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Left sidebar

The left sidebar in the Zulip web and desktop apps helps you navigate your conversations, and start new ones. It’s divided into sections:

  • Views provide various ways to get an overview of your messages.
  • The direct messages section shows your direct message conversations.
  • Channels you are subscribed to are shown organized into sections by folder.

You can customize how channels are organized within the channels section by:

You can also configure where clicking on channel links in the left sidebar takes you.

DM conversations hidden under more conversations will be included in your search.

  1. Type the name of a participant in the conversation you’re looking for in the Filter left sidebar box at the top of the left sidebar.

Channels in collapsed sections will be included in your search.

  1. Type the name of the channel you are looking for in the Filter left sidebar box at the top of the left sidebar.

There are many ways you can adjust the left sidebar to help you focus on the information you need in the moment.

  1. Click the triangle to the left of the views heading in the left sidebar.

Expand or collapse the direct messages section

Section titled “Expand or collapse the direct messages section”
  1. Click the triangle to the left of the direct messages heading in the left sidebar.
  1. If the direct messages section in the left sidebar is collapsed, click on the direct messages heading to expand it.
  2. Click on a recent DM conversation to view it, or click more conversations. If you don’t see this link, then you are already viewing all of your direct message conversations.
  1. Click on a channel in the left sidebar.
  2. Click show all topics at the bottom of the list of recent topics in the selected channel.
  1. Click on a channel in the left sidebar.
  2. Click show all topics at the bottom of the list of recent topics in the selected channel.
  3. In the search box at the top of the list of topics, type is:.
  4. Choose Unresolved topics or Resolved topics from the typeahead suggestions.
  1. At the top left corner, click the icon.
  1. At the top left corner, click the icon.
Section titled “Configure where channel links in the left sidebar go”

You can configure whether channel links in the left sidebar go to the channel feed, a list of topics in the channel, the top topic, or the top unread topic.

  1. Go to Preferences.
  2. Under Navigation, select your preferred option from the Channel links in the left sidebar go to dropdown.

Start a new conversation from the left sidebar

Section titled “Start a new conversation from the left sidebar”

You can start any new conversation from the left sidebar, regardless of what you’re currently viewing.

  1. Click the new direct message ( ) button next to the direct messages heading in the left sidebar.
  2. Start typing the name of the person or group you want to message, and select their name from the list of suggestions. You can continue adding as many message recipients as you like.
  3. Click on the compose box, or press Tab to compose your message. You can preview your message before sending.
  4. Click the Send ( ) button, or use a keyboard shortcut to send your message.
  1. Click the new topic ( ) button next to the name of the channel where you’d like to start a conversation.
  2. Enter a topic name. Think about finishing the sentence: “Hey, can we chat about… ?”
  3. Click on the compose box, or press Tab to compose your message. You can preview your message before sending.
  4. Click the Send ( ) button, or use a keyboard shortcut to send your message.