What is the main menu?
- 08 Dec 2022
- 3 minutes to read
What is the main menu?
- Updated on 08 Dec 2022
- 3 minutes to read
Article Summary
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The main menu is the navigation bar that appears at the top of the all Totara sites. This typically includes links to important content and functionality, the quick-access menu for users with admin permissions, and the user menu.
Site Administrators can customise the contents of the main menu bar by adding, editing and removing navigation menu items. The visibility of navigation items can also be restricted to members of specific audiences.
Configuring the main menu
The main menu has a number of items in it by default, to which you can add your own new items.
If you wish to configure the menu to your preferences then you can edit existing menu items, add new items, rearrange the menu items, or hide a menu item.
Go to Quick-access menu > Navigation > Main menu to display the configuration page listing existing navigation menu items and their hierarchies.
The totara/core:editmainmenu capability controls access to the configuration pages, where users can:
- Select the corresponding edit icon to update navigation item settings
- Reorder page items using the up/down arrows
- Show/hide page items from the navigation bar (eye icon)
- Delete custom navigation items
Default menu items use built-in access controls, however additional restrictions can be added if required.
Navigation items from disabled, uninstalled or missing plugins also appear in the main menu configuration area under Unused. Menu items are never deleted automatically.
Show when accessible requirements
If Visibility is set to Show when accessible, the menu item will only be shown to users with the relevant permissions to access it. The item may still be shown to a user through another method, but would not appear in the menu bar unless they have the permissions to access it.
Users will need to be logged in, and not a guest user, in order to view the menu item.
The table below shows the requirements for access for each of the permission-controlled menu items.
| Menu item | Access requirements |
|---|---|
Home | The front page is not accessible when tenant isolation is active. |
Dashboard | The dashboard feature has to be enabled and there has to be at least one dashboard available for the user. |
Preview site policies | User must be logged in. No additional special restrictions. |
Reports | User must have at least one assigned report. |
Calendar | User must be logged in. No additional special restrictions. |
Record of Learning | User must have permissions to access at least one Record of Learning (requires Totara Learn). |
Find Learning | User must be logged in. No additional special restrictions. |
Find Learning (Legacy catalogues)
| User must have some learning visible to them. If you set all of the items to Show when accessible then the user will only see items they have access to. For example, if a user has access to a course but cannot access any programs, then they will only see the courses menu item (requires Totara Learn). |
Learning Plans | User must have at least one assigned learning plan (requires Totara Learn). |
My Bookings | User must be logged in. No additional special restrictions (requires Totara Learn). |
Required Learning | User has to have at least one program or certification (requires Totara Learn). |
Your Library | The Resources feature must be enabled and user must have the totara/engage:viewlibrary capability (requires Totara Engage). |
Your Workspaces | The Workspaces feature must be enabled and user must have the container/workspace:workspacesview capability (requires Totara Engage). |
Find Workspaces | The Workspaces feature must be enabled and user must have the container/workspace:workspacesview capability (requires Totara Engage). |
Team | User must have reporting team members (requires Totara Perform). |
Goals | The Goals feature has to be enabled (requires Totara Perform). User has to have either:
|
Competencies | The Competency assignments feature must be enabled and user must have the capability to view their own competency profile, totara/competency:view_own_profile (requires Totara Perform). |
Activities | The Performance activity feature must be enabled (requires Totara Perform). |
Evidence bank | The Evidence feature must be enabled and user must have the capability to view their evidence bank or create new evidence, totara/evidence:manageownevidenceonself or totara/evidence:viewanyevidenceonself (requires Totara Perform). Note that the evidence bank will still be available if you are only using Totara Learn (without Totara Perform). While you can still access the evidence bank via the user profile or record of learning, you may want to add a link to the evidence bank as a custom menu item. |
URL placeholders
When defining custom navigation item URLs, you can include the following placeholders:
- ##userid## - Current user ID
- ##username## - Current username
- ##useremail## - Current user email
- ##courseid## - Current course ID
They will be dynamically substituted for the appropriate value at the time when the page is viewed.
Next steps
- Main menu settings
- Custom access rule for main menu item
- Reorder main menu items
- Hide main menu items
- Add a main menu item
- Delete a main menu item
- Reset main menu
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The Totara Academy has a whole course dedicated to using Dashboards and basic theming in Totara. Here you can learn more on how to customise your site's appearance, see best practice, and give it a go yourself.
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