Skip to content
Zulip help center

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.

Find a direct message conversation

Section titled “Find a direct message conversation”

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.

Find a channel you’re subscribed to

Section titled “Find a channel you’re subscribed to”

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.

Adjust what information is shown

Section titled “Adjust what information is shown”

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

Expand or collapse sections

Section titled “Expand or collapse sections”
  1. Click the section heading, such as views, direct messages, pinned channels, etc., in the left sidebar.

Show more direct message conversations

Section titled “Show more direct message conversations”
  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.

Show all topics in a channel

Section titled “Show all topics in a 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.

Filter by whether topics are resolved

Section titled “Filter by whether topics are resolved”
  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 or resolved from the typeahead suggestions.

Filter by whether topics are followed

Section titled “Filter by whether topics are followed”
  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 followed from the typeahead suggestions.

Show the left sidebar

Section titled “Show the left sidebar”
  1. At the top left corner, click the icon.

Hide the left sidebar

Section titled “Hide the left sidebar”
  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 Clicking on a channel in the left sidebar navigates 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.

Start a new direct message conversation

Section titled “Start a new direct message conversation”
  1. Click the start a new DM ( ) 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.

Start a new topic

Section titled “Start a new topic”
  1. Click the start a 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.
Section titled “Related articles”