How to Configure Menu Layouts and Quick Access in CrmLeaf

Overview

CrmLeaf's sidebar is not fixed. What exists is declared in a registry, and where it appears is decided by a menu layout that can be different for each product edition. On top of that, every user can pin their own Quick Access favourites. This is why the manual never promises an exact three-level menu path.

The most important rule is this: a layout controls placement, never access.

What's New NEW

How It Works

The navigation is defined in two places. A registry declares what exists and who may see it. A layout decides where it goes. Individual users then personalise their own shortcuts.

Registry declares feature → Gates checked → Layout places it → Menu style applied → User pins Quick Access

• The registry declares what exists and who may see it — the route, the icon and the gates. The gates are whether the module is enabled, which product edition applies, and which permission is required.
• A layout can place, reorder, rename, group or hide a feature, but it can never grant access. The gates stay in the registry, so a mis-set layout cannot expose a feature the account has not purchased.
• Layouts are per product edition, and can optionally be tied to a package. A layout with no edition set applies to all of them. Layouts can be cloned between editions, which is the fastest way to start a new one.
• Three menu styles exist side by side. Legacy is the original per-app sidebar. Feature is the newer flat, feature-grouped accordion menu with no app switching — this is what "the newer style" meant before this option existed, and it is still what most accounts on the newer menu see. Two-layer is a third style added more recently: a single navigation rail plus one "More" fly-out. Resolution order for a given account: a global force-legacy flag overrides everything; then the product edition's own use new menu switch (off means legacy); then, only if that switch is on, the edition's chosen style — Feature or Two-layer. Both switches default to the older behaviour, so a product edition only moves when CrmLeaf explicitly changes it for that edition — it never moves on its own with a platform update.
• The Payroll & HR edition never reaches any of this. It renders its own, separately built sidebar regardless of these settings.
• Users personalise their own navigation. Each user can pin up to 12 favourites into a Quick Access area, and can move a group between the sidebar and a "More" fly-out. These choices are saved per user and per Company.
• Pinning uses a small pin icon shown inline on the row itself, in the Two-layer style's "More" fly-out and in the Feature style's own item list. Selecting it pins the item; the icon and its tooltip ("Pin"/"Unpin") update immediately, and the item then also appears in a dedicated Pinned block that sits above every group — not itself collapsible, so a pinned item stays one click away. Pinning is additive: the item keeps its normal place in its group as well as appearing in the Pinned block.
• A second, visually identical pin icon appears on group headers (for example "Sales & CRM" or "Projects" in the Two-layer fly-out) — this is a different control with a different job. It moves that entire group between the sidebar and the "More" fly-out, and is not related to the per-item Quick Access pin described above, even though both use the same pin-shaped icon. Its tooltip reads "Move to sidebar" or "Move to More" rather than "Pin"/"Unpin".
• Modules register their own menu entries by shipping a menu file, so a newly enabled module contributes its entries automatically.

Who Can Use This Feature?

Administrator

• Plan the grouping, order and labels that suit each edition's workflow.
• Request layout changes from CrmLeaf, including cloning a layout between editions.
• Explain to users that hiding an item is not a security control.

User

• Pin up to 12 favourites to Quick Access.
• Move a group between the sidebar and the "More" fly-out.
• Use Search when a screen is not where a document says it is.

Access depends on the modules and role assigned by your Administrator. Menu layout editing is handled at the platform level by CrmLeaf and is not available to a company Administrator.

Prerequisites

• The modules whose features you want to place are enabled for the account.
• Permissions are already set, because the layout cannot change them.
• For layout changes, a request to CrmLeaf, since this is not self-service for a company Administrator.

What a Layout Can and Cannot Do

For Administrators

Menu layout editing itself is done for you by CrmLeaf, not from within your own account. The steps below describe what to plan and hand over when requesting a layout change; CrmLeaf applies the change in the editor on your behalf.

Step 1: Decide the grouping before requesting anything

What to do: Write down the groups your edition needs and the order features should appear in. Follow the way your teams actually work — for a Payroll account that usually means HR, attendance, leave and payroll first.

What to verify: Every feature your users need appears once, in a group they would look in.

Step 2: Send the request

What to do: Tell CrmLeaf which layout you need changed and for which product edition, or ask for an existing layout to be cloned as a starting point. Name the edition the layout should apply to; leaving it blank applies the layout to all editions.

What to verify: The request names the edition you intend to change.

Step 3: Specify groups, order, labels and visibility

What to do: Provide the groups, the features that go in each, the order, any label wording your industry uses, and which features your edition should hide. CrmLeaf places, orders, labels and hides accordingly and saves the layout.

What to verify: Sign in as a user on that edition and confirm the sidebar matches the plan. Anything the user cannot reach is a permission or module question, not a layout one.

Step 4: Choose the menu style for the edition

What to do: Decide whether the edition should use a registry-driven menu at all, or the legacy per-app sidebar, and tell CrmLeaf. If the registry-driven menu is on, also choose which of the two styles it renders: the established Feature (accordion) style, or the newer Two-layer (rail plus "More" fly-out) style. Remember the resolution order: the global force-legacy flag wins over everything, then the edition's own switch, then — only if that switch is on — the edition's chosen style.

What to verify: A test user on that edition sees the intended style. If an edition was switched to Two-layer, re-check that edition's help content and any saved navigation instructions, since the sidebar's shape has changed even though the underlying registry of features has not.

Step 5: Clone the layout to another edition if needed

What to do: Ask CrmLeaf to clone the finished layout to a second edition and adjust the differences rather than rebuilding it.

What to verify: The cloned layout is attached to the correct edition and does not affect the original.

For Users

Step 1: Pin the screens you use every day

What to do: In the "More" fly-out (Two-layer style) or the item list (Feature style), select the pin icon shown on the row of the screen you want quick access to. Repeat for up to 12 items. Pins are saved per user and per Company, so each account you belong to keeps its own set.

What to verify: The pinned items appear together in the Pinned block above your groups, and stay there after reloading. To remove one, select its pin icon again from that block.

Step 2: Tidy the sidebar with the "More" fly-out

What to do: Move a group you rarely use out of the sidebar into the "More" fly-out, or bring a group back into the sidebar.

What to verify: The group is still reachable in its new position.

Step 3: Use Search when a path does not match

What to do: If a help article names a screen you cannot find, use Search. The arrangement of your sidebar depends on your edition and your account's layout.

What to verify: You reach the screen and can pin it so you do not have to search again.