Focus mode & tidying the sidebar menu
Remove the distractions, tune each project, and make the workspace your own.
Focus mode — hide the sidebar
Enter with a shortcut
Toggle it with Mod + \\ (⌘+\\ on Mac, Ctrl+\\ on Windows). It does not work while you are typing in an input or the editor, so click outside the content once to move the focus. You can change the key under Settings → Shortcuts.
Turn it on in the settings
You can also turn it on with the 'Focus mode' toggle under Settings → Appearance, which is the way in on mobile. The first time you turn it on, a notice tells you how to exit.
Exiting
Press Esc, or the exit button at the top right of the screen (the minimize icon). Outside an input, pressing Mod+\\ again works too. If a dialog is open, Esc closes that dialog first.
When you are writing at length or deep in a code block, the sidebar on the left pulls your eyes away. Focus mode hides the sidebar (the bottom navigation on mobile) so the content gets the whole width. The state is saved in your account settings, so it stays on after a refresh.
Sidebar menu visibility (per project)
Open the settings
Go to Project → Project settings → the 'Menu visibility' tab. You need to be an owner or admin.
Toggle a menu
Turn the toggle on each line on or off — Recent, Board (Kanban), Sprints, Wiki, Planning, Channel, Goals (OKR), Analytics, Attachments, and Databases. A change is saved right away and applies to every member's sidebar. In the sidebar the board appears as 'Work' and the channel as 'Chat', and the project settings menu is always shown.
Hidden menus are blocked
If someone types the address of a hidden menu or opens it from a bookmark, they are sent back to the project board with a notice that the section was disabled by the project administrator. It only hides the screen — members' roles (permissions) do not change.
Turn off the menus a project does not use. In a project that only runs on chat, for example, you can hide Wiki, Planning, Goals (OKR), Analytics, Attachments, and Databases to keep the sidebar clean.
Global sidebar section visibility
Your own sidebar (the workspace area) can be toggled section by section too, not only per project. Under Settings → General → 'Customize sidebar menu' → 'Global menu', show or hide Messages, Calendar, and Memos (the Notifications menu is always shown in the desktop sidebar). This applies only to your own sidebar. The 'Sidebar menu settings' window that appears the first time you open Tabple picks the same settings, and 'Show the setup wizard again' on the same card opens it again. The comment, mention, and reaction inputs are set separately in the 'Collaboration' card below it (by default they appear only when a project has 2 or more members).
Sidebar layout at a glance
- Top row — the logo (opens the dashboard), the 'Recent · favorites' button, and the search button (⌘K / Ctrl+K). 'Recent · favorites' opens a small panel: the 'Recent' tab gathers the pages you viewed lately by time range, and the 'Favorites' tab gathers the pages you starred.
- Workspace menu — Messages, Rhythm, Calendar, Memos, Notifications. Right-click Memos to open a quick memo input without leaving the page.
- Project area — the project switcher moves you to another project or creates a new one, and below it comes the current project's menu (Recent, Work, Wiki, Planning, Chat, Goals, Analytics, Attachments, Databases, Settings). Items turned off in the project's 'Menu visibility' settings are not shown.
- Bottom row — the profile menu (your name), the settings icon, and the collapse/expand button for the sidebar. While the sidebar is collapsed, the settings icon is hidden.
Resizing the sidebar
Drag the edge
Hover over the right edge of the sidebar and a resize handle appears. Drag it to the right to make the sidebar wider.
Back to the default
Double-click the edge to go back to the default width. Without a mouse, press Tab until the handle is selected, then use the arrow keys.
Collapse it entirely
The panel icon at the bottom of the sidebar collapses it down to just the icons. While it is collapsed, the resize handle is hidden. The collapsed state is saved in this browser, and a browser you have never used before starts collapsed.
If project or channel names keep getting cut off, widen the sidebar. The width you choose is saved in this browser and restored the next time you open the app.
Tips
- For a long writing session, combine focus mode with a full-screen browser window (F11)
- As a project owner, turn on only part of the menu while onboarding new members, then add more as they settle in
- The desktop app has a global shortcut that brings Tabple forward while you are in another app, which pairs well with focus mode (see the shortcut catalog)
- On mobile, turn focus mode on under Settings → Appearance → 'Focus mode'. The bottom navigation disappears, and the exit button at the top right of the screen turns it off