Support Training

Summary

We are introducing an enhanced channel sidebar experience for all Mattermost users. Highlight features include:

Collapsible Custom Categories

• Create custom categories in your sidebar and group channels together for easier navigation. 

• Spend less time scrolling by collapsing categories to hide channels that are read. 

• Mute entire categories to control the noise and focus on what matters. 

Drag & Drop Channels and Categories

• Drag channels in your sidebar to move them between categories or reorder channels within a category. 

• Drag to reorder entire categories so you can prioritize the channels most important to you.

Filter Unread Channels

• Focus your view and see only unread channels in your sidebar with one click. When you’re all caught up, turn off the filter and your sidebar goes back to normal.

• Choose to group unread channels separately at the top of the sidebar 

Quick Access Menus

• Be more productive by accessing common actions on any channels directly in your sidebar from the … menus

Recent Direct Messages

• Choose to sort Direct Messages by recent activity or alphabetically.

• Configure the maximum number of Direct Messages shown in the sidebar.

Config and Account Settings

Please review this doc outlining what config and account settings will be available.

Breaking Changes

Please note that the EnableLegacySidebar setting is a temporary safety measure as we roll-out these new sidebar changes. The legacy sidebar and the above experimental features will be deprecated at some point in 2021. Please contact @Eric Sethna with details if there are customers that still require the legacy sidebar.

Troubleshooting

How to collect logs for common issues with the data migration for categories?

FAQ

ExperimentalChannelOrganization doesn’t work anymore after upgrading?

1. Summary: This is expected behaviour, this experimental setting is not supported with the new sidebar.

2. Recommended Response:

Thanks for your report. v5.32 introduces many sidebar enhancements including custom, collapsible categories, drag-and-drop and unread channel filtering. XXXXXX link to blog.ExperimentalChannelOrganization (Doc) is not supported with the new sidebar enhancements as conflicts exist with new functionalities, particularly:

- Grouping unread channels separately: This option is supported with the new channel sidebar by accessing Account Settings > Sidebar > Group unread channels separately. XXXXXX link to end user docs

- Sorting channels by recent activity: This option is supported with the new channel sidebar by accessing the … menu on any category and choosing a sorting method. XXXXXX link to end user docs

ExperimentalHideTownSquareinLHS doesn’t work anymore after upgrading?

1. Summary: This is expected behaviour, this experimental setting is not supported with the new sidebar.

2. Recommended Response:

Thanks for your report. v5.32 introduces many sidebar enhancements including custom, collapsible categories, drag-and-drop and unread channel filtering. XXXXXX link to blog.ExperimentalHideTownSquareinLHS (Doc) is not supported with the new sidebar enhancements as conflicts exist with new functionalities. To hide Town Square with the new sidebar, users may choose to mute and collapse the category that Town Square lives within.

CloseUnusedDirectMessages doesn’t work anymore after upgrading?

1. Summary: This is expected behaviour, this experimental setting is not supported with the new sidebar.

2. Recommended Response:

Thanks for your report. v5.32 introduces many sidebar enhancements including custom, collapsible categories, drag-and-drop and unread channel filtering. XXXXXX link to blog.CloseUnusedDirectMessages (Doc) is not supported with the new sidebar enhancements as conflicts exist with new functionalities. The new sidebar allows users to configure the maximum number of Direct Messages shown in the sidebar. Users can set this number by accessing the … menu on the Direct Messages Category, or in Account Settings > Sidebar > Number of Direct Messages shown. Once the limit reached, the oldest Direct Messages are hidden from the sidebar.

EnableXToLeaveChannelsFromLHS doesn’t work anymore after upgrading?

1. Summary: This is expected behaviour, this experimental setting is not supported with the new sidebar.

2. Recommended Response:

Thanks for your report. v5.32 introduces many sidebar enhancements including custom, collapsible categories, drag-and-drop and unread channel filtering. XXXXXX link to blog.EnableXToLeaveChannelsFromLHS (Doc) is not supported with the new sidebar enhancements as conflicts exist with new functionalities. Users can leave channels by accessing the … menu on any channel and clicking “Leave Channel”. Additionally, we recommend collapsing categories to make the sidebar more usable for users with many channels.