What is the difference between Option menu and Overflow Action Menu in android?

Question

I have searched for Option menu and overflow Action menu, but did not get any difference in both. Is there any difference or both are exactly same?

Answer 1

The option menu is used on Android 1.x/2.x devices, for apps that are not using an action bar backport (e.g., appcompat-v7).

The overflow menu in the action bar is used on Android devices that have an action bar, either the native action bar or a backport.

Menu items, such as those defined in onCreateOptionsMenu(), will go into an options menu on devices and apps that use it, or will go into the action bar on devices and apps that use one of those. Menu items not specifically designated to go into the action bar as toolbar-style buttons or other widgets will go into the overflow. Menu items that do not fit in the action bar will also go into the overflow.

Android uses the old options menu terms (e.g., onCreateOptionsMenu() instead of onCreateActionBarItems()) for backwards compatibility, so apps can be written to use the native action bar and still work, to some extent, on devices that lack an action bar.

Answer 2

There only exists one options menu. If the device has a menu key, then the overflow menu items appear when the key is pressed. On the other side, if the device has not menu key, then they appear on the action bar overflow icon.