Sidebar
The Sidebar is the column that runs down the left side of most Salesforce Classic pages.
Definition
The Sidebar is the column that runs down the left side of most Salesforce Classic pages. It gives users quick access to links and commands, and it holds standard pieces like Recent Items, the Create New shortcut, Messages and Alerts, Custom Links, and any custom components an admin adds.
This is a Classic-era feature. It is available in Salesforce Classic in all editions except Database.com, and it has no direct equivalent in Lightning Experience. Lightning splits the same jobs across the navigation bar, the App Launcher, and the utility bar, so the Sidebar mostly matters today for orgs still on Classic or teams planning a migration.
How the Classic Sidebar is built and what it carries
The two-column Home tab and the narrow sidebar column
The Salesforce Classic Home tab uses a two-column layout. The wide column on the right holds large components like the dashboard snapshot or a feed. The narrow column on the left is the Sidebar. When you design a Home Page Layout under Setup, you decide which components land in the narrow column and which land in the wide one. The narrow column is what users see as the Sidebar strip. By default, the Sidebar shows on the Home tab. Components placed in the narrow column appear there unless an admin chooses to show them everywhere. That choice is a permission, covered later, so the Sidebar can stay a Home-tab feature or follow the user across every record and list page. This split between narrow and wide columns is the core idea to grasp. Most of the day-to-day Sidebar items, like Recent Items and Create New, live in that narrow column and travel with the user once the org turns on sidebar-on-all-pages behavior.
Recent Items and the Create New quick-create
Two of the most used Sidebar pieces are Recent Items and Create New. Recent Items lists the records a user has recently viewed or touched, such as accounts, contacts, and cases. Each entry is a link, so clicking it opens that record. The list updates on its own as the user works, which makes it a fast way back to something opened a few minutes ago. It is a standard component, so there is little to configure beyond whether it appears. Create New is the small dropdown that lets a user start a new record without first opening a tab. Pick an object from the list, and Salesforce opens a blank edit page for it. Admins can trim the Create New menu, including removing it entirely from the Sidebar through the Home Page Layout. These two components are why many Classic users keep the Sidebar open all day. They turn the left strip into a launchpad for both finding old records and starting new ones, without leaving the page they are on.
Messages and Alerts, Custom Links, and Items to Approve
Beyond navigation, the Sidebar carries a few information and action components. Messages and Alerts shows announcements an admin writes for the whole org or for specific profiles. It is a simple way to push a notice, like a release reminder or a process change, to everyone who logs in. The Custom Links component holds shortcuts an admin defines, often to internal tools, reports, or external sites a team uses often. Items to Approve is an approval-process component. When a record is waiting on a user, it surfaces in the Sidebar so the approver sees pending work as soon as they log in. These three components turn the Sidebar from a pure navigation strip into a light dashboard. They do not replace real reports or the approval history on a record, but they put timely items in front of users early. For many Classic orgs, this mix of links, messages, and pending approvals was the reason the Sidebar felt central to a workday.
Custom HTML Area components and their limits
Admins can add a custom HTML Area component to the Sidebar to show their own content. This is handy for a styled banner, a small set of links, or a snippet of formatted text. When you build one, Salesforce expects self-contained, well-formed HTML. The standard Messages and Alerts and HTML Area home page components do not support JavaScript, CSS, iframes, and some other advanced markup, so the formatting you can use is deliberately narrow. These limits exist for security and stability. They keep an injected script or a heavy embed from breaking the page for every user. If you need richer behavior, the better route is a Visualforce Page component, which can host a Visualforce page in the Sidebar and run controller logic within platform rules. For plain text, a few links, or a basic notice, the HTML Area is enough. When teams hit the wall on HTML Area, it is usually the no-JavaScript and no-iframe rules they run into, so plan the content around static, well-formed markup from the start.
The Collapsible Sidebar and showing it on all pages
Two settings shape how the Sidebar behaves day to day, and both live under Setup in the User Interface settings. The Collapsible Sidebar lets users open and close the strip. With it on, a user clicks the edge of the Sidebar to open or close it as needed, freeing screen width when they want a wider view of a record. The exact contents still depend on the org features and the page layout an admin applied. The second setting controls reach. By default, custom Sidebar components show only on the Home tab. To put them on every page, an admin grants the Show Custom Sidebar Components on All Pages behavior, or grants individual users the Show Custom Sidebar On All Pages permission. Together these two controls decide whether the Sidebar is a tucked-away Home-tab panel or a constant companion on every screen. Most Classic orgs that lean on Custom Links or an HTML Area banner turn on all-pages display so users get the shortcuts wherever they are working.
Why Lightning has no Sidebar, and what to use instead
Lightning Experience does not have the Classic Sidebar. The interface was redesigned, so the jobs the Sidebar did are spread across newer elements. The navigation bar at the top replaces the old tab strip and the main navigation role. The App Launcher opens the full grid of apps and items, taking over the broad find-an-app function. The utility bar, a docked footer, holds always-on tools like notes, a dialer, or a recent-records list, which covers the persistent-access role the Sidebar once filled. Recent Items still exists as a concept in Lightning, surfaced through the navigation bar and global search rather than a left strip. For custom content, Lightning App Builder lets admins place components on a Home page or record page, which is the modern stand-in for HTML Area and Visualforce sidebar components. If you are on Classic, the Sidebar remains useful and supported. If you are moving to Lightning, do not try to recreate the strip. Map each Sidebar component to its Lightning counterpart instead, and rebuild the experience with the newer navigation tools.
Customizing the Salesforce Classic Sidebar
The Sidebar itself is always present in Salesforce Classic, but you control its contents through a Home Page Layout and a couple of User Interface settings. The steps below cover the common Classic setup. Newer orgs should build the equivalent in Lightning App Builder instead.
- Open Home Page Layouts
In Setup, go to the Home Page Layouts area for Salesforce Classic. This is where you decide which components sit in the narrow Sidebar column and which sit in the wide column.
- Choose Sidebar components
Edit a layout and select components for the narrow column, such as Recent Items, Create New, Custom Links, Messages and Alerts, or a custom HTML Area. Assign the finished layout to the right profiles.
- Turn on the Collapsible Sidebar
Under Setup, in User Interface settings, enable the Collapsible Sidebar so users can click the edge of the Sidebar to open or close it as they work.
- Decide where the Sidebar shows
To put custom Sidebar components beyond the Home tab, enable Show Custom Sidebar Components on All Pages, or grant the Show Custom Sidebar On All Pages permission to specific users.
The two-column layout that defines which components appear in the narrow Sidebar column versus the wide column, assigned per profile.
A User Interface setting that lets users open and close the Sidebar by clicking its edge to reclaim screen space.
Extends custom Sidebar components from the Home tab to every page, so shortcuts and notices follow the user everywhere.
A custom component for static content in the Sidebar; it must be self-contained, well-formed HTML and cannot use JavaScript, CSS, or iframes.
- HTML Area and Messages and Alerts do not support JavaScript, CSS, or iframes, so keep custom Sidebar markup static and well-formed.
- Custom Sidebar components show only on the Home tab unless you enable all-pages display or grant the matching permission.
- The Sidebar exists only in Salesforce Classic; in Lightning Experience, rebuild its parts with the navigation bar, App Launcher, utility bar, and Lightning App Builder.
Trust & references
Cross-checked against the following references.
- What's the Collapsible Sidebar?Salesforce
- Salesforce Classic Home Tab Page LayoutsSalesforce
Straight from the source - Salesforce's reference material on Sidebar.
- Home Page Components Tips and ConsiderationsSalesforce
- Customize User Interface SettingsSalesforce
Hands-on resources to go deeper on Sidebar.
About the Author
Dipojjal Chakrabarti is a B2C Solution Architect with 29 Salesforce certifications and over 13 years in the Salesforce ecosystem. He runs salesforcedictionary.com to help admins, developers, architects, and cert/interview candidates sharpen their fundamentals. More about Dipojjal.
Test your knowledge
Q1. What is the Sidebar?
Q2. What replaces it in Lightning?
Q3. Should you use the sidebar today?
Discussion
Loading discussion…