# Side menu

> The Full or Compact (icons only) side menu, each person's choice in My Account › Appearance, the community's starting state in the theme's Navigation tab, the badges for news, mentions and unread messages, and the option to swap the side menu for a top bar.

The side menu shows the community's sections and spaces. On a computer it has two states: **Full**, with the icon and name of every section and space, and **Compact**, a narrow strip with just the icons, which leaves more width for the content. In both, **badges** show what arrived since your last visit to each space.

## What it's for

- **Communities with a lot of content** (courses, videos, events with long programs): the compact menu gives the screen more room, and anyone who wants the full menu goes back to it with one click.
- **Communities with many spaces:** the badges show where to go first, without opening them one by one.

## How it works

### Full and Compact

| State | What it looks like |
|---|---|
| **Full** (default) | *"Icons and names of sections and spaces."* This is the menu where you reorder and edit |
| **Compact** | *"Icons only; spaces open in a floating menu."* |

In the **Compact** menu:

- Each section becomes an icon. A section without its own icon shows the initials of its name (one or two letters).
- Hovering over the icon shows the section's name.
- Clicking a section opens a **floating menu** with its spaces, with the padlock on closed spaces and the badges. A section with a single space goes straight to it.
- **Administration** becomes an icon with its own menu.
- For the owner and the admin, the **Edit menu** icon goes back to the **Full** menu, where reordering and editing sections and spaces live. There is no reordering in compact.
- When the community's plan requires it, the small **Powered by Memberfy** mark stays at the foot of the menu.

Both states apply on screens 1024 px wide and up. On a phone, the menu is still the drawer that opens from the header button.

### Each person's choice

Anyone can switch the menu for themselves in two ways:

- with the header button (**Compact menu** / **Expand menu**), which on a computer toggles between full and compact;
- in **My Account › Appearance**, **Side menu** field: **Follow the community** (shows the community's state, *"Now: full."*), **Full** or **Compact**.

The choice *"Applies only to this browser and this community."*: it is not sent to the server, so in another browser, on another device or in another community the person sees the community's state again.

### The community's starting state

The state the menu starts in for anyone who has not chosen is **Full** by default. It is part of the community's [theme](/configuracoes/cores): in the theme editor, **Navigation** tab, **Side menu starting state** field, **Full** (*"Icons and space names."*) or **Compact** (*"Icons only, in a narrow strip. Names show on hover."*). It changes when the theme is activated (or when you save the active theme), and the **Activate** confirmation shows whether the menu changes.

Ready-made themes don't carry the menu: using or customizing a ready-made theme keeps the active theme's state.

### Top bar instead of the side menu

In the [theme](/configuracoes/cores), **Navigation** tab, the owner or the admin picks **Side menu** (today's) or **Top bar**. With the top bar, sections sit in the header, each opening its spaces in a dropdown (what doesn't fit goes to **More**, and **Administration** comes last), with the same badges; on phones, a strip of sections below the header opens each one's spaces. There is no compact menu, and the **Side menu starting state** no longer applies. To reorder and edit sections and spaces, **Administration › Edit menu** brings the side menu back in that tab until **Done editing**. See [Theme and colors](/configuracoes/cores).

### The badges

| Badge | Where | What it shows |
|---|---|---|
| **Number in the community color** | **Feed**, **Content** and **Events** spaces | How many new items arrived since your last visit to the space |
| **Number in red** | **Channel** spaces | Unread mentions of you |
| **Dot** | **Channel** spaces | There are unread messages, with no mention of you |

What counts as news:

| Space | What counts |
|---|---|
| Feed and Content | Posts by **other people**, published and approved, that you can read. Your own don't count |
| Events | Events **published** after your last visit |

- Above 99, the badge shows **99+**.
- In the compact menu, the section icon shows, in this order: the mentions in red; if there are none, the sum of the news in its spaces; if there is none either, a dot when there are unread Channel messages.
- Opening the space resets its badge.
- A space you have never opened counts from when you joined the community.
- **A space you can't open doesn't count:** a private space, one tied to a plan or a group, or one with a padlock doesn't show in the badge or in the section's sum. Nobody can tell from the number how many items a closed space has.
- A scheduled post only counts once it is published; a post awaiting approval, only once it is approved.

### Who can

Switch the menu for yourself and see the badges: anyone. The community's starting state and **Edit menu**: **owner** and **admin**.

## Step by step

*For yourself:*

1. **My Account › Appearance**.
2. Under **Side menu**, pick **Follow the community**, **Full** or **Compact**.

Or click the menu button in the header to switch right away.

*For the community (owner or admin):*

1. **Settings › Brand and appearance › Theme**, **Edit** on the active theme.
2. **Navigation** tab, **Side menu starting state**: **Compact**.
3. **Save Changes** (on the active theme, the community changes right away).

Then open the community in a private window (or ask a member) and check how the menu looks for someone who hasn't chosen yet.

## Examples

**Video course school.** **Compact** menu for everyone: the lessons take the whole screen, and the student opens the **Learn** section from its icon.

**Community with six Feed spaces.** The badges show that **Jobs** has 12 new posts and **Announcements**, 2: the member starts with Jobs.

## FAQ

**Does changing the starting state change the menu for people who already chose?**
No. It applies to anyone on **Follow the community**, which is the default for anyone who hasn't chosen.

**Does switching themes change the menu?**
Only if the activated theme has a different starting state; the **Activate** confirmation tells you. Anyone who picked their own in **My Account › Appearance** keeps their choice.

**The community uses the top bar. Where do I reorder?**
In **Administration › Edit menu**, which brings the side menu back until **Done editing**.

**Why can't I reorder in the compact menu?**
Reordering lives in the full menu. Use **Edit menu**, which goes back to full.

**Does the badge count my own posts?**
No. Only other people's.

**Does reading the news through the assistant reset the badge?**
No. The badge only resets when you open the space in the app.

**Will other modules get badges?**
Today, Feed, Content and Events show news, and Channel shows mentions and unread messages.

## In the API

- [`GET /api/menu/counters`](/api/referencia/sections-spaces/get-menu-counters) (any role of the `X-CommunityId` community): `spaces` (`spaceId`, `sectionId`, `module`, `count`, `lastVisitAt`; `null` when never opened), `sections` (`sectionId`, `count`) and `total`. One call for the whole menu; only the spaces the person opens are listed.
- The visit is recorded when the person opens the space (`GET /api/spaces/{id}`), at most once a minute per person and space.
- `appearance.navigation.sidebarDefault` (`full` or `rail`; default `full`) comes in the community reads, read from the active theme. It is written to the theme, in `values.navigation.sidebarDefault` of `/api/community-themes` (see [Theme and colors](/configuracoes/cores#in-the-api)); any other value returns `422`. `navigation` in `PATCH /api/communities/appearance` returns `400` (see [Responses and errors](/api/respostas-e-erros#appearance-and-themes)).

## Through the assistant (MCP)

- *"What is new in my spaces?"*: [`list_space_updates`](/mcp/ferramentas-comunidade#list-space-updates) lists the spaces with news, most first; with `include_zero: true`, it also lists the ones that are up to date. Reading through the assistant does not clear the badge.
- *"Make the menu compact for everyone"*: [`update_community_theme`](/mcp/ferramentas-comunidade#themes) on the active theme, with the menu `rail` (or `full` to go back to full), owner and admin only. `sidebar_default` left `update_community_appearance`.

## Related

- [Dark mode](/configuracoes/modo-escuro)
- [Theme and colors](/configuracoes/cores)
- [Sections](/conceitos/secoes)
- [Spaces](/conceitos/espacos)
- [Account and profile](/conceitos/conta-e-perfil)