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Sidebar Organization

The sidebar is the main navigation hub in Copera. It lives on the left side of the screen and organizes every channel, conversation, and tool into clearly defined sections. Understanding how the sidebar is structured helps you move through your workspace faster and keep your focus on what matters.

The Communicate sidebar is divided into three primary sections, each with its own collapsible header:

Recents​

The topmost section displays items you have visited recently, ordered by activity. It is fully configurable --- you can choose which item types appear and how many are visible. See Recents for a detailed guide.

Channels​

Below Recents, you will find all text and meeting channels you belong to. Channels are organized into categories, each represented by an emoji icon and a label. Every workspace starts with a default set of categories, and workspace members with the right permissions can create, rename, or delete categories as the team evolves.

Within each category, channels are listed in the order defined by the workspace. Each channel entry shows:

  • An icon indicating the channel type (text, voice, or classroom).
  • The channel name.
  • An unread badge if there are new messages you have not read.
  • A voice activity badge if someone is currently connected to a meeting channel in that category.

Channels that do not belong to any category appear under an Uncategorized section, displayed with a question mark emoji and an italic label. You can create a new category or move channels into existing ones from the channel settings.

Direct Messages​

The bottom section lists your one-on-one and group direct message conversations. These are sorted by recent activity so that the conversation you used most recently appears at the top. You can start a new direct message by clicking the compose icon next to the section header.

Collapsing and Expanding Sections​

Each sidebar section has a chevron icon in its header. Click the header to collapse or expand the section. Copera remembers your preference across sessions, so if you collapse the Direct Messages section it will stay collapsed the next time you log in.

This is particularly helpful when your workspace has many channels. You can collapse sections you do not need at the moment and focus only on the one you are actively working in.

Channel Categories​

Categories give structure to your channel list. Each category is a collapsible group with:

  • An emoji icon for quick visual identification.
  • A name that describes the category (for example, "Engineering", "Marketing", or "General").
  • A settings button (visible on hover) to edit the category name, icon, or delete it.
  • A plus button to create a new channel directly inside that category.

When you right-click a category header, a context menu appears with additional options for managing the category. Categories are shared across the workspace --- all members see the same category structure, which keeps everyone oriented in the same way.

Workspace members can also create entirely new categories from the uncategorized section by clicking the plus icon, which opens a dialog to define the category name and icon.

Hiding and Showing the Sidebar​

On desktop, you can hide the sidebar entirely by clicking the toggle sidebar button in the top-left corner of the header. When the sidebar is hidden, hovering your cursor near the left edge of the screen reveals it temporarily as an overlay. Click the toggle button again to pin the sidebar back in place.

On mobile devices, the sidebar is hidden by default and appears as a slide-out drawer. Tap the menu icon in the header to open it, and tap outside or swipe to close it. The sidebar on mobile takes up about 85% of the screen width, giving you enough space to see channel names while leaving a sliver of the main content visible.

Unread Indicators​

The sidebar provides several visual cues to help you spot activity at a glance:

  • Bold channel name -- indicates unread messages in that channel.
  • Numeric badge -- shows the count of unread messages (displays "+9" when there are more than nine).
  • Category-level badges -- when a category is collapsed, a small badge appears on the category header to signal that one or more channels inside have unread messages or active voice connections.

These indicators respect your mute settings. If you have muted a channel to "mentions only", the unread badge will only appear when you are directly mentioned.

tip

Use categories to mirror your team's organizational structure. For example, create a category for each department or project so that channels are always easy to find without scrolling.