# Navigation Source: /ux/product-and-ui/navigation.md - Summary: The sidebar runs overview, entities, work queues and settings, every shortcut opens what it says, and every number opens its rows. - Status: Adopted, since 2026-10-02 - Principles: Fewest steps, Maximum intuition, One way - Surfaces: Screen ## When to use Use it on the sidebar of every interface, on every shortcut or link that opens another page, and on every overview or dashboard. ## When not to use Page names follow [names](/ux/style-and-usage/names.md). Which kinds of page an interface has is set in [interface pages](/ux/product-and-ui/interface-pages.md). ## How it works ### Order the sidebar overview first, then entities, then work queues, then settings The overview comes first. The entities the person works on follow, then the queues of work on them, and settings or developer pages go last. Pass: read the sidebar from top to bottom; no entity page sits below a work queue, and nothing sits below settings. A product's sidebar. Do: Stripe runs Home, Balances, Transactions, Customers, Product catalogue, then the Products group, with Developers at the bottom. Image: /ux/sources/stripe-sidebar-nav.webp Don't: The same sidebar with Developers between Customers and Product catalogue. ### Open exactly what the shortcut's label says A shortcut or button opens the destination its label names, with the filter the label promises. A label that cannot be met is renamed to what the shortcut opens. Pass: click every shortcut on the page; each one lands on the page, record or form its label names, with the label's filter applied. Replace this: Who to contact today, opening an unfiltered month calendar With this: Who to contact today, opening the due-today queue Replace this: Add a relationship, opening the Relationships landing page With this: Add a relationship, opening the new relationship form ### Put the overview in the sidebar and let every number open its rows The overview has its own sidebar entry. Every number on it opens the records it counts. Pass: open the overview in 1 click from any page, and reach the records behind any number in 2 clicks or fewer. ### Show names, never ids A label on a chart, a filter or a list shows the person's or record's name. A numeric or record id never stands in for a name. Pass: every bar, legend entry and filter option on the page reads as a name a person recognises. Replace this: Owner 3 With this: Ana Souza ### Put one search in the header and let it find every page and every record The search box sits in the header on every page and answers with records and pages alike, grouped by kind. A search that covers only one kind sends the person back to the sidebar. Pass: from any page, type the name of a record or of a page; the result opens it in 2 clicks, search box included. The search box in the header. Do: Search in the header of every page finds records, pages and settings. Don't: A header search that only finds vocabulary terms while the pages live in a separate menu. ## Research The sidebar order copies the Stripe Dashboard: Home, Balances, Transactions, Customers, Product catalogue, then a Products group with Payments, Billing, Reporting and More, and Developers at the bottom. The reviewer's CRM usability comparison (2026-09-29/30) records the other sidebars (comparison, lines 1067 to 1101). They do not agree with Stripe on the middle of the order. Attio runs Home, Tasks, Notes, Emails, Calls, Reports, Sequences and Workflows before Companies, People and Deals, so its work lists come before its entities. folk starts with Search, Notifications, Messages, Tasks and Dashboards, and puts its contact groups last. All of them put an overview or search first. Entities before work queues is the order we chose, copied from Stripe. The comparison itself asks to "Move CRM Overview from Get Started into the sidebar." and to "Expose CRM Contact History beside Follow-ups." The other three rules have no screenshot. For shortcuts, the comparison finds that "All four shortcuts open the wrong destination for their label." (comparison, line 1405). Who to contact today opened an unfiltered month calendar, and Add a relationship opened the Relationships landing page (comparison, lines 1403 to 1433). The comparison notes "The today shortcut lost its filter query." and asks to "Rename CRM Send a proposal if it only opens Deals." For the overview, the comparison asks to "Add Overview to the sidebar.", copying Attio's Home entry, "open the overview in 1 click from any CRM page" (comparison, line 1967). It asks to "Add View contributing data." and "reach the records behind a metric in ≤2 clicks" (comparison, line 1968), which Attio does (comparison, lines 1950 to 2018). For names, the comparison asks to "Show seller names instead of numeric IDs." so that "each bar label must identify a person" (comparison, line 1971). The name in the example above is made up. The header search is copied from Stripe's Search at the top of the Dashboard sidebar, present on every screen. The rule was added after the self-audit of this guide, where the header search returned a vocabulary term for the word "capitalization" and no page. ### Sources - [Stripe Dashboard, sidebar](https://mobbin.com/screens/e56b763c-5f8a-4002-bfa1-05f9b0341f38)