how does one add a menu

I want to move the symmetry options out into the interface from the menu.. how is that done? can it be done?

You can create a "User Window" in the View->Windows->User Tools Window-> ...
Pick one of the items and when a new window is created, right click on it and choose "Enter Customization". Add the first group by right clicking again and choosing "Group->Add Group". Now you're able to add buttons to a group and bind them to your tools of choice.

You can dock or move your "User Window" wherever you like. You can also use it as "Hot Window", to make it appear temporarily only after a key combination is pressed.