App Menu
App Menu is a Setup page where administrators control which apps appear in the App Launcher for users across the org.
Definition
App Menu is a Setup page where administrators control which apps appear in the App Launcher for users across the org. Admins can reorder apps, hide or show specific apps, and set the default app visibility, determining the lineup of applications that all users see when they open the App Launcher.
In plain English
“App Menu is the settings page where admins decide which apps show up in the App Launcher for everyone in the company, and in what order. If you want to hide the Marketing app from the whole org, you do it here.”
Worked example
The admin at Stellar Robotics opens the App Menu Setup page after a Marketing Cloud rollout. She drags the new "Marketing Cloud" app to the top of the App Launcher list, hides the legacy "Marketing Classic" app from all profiles, and uses the per-profile visibility toggles to keep the "Finance" app visible only to the finance-team profile. When a sales rep opens the App Launcher next morning, the order matches the company's priorities and the irrelevant apps are gone - the rep sees a focused list of seven apps instead of the 23 the org had accumulated over the years.
Why App Menu matters
App Menu is a Setup page that gives administrators org-wide control over which apps appear in the App Launcher. From this page, admins can reorder the list of apps (controlling the default order users see), hide specific apps from the App Launcher entirely, and set visibility so that packaged or unused apps don't clutter the navigation for the rest of the org. Changes made here apply globally across all users, though individual users can still rearrange their personal view.
The App Menu interacts with profile and permission set settings: even if an app is visible in the App Menu, individual users will only see it if their profile or a permission set grants them access. Conversely, hiding an app in the App Menu takes it out of the App Launcher for everyone, regardless of permissions. This two-layer model gives admins both a blunt instrument (hide everywhere) and a fine-grained one (control per profile).
How to set up App Menu
App Menu controls which Lightning Apps appear in users' App Launcher and in what order. Admins can hide deprecated apps, surface new ones, or rearrange to put the most-used app first. Per-org defaults; users can personalize their own App Launcher order on top.
- Open Setup → App Menu
Setup gear → Quick Find: App Menu → App Menu.
- Review the list of Lightning Apps
Each row: App Name, Visible in App Launcher, Visible in App Picker (Lightning's app dropdown).
- Drag rows to reorder
Top of the list appears first in App Launcher. Drag the most-used apps to the top.
- Tick / untick Visible in App Launcher per app
Hide deprecated or limited-audience apps from users.
- Tick / untick Visible in App Picker per app
App Picker is the dropdown to switch active apps from within Lightning. Different toggle from App Launcher visibility.
- Save
Org default order applies. Users can drag to personalize their own App Launcher (saved per-user).
Drag-to-reorder.
Whether the app shows in the 9-dot grid.
Whether the app shows in the in-app dropdown.
Users override the org default by dragging in their own App Launcher.
- App Menu visibility is layered with Profile assignments. A user's App Launcher shows the intersection: apps visible per App Menu AND apps the user's Profile is allowed to see. Hiding an app here hides it for everyone regardless of profile.
- Per-user personalization persists across sessions. A user who drags their App Launcher into a custom order keeps that order — the org default only affects users who haven't customized.
- Hidden apps still exist and still process. They're just not surfaced in the launcher. Apex / API access works regardless of visibility.
How organizations use App Menu
Used App Menu to hide all of the default Salesforce sample apps ('Community', 'Lightning Usage', and several built-in demos) after rollout. This cleaned up the App Launcher to show only the apps their users actually work with.
Reordered apps in App Menu to put the most-used apps first in the list. Their primary Sales and Service apps moved to the top, which reduced scrolling for end users opening the App Launcher.
Audits App Menu quarterly to remove newly installed packages that aren't being used. This audit is part of their regular tech debt cleanup and keeps the App Launcher from growing stale over time.
Trust & references
Straight from the source - Salesforce's reference material on App Menu.
- App LauncherSalesforce Help
Test your knowledge
Q1. What does App Menu control?
Q2. If an app is hidden in App Menu, will any user see it in the App Launcher?
Q3. Why would an admin reorder apps in App Menu?
Discussion
Loading discussion…