"Tasks" and "Index" links appear on the top-level

I would even suggest to remove these two menu items altogether.

This can be done through hook_admin_menu_output_alter(&$content):

**
 * Alter content in Administration menu bar before it is rendered.
 *
 * @param $content
 *   A structured array suitable for drupal_render(), at the very least
 *   containing the keys 'menu' and 'links'.  Most implementations likely want
 *   to alter or add to 'links'.
 *
 * $content['menu'] contains the HTML representation of the 'admin_menu' menu
 * tree.
 * @see admin_menu_menu_alter()
 *
 * $content['links'] contains additional top-level links in the Administration
 * menu, such as the icon menu or the logout link. You can add more items here
 * or play with the #weight attribute to customize them.
 * @see theme_admin_menu_links()
 * @see admin_menu_links_icon()
 * @see admin_menu_links_user()
 */
function MODULE_NAME_admin_menu_output_alter(&$content) {
  
  $admin_menu_exclusions = array(
    t('Tasks'),
    t('Index'),
  );
  
  foreach($content['menu'] as $menu_key => $menu_tree) {
    if (in_array($menu_tree['#title'], $admin_menu_exclusions))
      unset($content['menu'][$menu_key]);
  }

}

Thanks, that solves it. Very nice that Admin Menu is fully customizable now!

Thanks jason.fisher

If you want to move the items under the icon menu they can with this code:

<?php
/**
 * Implements hook_admin_menu_output_alter().
 */
function MYMODULE_admin_menu_output_alter(&$content) {
  // Move Tasks and Index under the icon menu.
  foreach ($content['menu'] as $key => $menu_item) {
    if ($menu_item['#href'] == 'admin/tasks' || $menu_item['#href'] == 'admin/index') {
      $menu_item['#weight'] = -50;
      $content['icon']['icon'][$menu_item['#href']] = $menu_item;
      unset($content['menu'][$key]);
    }
  }
}
?>

Thanks for the code in #2 - very helpful!

Agree that they should be taken off the toolbar and moved to the icon menu.

Maybe an option in the settings for letting users opt to move them or leave them where they are would be a good way of conforming with the core structure.

In addition, the words "Index" and "Tasks" are very vague. Especially for someone new to Drupal seeing these two words as the first ones in the menu is utterly confusing. This is an example of the many times in Drupal that we are too reliant on abstract nouns. In addition to moving these items under the icon menu I recommend renaming them to "Configure by module" and "Administration categories". I don't see the need to clutter the admin UI with settings for where to have them - if someone wants to move them out from under the icon menu they can do so with the techniques listed above.

Ugh, these are the names that Drupal Core has defined, it's not related to Admin Menu. Well those aren't going to be changed in D7, so we can change them in Admin Menu, and file a core bug for D8.

Patch in #8 Is the perfect fix!
Cheers!

+1 for this patch. Really helps my 800x600 presentations.

Patch in #8 works great!

Adding my name to the list of +1 for the #8 patch.

#8 works perfect with 7.x-3.0-rc1 :)

Loves it! Patch in #8 worked w/ 7.x-3.0-rc1.

Patch in #8 still applies cleanly to 3x-dev as well

These tasks/links were originally simply removed instead of relocated. The code for that is merely outdated.

Was there any particular reason for keeping them around?

I find the index sometimes useful in cases where I've installed an unfamiliar module, and the module's config pages are in a non-obvious spot.

I don't find either of them useful, and would love to see them both gone :)

I agree with jenlampton. But maybe an option on the admin menu settings page to choose for yourself?

Well, if you would need this menu item (or any other for that matter), you can put them in with the hook_admin_menu_output_alter() :)

While I find the index mildly useful I'm not in favour of a config option. If someone like myself would like to keep the menu item I'd rather that a hook be used.

Alright, different approach - let's move them instead.

This patch makes pretty clear that we need to do something about #821128: Ensure reliable link structure and contents for alter hooks (to not break on customizations), so I elevated that issue.

@sun are you opposed to renaming them to something more understandable like the patch in #8?

yeah... I don't think that makes them any more clear - they're sorta in line with the surrounding links, which equally aren't super-specific on their context. So, I'd rather keep and move them as is.

If there's going to be a non-administrative Index and non-administrative Tasks at some point, then, well, yeah, that would be a good reason for renaming them. ;)

This is great, so much cleaner! :)

Thanks for reporting, reviewing, and testing! Committed to 7.x-3.x and 8.x-3.x.

A new development snapshot will be available within the next 12 hours. This improvement will be available in the next official release.

This is fantastic! It's so strange not having "Flush all caches" as the first thing under that icon though :(

Great work. Removing my auto-download of the patch above. :-)

#2 worked great for me. My issue was that I had extra menu items in the top level that only occurred after upgrade from Drupal 6. I had these items in the top level admin menu: Status report, available updates, recent log messages, field list, recent hits, top access denied errors, top page not found errors, top referrers, top search phrases, views plugins, top pages, top visitors, help.

I obviously needed to clean up all these extra menu items that were cluttering up the space.

My function looks like this. I had to switch the quotes on top access denied and top page not found because there were quotes in the t() function.

  $admin_menu_exclusions = array(
    t('Status report'),
    t('Available updates'),
    t('Recent log messages'),
    t('Field list'),
    t('Recent hits'),
    t("Top 'access denied' errors"),
    t("Top 'page not found' errors"),
    t('Top referrers'),
    t('Top search phrases'),
    t('Views plugins'),
    t('Top pages'),
    t('Top visitors'),
    t('Help'),
  );

Thanks.

Thanks #2 jason.fisher, your solution worked for me .

Thanks #2 @jason.fisher
I wanted to hide these menu items to my users.
I made just one small modification to avoid warning messages in watchdog

if (is_array($menu_tree) && array_key_exists('#title', $menu_tree) && in_array($menu_tree['#title'], $admin_menu_exclusions)) {