Customize the Salesforce1 Navigation Menu

Before you can send your users out on their mobile adventure in Salesforce1, they need a map to point the way to their destination. The Salesforce1 navigation menu is that map. And it’s up to you to draw it for them. Help your mobile users get work done faster and more easily by configuring which items appear in the navigation menu and in which order.

The Salesforce1 App Nav icon in the Salesforce1 header opens the navigation menu.

Salesforce1 Navigation Menu

As an administrator, you can customize what the menu contains in Setup by entering Navigation menu in the Quick Find box, then selecting Navigation menu.

What You Can Include

Depending on how your organization is configured and what your users have access to, they might see some or all of these items in their navigation menu.

Menu Item Description
Approval Requests Displays a list of the user’s pending approvals. Users can tap an approval item and approve or reject it from within Salesforce1. Available in the Salesforce1 downloadable app for iOS and the Salesforce1 mobile browser app.
Canvas apps Appears for organizations that have enabled a canvas app to appear in the Salesforce1 navigation menu.
Dashboards Availability depends on edition and user permissions. If you don’t add this item to the navigation menu, dashboards are automatically included in the set of Smart Search Items instead and the Dashboards item is available from the Recent section.
Events Lists events e owned by the user, that the user created for him- or herself, and that the user or a user’s groups are invited to.
Feed Appears for organizations that have Chatter enabled.
Groups Appears for organizations that have Chatter enabled. If you don’t add this item to the navigation menu, groups are automatically included in the set of Smart Search Items instead and the Groups item is available from the Recent section.
Lightning component tabs Only custom Lightning components that have a Lightning component tab associated with them can appear in the Salesforce1 navigation menu.
Lightning Pages Custom Salesforce1 app pages.
Notes Displays the Notes app. If you don’t add this item to the navigation menu, notes are automatically included in the set of Smart Search Items instead and the Notes item is available from the Recent section.
Paused Flow Interviews Displays a list of flow interviews that the user paused. An interview is a running instance of a flow. Users can tap an interview and resume or delete it from within Salesforce1. Available in the Salesforce1 mobile browser app only.
People Appears for organizations that have Chatter enabled. If you don’t add this item to the navigation menu, profiles are automatically included in the set of Smart Search Items instead and the People item is available from the Recent section.
Reports Availability depends on edition and user permissions. If you don’t add this item to the navigation menu, reports are automatically included in the set of Smart Search Items instead and the Reports item is available from the Recent section when using the Salesforce1 downloadable app for Android or the Salesforce1 mobile browser app. But the only way to include access to reports in the Salesforce1 downloadable app for iOS is to add the Reports item directly to the navigation menu.
Smart Search Items Adds standard and custom Salesforce objects to the Recent section in the menu. This item also adds a set of the user’s recently accessed objects to the Recent section and adds the More item so users can access all the objects they have permission to use and that are supported in Salesforce1. If you don’t include this item in the navigation menu, users can’t access any objects on the navigation menu.

Smart Search Items is required for users to get search results in the Salesforce1 downloadable app for Android. Users of the Salesforce1 downloadable app for iOS and the Salesforce1 mobile browser app are able to search for records if this option is omitted from the navigation menu.

Note

If your users don’t yet have a history of recent objects, they initially see a set of default objects in the Recent section. It can take up to 15 days for the objects that users work with regularly in both Salesforce1 and the full Salesforce site to appear in the Recent section. To make objects appear under Recent sooner, users can pin them from the search results screen in the full site.

Tasks Lists of a user’s open and closed tasks and tasks that have been delegated.
Today An app that helps users plan for and manage their day by integrating mobile calendar events with associated Salesforce tasks, accounts, and contacts. The app also allows users to instantly join conference calls, quickly log notes about events, and more. Available in the Salesforce1 downloadable apps only.
Visualforce page tabs Only Visualforce pages with the Available for Salesforce mobile apps checkbox selected will display in Salesforce1.

We’ll touch briefly on Visualforce pages in a later chapter. To delve even deeper, see “Extending Salesforce1 with Visualforce Pages” in the Salesforce1 App Developer Guide.