diff --git a/pkg/gui/context/menu_context.go b/pkg/gui/context/menu_context.go
index b705adcee..489f412f0 100644
--- a/pkg/gui/context/menu_context.go
+++ b/pkg/gui/context/menu_context.go
@@ -4,7 +4,6 @@ import (
 	"github.com/jesseduffield/generics/slices"
 	"github.com/jesseduffield/gocui"
 	"github.com/jesseduffield/lazygit/pkg/gui/keybindings"
-	"github.com/jesseduffield/lazygit/pkg/gui/presentation"
 	"github.com/jesseduffield/lazygit/pkg/gui/style"
 	"github.com/jesseduffield/lazygit/pkg/gui/types"
 )
@@ -87,7 +86,7 @@ func (self *MenuViewModel) GetDisplayStrings(_startIdx int, _length int) [][]str
 	})
 
 	return slices.Map(self.menuItems, func(item *types.MenuItem) []string {
-		displayStrings := getItemDisplayStrings(item)
+		displayStrings := item.LabelColumns
 		if showKeys {
 			displayStrings = slices.Prepend(displayStrings, style.FgCyan.Sprint(keybindings.GetKeyDisplay(item.Key)))
 		}
@@ -95,18 +94,6 @@ func (self *MenuViewModel) GetDisplayStrings(_startIdx int, _length int) [][]str
 	})
 }
 
-func getItemDisplayStrings(item *types.MenuItem) []string {
-	if item.LabelColumns != nil {
-		return item.LabelColumns
-	}
-
-	styledStr := item.Label
-	if item.OpensMenu {
-		styledStr = presentation.OpensMenuStyle(styledStr)
-	}
-	return []string{styledStr}
-}
-
 func (self *MenuContext) GetKeybindings(opts types.KeybindingsOpts) []*types.Binding {
 	basicBindings := self.ListContextTrait.GetKeybindings(opts)
 	menuItemsWithKeys := slices.Filter(self.menuItems, func(item *types.MenuItem) bool {
diff --git a/pkg/gui/menu_panel.go b/pkg/gui/menu_panel.go
index 59dd6b3a5..34dd1c615 100644
--- a/pkg/gui/menu_panel.go
+++ b/pkg/gui/menu_panel.go
@@ -1,11 +1,12 @@
 package gui
 
 import (
-	"errors"
 	"fmt"
 
+	"github.com/jesseduffield/lazygit/pkg/gui/presentation"
 	"github.com/jesseduffield/lazygit/pkg/gui/types"
 	"github.com/jesseduffield/lazygit/pkg/theme"
+	"github.com/jesseduffield/lazygit/pkg/utils"
 )
 
 func (gui *Gui) getMenuOptions() map[string]string {
@@ -30,9 +31,25 @@ func (gui *Gui) createMenu(opts types.CreateMenuOptions) error {
 		})
 	}
 
+	maxColumnSize := 1
+
 	for _, item := range opts.Items {
-		if item.OpensMenu && item.LabelColumns != nil {
-			return errors.New("Message for the developer of this app: you've set opensMenu with displaystrings on the menu panel. Bad developer!. Apologies, user")
+		if item.LabelColumns == nil {
+			item.LabelColumns = []string{item.Label}
+		}
+
+		if item.OpensMenu {
+			item.LabelColumns[0] = presentation.OpensMenuStyle(item.LabelColumns[0])
+		}
+
+		maxColumnSize = utils.Max(maxColumnSize, len(item.LabelColumns))
+	}
+
+	for _, item := range opts.Items {
+		if len(item.LabelColumns) < maxColumnSize {
+			// we require that each item has the same number of columns so we're padding out with blank strings
+			// if this item has too few
+			item.LabelColumns = append(item.LabelColumns, make([]string, maxColumnSize-len(item.LabelColumns))...)
 		}
 	}
 
diff --git a/pkg/gui/options_menu_panel.go b/pkg/gui/options_menu_panel.go
index aee88d866..ee07f2f08 100644
--- a/pkg/gui/options_menu_panel.go
+++ b/pkg/gui/options_menu_panel.go
@@ -5,7 +5,6 @@ import (
 
 	"github.com/jesseduffield/generics/slices"
 	"github.com/jesseduffield/lazygit/pkg/gui/keybindings"
-	"github.com/jesseduffield/lazygit/pkg/gui/presentation"
 	"github.com/jesseduffield/lazygit/pkg/gui/types"
 	"github.com/samber/lo"
 )
@@ -50,21 +49,14 @@ func uniqueBindings(bindings []*types.Binding) []*types.Binding {
 	})
 }
 
-func (gui *Gui) displayDescription(binding *types.Binding) string {
-	if binding.OpensMenu {
-		return presentation.OpensMenuStyle(binding.Description)
-	}
-
-	return binding.Description
-}
-
 func (gui *Gui) handleCreateOptionsMenu() error {
 	context := gui.currentContext()
 	bindings := gui.getBindings(context)
 
 	menuItems := slices.Map(bindings, func(binding *types.Binding) *types.MenuItem {
 		return &types.MenuItem{
-			Label: gui.displayDescription(binding),
+			OpensMenu: binding.OpensMenu,
+			Label:     binding.Description,
 			OnPress: func() error {
 				if binding.Key == nil {
 					return nil