Customize quick launch navigation in SharePoint

This sharepoint customization tutorial will discuss how to customize left navigation or quick launch in SharePoint on-premise or SharePoint Online sites.

Also, I will show you how you can customize the SharePoint site top navigation in SharePoint Online or SharePoint 2016/2013. I will show you how you can add/edit/delete links to quick launch, also known as left navigation, and also how you can add/edit/delete links in the top navigation in SharePoint.

Using the left navigation or top navigation, we can quickly navigate to a particular page from the left navigation of that SharePoint site. So it will be less time-consuming and time-saving in SharePoint to visit different pages.

Customize Quick Launch or Left Navigation in SharePoint (First Approach)

We can add/edit/delete links from the left navigation or quick launch in SharePoint. We can customize (Add a Link) quick launch by using the following steps:

Step-1:-

Open your SharePoint site, and click on the “EDIT LINKS” in the left navigation.

Step-2:-

Here, we have to click on the “+link” to create a new link as shown in the given figure.

Step-3:-

An “add a link” will be displayed where we have to give a text to display and the address as a URL and then click on OK.

Step-4:-

Here, click on “save” to save the new link in SharePoint. Then, the left or quick launch navigation is added like the left navigation below.

You can add links in the left navigation or quick launch in SharePoint Online or SharePoint 2016//2013.

To delete any link from the left navigation in SharePoint online. Click on the Cross (X) icon. The menu or link will be deleted.

Customize Quick Launch or Left Navigation in SharePoint (Second Approach)

This is another approach we can follow to add/edit/delete links in left navigation or quick launch in SharePoint Online or SharePoint 2016/2013. We can customize left navigation from Site Settings page.

Step-1:-

Go to “Site Settings” which is present inside the “settings” icon at the top of the site as given the screenshot.

Step-2:-

Click on the “Quick launch” of “Look and Feel” which is present inside the “Site settings”.

Step-3:-

Click on the “New Heading” which is present inside the “Quick Launch” as below figure.

Step-4:-

In the “New Heading”, we have to give the “web address” and “type the description” and then click on ok.

Step-5:-

Here it will show that a launch navigation is customized in the quick launch.

Step-6:-

Here go to the “New Navigation Link” to create a new navigation in the quick launch.

Step-7:-

In this, give the Web address as a URL, “type the URL description,” and then click on ok as shown below.

Step-8:-

Here a New Navigation Link is created named “About Us” which we can see in the “Quick Launch” as in the below screenshot.

Step-9:-

Click on “Change Order” to change the order of left navigation links or quick launch navigation menu links in SharePoint Online or SharePoint 2016/2013.

Step-10:-

Here, we can change the order by selecting the order icon as in the below screenshot.

Customize Top Navigation in SharePoint (First Approach)

We can also customize (add/edit/delete links) the top navigation of the site or site collection in SharePoint 2019/2016/2013 and SharePoint Onlne.

Step-1:-

Click on “EDIT LINKS” which is present on the top navigation in SharePoint site, which I highlighted in the given figure.

Step-2:-

Here, we have to click on the “link” to create a new link as shown in the given figure.

Step-3:-

Here also an “Add a link” will be displayed where we have to give a text to display and the address as a URL and then click on ok.

Step-4:-

Here, click on “Save” to save the new link in the top navigation in SharePoint. Then, the top navigation will be displayed on the top of each page.

Customize Top Navigation in SharePoint (Second Approach)

This is another approach to how we can customize top navigation in SharePoint Online or SharePoint 2016/2013. We can also customize top navigation menu in SharePoint from the Site Settings page.

Step-1:-

Go to the “Site Settings” and click on the “Top link bar” of “Look and Feel” for customizing a top link navigation.

Step-2:-

Click on the “New Navigation Link” of “Top link bar” to customize a new navigation.

Step-3:-

Here give the web address as a URL type the description for customizing a new navigation and then click on ok.

Step-4:-

Finally, the new navigation link (TSinfotech) is customized and is present at the top of the site as shown in the given figure.

This way, you can customize the SharePoint top navigation menu in SharePoint Online or SharePoint 2019/2016/2013.

Add Links to Quick Launch or Top Navigation using drag-and-drop

From SharePoint 2013 onwards, Microsoft always us to add links to quick launch to top navigation simply using drag and drop features. Click on Edit Links and then drag and drop any link, maybe a list, document library, pages, list item, individual document, etc.

By using the drag & drop feature, you can save lots of time.

Hide quick launch bar in SharePoint online

We can hide using CSS by using a script editor web part in SharePoint. But if you want to hide it for all the pages, you can put the CSS code on the master page or you can put in a different CSS file and refer to the master page in SharePoint Online or in SharePoint 2016/2013.

By default, you can see the quick launch bar appear like below in SharePoint.

Here I have a list known as “MyTestList”, and I want to hide the quick launch in that page only. So open the page where you want to hide quick launch. Then click on the Settings icon and then click on Edit page.

Then in the page Edit mode, click on “Add a web part” and then choose Script Editor web part from the “Media and Content” Category like below:

Then click on the “EDIT SNIPPET” button and paste the below code like below:

Below is the CSS code to hide quick launch bar in SharePoint Online or SharePoint 2013/2016/2019.

<style type="text/css">
#sideNavBox
 {
 display: none!important;
}
</style>

Then once you Save the page you can see the left navigation is hidden from the page like below:

You may also like the following SharePoint customization tutorials:

• PowerApps: Create a navigation menu using the Gallery Control
• Create a managed metadata navigation from Term Store in SharePoint Online
• PowerApps show hide fields based on Yes/No column
• SharePoint 2013 Customization and Development Understanding
• How to Set up Alerts in SharePoint Online Modern List using Alert Me Feature
• SharePoint Carousel Example

In this sharepoint left navigation menu customization tutorial I have explained how we can customize lift navigation or quick launch in SharePoint 2013/2016 or SharePoint Online. Also, I explained how we can customize top navigation in SharePoint.