# Sidebar Menu Reorder

**URL:** https://meta.discourse.org/t/sidebar-menu-reorder/394049
**Category:** Theme component
**Tags:** sidebar
**Created:** [January 22, 2026, 2:28am UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/sidebar-menu-reorder/394049 "2026-01-22T02:28:08Z")
**Posts on this page:** 1
**Showing post:** 1

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### Author: ![Lilly](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/meta/user_avatar/meta.discourse.org/lilly/32/575047_2.png) [@Lilly](https://meta.discourse.org/u/Lilly)
#### Post date: [January 22, 2026, 2:28am UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/sidebar-menu-reorder/394049/1 "2026-01-22T02:28:08Z")

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| --- | --- | --- |
| ℹ | **Summary** | Allows reordering default and custom sidebar menu sections |
| 👓 | **Preview** | [https://discourse.theme-creator.io/theme/Lilly/discourse-sidebar-menu-reorder](https://discourse.theme-creator.io/theme/Lilly/discourse-sidebar-menu-reorder) |
| 🛠 | **Repository** | [https://github.com/Lillinator/sidebar-menu-reorder](https://github.com/Lillinator/sidebar-menu-reorder) |
| ❓ | **Install Guide** | [How to install a theme or theme component](https://meta.discourse.org/t/how-do-i-install-a-theme-or-theme-component/63682) |

Install this theme component

## 💡 Introduction

I have seen a number of requests from Discourse admins wanting to reorder sidebar menu sections, including global custom sections. Since it currently isn’t very intuitive or straightforward for most people to do with CSS, and doing so can be difficult to manage and make changes to, I created a theme component that makes it much easier in the admin UI.

## 👩🏻‍💻 Overview

This Discourse theme component lets administrators reorder their forum’s sidebar menu sections in the admin user interface, including all the default sections as well as any globally visible custom sections.

The component works for both desktop and mobile sidebar views, as well as header dropdown mode (although ideally, it is made for sidebar mode).

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## 🔧 Installation & Configuration

- Install this theme component as per [Beginner’s guide to using Discourse Themes](https://meta.discourse.org/t/beginners-guide-to-using-discourse-themes/91966).
- The `community` section refers to the default top section of the sidebar - the menu with the **Topics** header and includes the **More** dropdown submenu; it is recommended that no more than one or two sections (default or custom) be moved above the `community` section.
- Do not delete any of the default sections in the setting, or they will be out of order (you can always add them back or reset the setting).
- The best way to configure this component is to have the component admin screen with the reorder list setting in one browser window, and the forum sidebar view as a test user in another one beside it; reload the page after every menu section order change in the list.
- In the component admin setting, be sure to use slug naming format for the custom sections or they will get ignored (ie: use `custom-menu-name` for “Custom Menu Name”, `useful-links` for “Useful Links”, etc.)

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## ⚙ Settings

| Setting | Description |
| --- | --- |
| `Sidebar menu order` | A list setting that contains the default menu sections. (`community` is the default top section in the sidebar and includes the `More` dropdown submenu.) Reorder the menu sections with the up and down arrows on the side. Globally visible custom sections can be added as well - use the menu name slug (e.g., for a custom menu titled Test Menu, add `test-menu` in the setting). |

The theme component initially has the default settings. Admins need to add any global custom menu sections they wish to mix into the ordering list, and then reorder them along with the default sections.

> **screenshot of default component setttings**
>
> ![image](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/meta/original/4X/8/a/c/8ac26ac0db61fa4fa6faeafc7a8649eb5145fb4a.jpeg)

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## 📸 Screenshots

The screenshots below show the `community` section, and two example custom menu sections called “Dev Links” (`dev-links`) and “Toolbox” (`toolbox`) as they appear in the component admin panel on the left, and to a regular user on the right. The arrows to move a menu section up and down in the component admin setting are shown in the small red box.

 ![image](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/meta/original/4X/4/2/3/423ae80b29b40a0ee733c7351683063700507d75.jpeg)

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Here, the setting is configured to show the default `categories` section above the `community` section (collapsed and expanded modes):

 ![image](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/meta/original/4X/4/2/4/4247fb1935ff23ab37270003f40853126524fda1.jpeg)  
 ![image](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/meta/original/4X/8/4/8/8481b4d421388eb402149fb449d37cdae3e9d491.jpeg)  
 ![image](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/meta/original/4X/9/9/5/9957e639b9d92a2cece59c24a5fab60656f52a1d.jpeg)

Here is an example using two custom sections: one called `dev-links` that is above the default `community` section, and another called `toolbox` that sits below the default `tags` section.

 ![image](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/meta/original/4X/c/e/e/cee7bbd71eb17cf38dc5cc056be7b8fdb26c33af.jpeg)  
 ![image](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/meta/original/4X/7/0/4/704aca474311fe2052dadc4360a0a94008411931.jpeg)  
 ![image](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/meta/original/4X/2/4/b/24bd6eaed208110404332aad7e68c99e31b71ba3.jpeg)

Also, note the section called `inbox-section` in the above admin screenshot - this is the `Messages` section that the [Messages section for sidebar](https://meta.discourse.org/t/messages-section-for-sidebar/389664) component inserts into the sidebar (under the `toolbox` custom menu above), showing that this component can be used to move it around as well.

In Addition, this theme component can be used along with [Group sidebar menus](https://meta.discourse.org/t/discourse-group-sidebar-menus/394653) and [Indented subcategories](https://meta.discourse.org/t/discourse-indented-subcategories/393838) components (see in screenshot above).

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## 👉 Notes

- After adding new global custom sections to the `sidebar_menu_order` setting, forum users will see the new correct menu order when they reload their browser or collapse/expand the sidebar.
- Creating new global custom menu sections while this component is enabled can result in temporary duplicate sections for the admin until the sidebar is re-rendered, either with a page refresh or by collapsing and expanding.
- User-created custom menu sections will always appear at the bottom of the sidebar for that user, but are otherwise unaffected.
- If the `Admin -> All Site Settings -> Chat Separate Sidebar Mode` setting is set to `Always`, the chat button will appear as usual at the bottom, and the component will ignore the default chat menu sections (`chat-dms`, `chat-channels`, and `chat-search`).

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 **[Check out my other Discourse stuff](https://meta.discourse.org/filter?q=category%3Acustomization%20created-by%3ALilly%20order%3Acreated)**

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_[View the full topic](https://meta.discourse.org/t/sidebar-menu-reorder/394049)._