampleSite/content/basics/configuration/_index.en.md
index 2365334102..d1c7e29eba 100644
--- a/exampleSite/content/basics/configuration/_index.en.md
+++ b/exampleSite/content/basics/configuration/_index.en.md
@@ -11,6 +11,10 @@ Note that some of these parameters are explained in details in other sections of
 
 ```toml
 [params]
+  # This controls whether submenus will be expanded (true), or collapsed (false) in the
+  # menu; if no setting is given, the first menu level is set to false, all others to true;
+  # this can be overridden in the pages frontmatter
+  alwaysopen = true
   # Prefix URL to edit current page. Will display an "Edit this page" button on top right hand corner of every page.
   # Useful to give opportunity to people to create merge request for your doc.
   # See the config.toml file from this documentation site to have an example.
diff --git a/layouts/partials/menu.html b/layouts/partials/menu.html
index 7075bb1ced..63fe665792 100644
--- a/layouts/partials/menu.html
+++ b/layouts/partials/menu.html
@@ -21,13 +21,14 @@
       {{- end }}
       <div class="highlightable">
         <ul class="topics">
+          {{- $defaultAlwaysopen := .Site.Params.alwaysopen | default false }}
           {{- if eq .Site.Params.ordersectionsby "title" }}
             {{- range .Site.Home.Sections.ByTitle }}
-            {{- template "section-tree-nav" dict "sect" . "currentnode" $currentNode "showvisitedlinks" $showvisitedlinks "alwaysopen" false }}
+            {{- template "section-tree-nav" dict "sect" . "currentnode" $currentNode "showvisitedlinks" $showvisitedlinks "alwaysopen" $defaultAlwaysopen }}
             {{- end }}
           {{- else }}
             {{- range .Site.Home.Sections.ByWeight }}
-            {{- template "section-tree-nav" dict "sect" . "currentnode" $currentNode "showvisitedlinks" $showvisitedlinks "alwaysopen" false }}
+            {{- template "section-tree-nav" dict "sect" . "currentnode" $currentNode "showvisitedlinks" $showvisitedlinks "alwaysopen" $defaultAlwaysopen }}
             {{- end }}
           {{- end }}
         </ul>
@@ -113,13 +114,14 @@
                 {{- $currentNode.Scratch.Set "pages" (.Pages | union .Sections) }}
               {{- end }}
               {{- $pages := ($currentNode.Scratch.Get "pages") }}
+              {{- $defaultAlwaysopen := .Site.Params.alwaysopen | default true }}
               {{- if eq .Site.Params.ordersectionsby "title" }}
                 {{- range $pages.ByTitle }}
-                  {{- template "section-tree-nav" dict "sect" . "currentnode" $currentNode "showvisitedlinks" $showvisitedlinks "alwaysopen" true}}
+                  {{- template "section-tree-nav" dict "sect" . "currentnode" $currentNode "showvisitedlinks" $showvisitedlinks "alwaysopen" $defaultAlwaysopen }}
                 {{- end }}
               {{- else }}
                 {{- range $pages.ByWeight }}
-                {{- template "section-tree-nav" dict "sect" . "currentnode" $currentNode "showvisitedlinks" $showvisitedlinks "alwaysopen" true}}
+                {{- template "section-tree-nav" dict "sect" . "currentnode" $currentNode "showvisitedlinks" $showvisitedlinks "alwaysopen" $defaultAlwaysopen }}
                 {{- end }}
               {{- end }}</ul></li>
         {{- else }}