(Simple Machines was recently featured on the Air Traffic Control blog. We’ve included a portion of the post below – read the full post here.)
Since HubSpot began rolling out their new navigation earlier this year, user response has been… mixed.
While some appreciate the changes, there’s been plenty of grumbling. Spend a minute on the HubSpot Community and you’ll find more than a few variants on “Why are you doing this to me HubSpot?!”
The frustration is understandable; change can be annoying, especially when you’ve gotten used to using a certain navigation for years. But there’s not much use in resisting this change – it’s already done. A better use of time and energy: learn, adapt and make the best of it.
We’ve been using the new navigation since it was available in beta and have put together a rundown of the changes to help you with the updates.
Let’s dive in.
Top Menus Out, Sidebar In
Let’s start with the big one that’s probably caused the most confusion: traditional top menus for contacts, conversations, marketing and more have been replaced with the sidebar featuring new menu headings.
The changes here reflect both the broader trend among software developers toward the sidebar navigation and the evolving way HubSpot is positioning its platform. That’s all fine, but if you’re used to the top menus, it’s probably taking a little time to adjust.
Navigating the New Sidebar
Here’s the breakdown of the new navigation sidebar menus:
- Bookmarks: Like an internet browser bookmark, this is a new navigation feature that lets you add any frequently used items within HubSpot for easy access. (Note: You can save up to five secondary menu items in your bookmarks.) Here’s how it works:
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- To add a bookmark, hover over the secondary menu item and click the bookmark icon.
- To delete a bookmark, hover over the menu item you want to remove and click the bookmark icon in the main menu or in the Bookmarks section.
- Workspaces: This new section includes the prospecting and help desk workspaces intended to provide sales and service teams with a centralized space to organize and complete their daily tasks.
- CRM: Access contacts, companies, deals, tickets, lists, inbox, calls and tasks here. Custom objects, if you use them, will also appear in this section.
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- Note that Target Accounts can only be accessed by navigating to the companies homepage.
- Marketing: This section includes campaigns, email, social media, ads, forms and CTAs (consistent with the classic navigation).
- Content: Here’s where things are more notably different from the previous setup as it follows the switch from CMS to Content Hub. Along with website and landing pages and blogs, and embeds, you’ll find the knowledge base, customer portal, SEO and memberships.
- Commerce: Focuses on quotes, payments, invoices, products, subscriptions and more.
- Automations: Includes chatflows, surveys, workflows and sequences.
- Reporting: Includes dashboards, reports, forecast and goals.
- Data Management: Includes integrations, custom events, data quality, datasets and data model.
- Library: Access templates, meeting scheduling pages, files, documents, snippets, and coaching playlists.
Depending on the type of subscription and account you have, you may also have sidebar navigation menus for CRM development, marketplace and/or partner.
