Using the Discourse sidebar

[Discourse]

This is a comprehensive guide explaining the various features and functionalities of the Discourse sidebar, including how to customize it for your needs.

Required user level: All users

The sidebar in Discourse provides quick access to various forum features and allows for easy navigation. This guide will walk you through the different sections of the sidebar and how to use them effectively.

Primary menu

The primary menu contains essential navigation links:

• Topics: Shows the latest posts on your forum.
• My Posts: Displays the posts you have written.
• More: Expands to show additional options.
• Groups: Takes you to your groups page.
• Users: Shows the user leaderboard (if enabled).
• Badges: Displays the badge gallery (if enabled).
• About: Provides information about your forum.
• FAQ: Links to your forum’s FAQ page.

Administrators will also see Review and Admin options for moderation and site management.

There may be additional buttons if you have plugins installed. For example, if you have Cakeday installed on your forum, Anniversaries and Birthdays will appear in your sidebar.

Categories and tags

This section displays categories and tags for easy access. To customize:

1. Click on the pencil icon to access sidebar settings.
2. Use the plus icon to add or remove categories and tags.
3. Click on “All categories” or “All tags” to view the complete list.

Messages

The Messages section allows you to:

• View your inbox
• Compose new messages by clicking the “+” button
• Access multiple inboxes if you’re in different groups

Chat

If your forum has Chat enabled, you will see the Chat section, which includes:

• Channels: View and manage chat channels
• My Threads: Manage threads you’ve created
• DMs: Access personal chats

To start a new DM, click the “+” button next to the personal chat tab.

Customizing your sidebar

You can personalize your sidebar experience:

1. Go to your user preferences.
2. Find the “Sidebar” section.
3. Adjust settings for categories, tags, and how new posts are displayed.
   
   

Creating custom sidebar sections

To add a custom section:

1. Click the “+” button at the bottom of the sidebar.
2. In the modal, customize the icon, name, and links for your new section.
   
   

This feature allows you to create personalized navigation options to improve your productivity.

Mobile access

To open the sidebar on mobile devices, tap the hamburger menu icon in the top right corner, next to your profile picture.

Additional notes

• The sidebar layout and available options may vary depending on your forum’s settings and installed plugins.
• Administrators can create global sidebar sections visible to all forum members.
• Custom sidebar sections are an experimental feature and may be subject to changes.

As Discourse continues to evolve, some elements of this guide may become outdated. Those with access to edit documentation can keep it updated as needed.

Last edited by @hugh 2024-07-02T06:43:52Z

Last checked by @hugh 2024-07-02T06:43:57Z

Check document

Perform check on document:

[debryc (Deborah Chang)]

How do we hide the sidebar by default for people who are coming the the side for the first time?

[Moin]

There is a theme-component to hide the sidebar from people who are not logged in

Hide sidebar from anon users

This TC has been deprecated in favour of: Summary Hides the sidebar from anon users. This is helpful if you have a mostly private site with a small amount of content publicly visible. Repository GitHub - nathan-nz/discourse-hide-sidebar-from-anon: Hides the sidebar from anonymous users Install Guide How to install a theme or theme component New to Discourse Themes? Beginner’s guide to using Discourse Themes I…

[RBoy]

Is there a way to add the links for Unread, New and Latest in the sidebar? Those are very handy links that are easy to access in the non-sidebar layout but it makes it difficult to access that once the sidebar is enabled (one need to go to All categories and then access it from the top bar).I would like to give users the flexibility to seeing the latest topics, unread topics and topics via the sidebar possibly under the Community tab (along with Everything and My Posts)

[twofoursixeight]

Yes, you can do that with the + button at the bottom of the sidebar.
For more info:Custom sidebar sections being tested on meta

I have implemented my example of this:

[RBoy]

It looks like each user can customize this for their needs, is there way as an Admin where I can put those links for All users by default (or is that still in the works per the comment in the last line)?

[twofoursixeight]

@kris.kotlarek

Future work

Site staff will be able to create a global section visible to all forum member.

I’m eager to receive your feedback

Yes, this plugin allows you to create a global section visible to all members of a forum!

This feature is coming soon. Please wait for them to implement that feature.

[nathank (Nathan Kershaw)]

@twofoursixeight

This feature is coming soon.

It is actually ‘here’ - it is just ‘experimental’ at the moment. You’ll find the flag to turn it on in the site settings:

[Reilly_Kate]

Once tags are are selected in the Tags section, they appear in the sidebar in alphabetical order and can’t be reordered. Is there a setting that would allow users to choose the order that tags are listed in on the sidebar?

[RBoy]

Do you know if it’ll be included in the next release

[JammyDodger]

It’s available now as part of the tests-passed branch, and will be part of stable at the next release window.

[RBoy]

Thanks. Just to confirm would that be the 3.0.5 release or 3.1 release?

[JammyDodger]

It’ll be part of the upcoming 3.1 Stable release.

[RBoy]

Just for reference, custom sidebar sections option in the settings menu doesn’t exist anymore. It’s done directly on the sidebar as explained here

Custom sidebar sections being tested on meta

This may need updating: There’s no option to Enable custom sidebar sections in the settings menu After adding a custom sidebar section using the + option at the bottom of the sidebar, on needs to click on the Edit icon on the sidebar which edits the custom sidebar selection directly. If the custom sidebar section is created by the Admin then it applies to everyone (unless I’m missing something). Users can however create more custom sidebar sections if they choose but cannot edit the ones creat…

[twofoursixeight]

I decided to update this guide as some of the guide has became outdated.
I’ve added the following to this guide:

• (Aug 2023) - Better sidebar layout, updated.
• Added a small section that describes the functions in Meta.
• Revised the chat section of the guide as the chat system has updated
• Added a new chapter about the new admin sidebar in Discourse.

[Moin]

@twofoursixeight

Added a new chapter about the new admin sidebar in Discourse

I appreciate the work you’ve put into this. I noticed that the admin sidebar might not fit into the users documentation section.

[twofoursixeight]

Alright, I will remove this, as normal users can’t access this.

[Gunnar (Gunnar Helliesen)]

How can I move the sidebar all the way over to the left of the screen, like it is here on meta?

Thanks!