• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar

By Kelsey Smith logo

  • Recipes
    • Main Dish
    • Slow Cooker Recipes
    • Instant Pot
    • Breakfast
    • Dessert
    • Vegetarian
  • Slow Cooker
  • Subscribe
  • Contact
  • Nav Social Menu

    • Facebook
    • Instagram
    • Pinterest
    • YouTube
menu icon
go to homepage
  • Recipes
  • Slow Cooker
  • Instant Pot
  • Contact
  • Subscribe
    • Facebook
    • Instagram
    • Pinterest
    • Twitter
    • YouTube
  • subscribe
    search icon
    Homepage link
    • Recipes
    • Slow Cooker
    • Instant Pot
    • Contact
    • Subscribe
    • Facebook
    • Instagram
    • Pinterest
    • Twitter
    • YouTube
  • ×

    Home » How To

    How to Keep the Sidebar in Gmail from Collapsing

    Published: Oct 6, 2018 · Modified: Sep 21, 2022 by Kelsey Smith

    • Facebook
    • Email

    So your Gmail sidebar menu collapsed and you need to unhide it? You're not alone.

    Change is hard. But Google seems to disagree...

    I love that Google is always working on new features and functions for Gmail, but every now and then a new feature or design comes along that makes me scratch my head. 

    The latest Gmail update includes:

    • helpful reminders (e.g., "Received 3 days ago. Reply?")
    • a new, sleek design
    • a snooze feature (you can pick a future date for mail to re-appear in your inbox)
    • a collapsing sidebar

    I have to say, as a work-from-home professional that uses their personal email for business, I love the snooze feature.

    But... a collapsing menu? Why?

    Well. I guess I understand why.

    People want to maximize their screen space.

    Nothing could go wrong with that one. That is unless users aren't clear on how to hide and unhide the sidebar.

    That would be no fun at all. Hmm.

    So your Gmail sidebar menu has collapsed, and you can't figure out how to keep the sidebar from collapsing? If your left navigation panel is collapsed and only appears if you hover over it, I have the fix.

    How to Keep the Sidebar in Gmail from Collapsing

    Here's how to reveal your main menu for good:

    1. Head to your Gmail.
    2. Click the Main Menu button.

    It's in the upper left corner of the screen above the Compose button. These three horizontal lines are commonly referred to as a "hamburger" menu.

    When you hover, it says "Main menu." See the photo below.

    This three-line button will hide or unhide the main menu.

    Hello, my friend.

    When you hide the menu, Gmail will always collapse the main menu by default and show icons only. You can hover over the smaller icons to reveal the full menu with text temporarily.

    When you unhide the menu, it will always display the sidebar by default. This is my preferred setting.

    How to Keep the Sidebar in Gmail from Collapsing

    I much prefer to have my menu uncollapsed.

    As much as I understand the desire to maximize screen space, my brain really can't compute those icons. There are too many menu items (inbox, starred, snoozed, important, sent, drafts, spam, trash) for icons to be feasible for me.

    Plus, I actively use my folders/labels, so I like to see the navigation in its full glory.

    It's so simple to show/hide the menu, yet it stumped me! The menu button is hidden in plain sight.

    Why didn't I think of that?

    If you're a user of the Gmail app, you may be more familiar with the hamburger menu. In the app, you don't see the menu at all unless you tap the menu icon on the left side of the search bar.

    I think most of us are accustomed to seeing hamburger menus on mobile, so maybe it's the desktop context that's throwing us all off. (You see, I'm assuming you're here because you are/were just as stumped as I was).

    And when I went looking for an answer, it seemed I was in good company, so don't beat yourself up. It's so easy to accidentally click the button, perhaps aiming for the frequently-used Compose button.

    UX changes are likely the things that keep Google Developers up at night.

    Will people know how to collapse the menu?

    Will people know how to unhide the menu?

    The answer is maybe... but if not, there will be a tutorial for that.

    But hey, there's good news.

    If you don't like the Gmail sidebar, you can hide it... as you must have discovered if you found yourself here reading this article.

    Sorry, my glass half full POV kicked in.

    Next, check out my tips for organizing your Gmail inbox. I've used Gmail since it was in Beta testing (I believe it was around 2004 or so), so I know a thing or two about the platform.

    I share my tips for using labels, automating your inbox with filters, change the default sorting of your incoming email, archive email, and using my favorite add-on.

    What's my favorite add-on, you ask?

    Well, you'll just have to read my tips and see for yourself. But, I will tell you: it bundles all of your subscription emails into one easy-to-read daily digest.

    What are you waiting for?

    How to Keep the Sidebar in Gmail from Collapsing

    More How To

    • The Instagram on an iPhone with pronouns highlighted.
      How to Add Pronouns to Your Instagram Profile
    • Alternatives to Lip Balm & Chapstick
    • An Instagram profile with highlight cover icons.
      Create Instagram Highlight Covers in Canva
    • Urban Decay Stay Naked Liquid Foundation Dupe
      Urban Decay Stay Naked Liquid Foundation Dupe

    About Kelsey Smith

    I am a freelance content writer for college-level textbooks by day, mommy by night, and a blogger in between. I live in Knoxville, Tennessee with my husband, Xavier. When I'm not working on college textbooks, you might find me here, sharing recipes, social media tutorials, and more.

    Reader Interactions

    Comments

      Leave a Reply Cancel reply

      Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

      Recipe Rating




      This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

    1. Maren says

      March 01, 2023 at 11:37 am

      Thank you so much for this very clear and amusing response to my question! I am 74 years old and can't tell you what a relief it is to find help like this!

      Reply
      • Kelsey Smith says

        March 02, 2023 at 8:37 pm

        You are very welcome Maren, I am happy to help.

        Reply
    2. Alison says

      February 24, 2023 at 1:34 pm

      Thank you so much for posting this. I hate the collapsing menu, and hoped it wasn't permanent. So incredibly helpful - thank you again.

      Reply
    3. josh says

      February 02, 2023 at 10:49 am

      thank you this is so unintuitive

      Reply
    4. Patricia says

      January 03, 2023 at 10:43 am

      Thank you for this tip 🙂

      Reply
    5. Matty Dare says

      December 31, 2022 at 3:29 pm

      Thanks for the 'fix' - it baffled me that much I had to Google it and this post came up.

      Reply
    6. Lisa says

      December 14, 2022 at 4:08 pm

      Thank you!!!!!!!!
      That's all.

      Reply
    7. CBarry says

      September 24, 2022 at 4:40 pm

      Well, that was easy! Thanks so much, you made my day 🙂

      Reply
    8. Veronika says

      September 07, 2022 at 1:05 pm

      Oh, thank you! I clicked on the Menu by mistake and the panel collapsed. I am so grateful for your advice, I could not stand if it would collaps again and again! The motions on site make me restless and irritable. Also, I don't understand the poetics of icons, it's not memorable, regardless of the graphics. Old systems and software were the best. Does someone remember the colour marking in old Mac systems? On the whole line? Organized, well visible even from the distance, without the necessity of trying to assign the correct colour label to the particular name of the item… It seems not probably every, but many changes to the new are to worse…

      Reply
    9. Ivan Kinsman says

      September 05, 2022 at 4:21 am

      Good advice. It's a bug in Google in my opinion.

      Reply
    10. Sami says

      July 28, 2022 at 9:52 am

      4 years later and this is still providing relief of stress and some well needed comfort and calm. Thank you!!

      Reply
      • Kelsey Smith says

        July 28, 2022 at 11:05 am

        Happy to bring peace to the world!

        Reply
    11. David says

      July 16, 2022 at 1:41 pm

      Thanks

      Reply
    12. Peter says

      July 11, 2022 at 10:06 pm

      Thanks for taking time to post useful tips

      Reply
    13. Zoe says

      July 02, 2022 at 12:58 am

      Thank you! I feel so much better now 🙂

      Reply
    14. neilB says

      June 30, 2022 at 3:37 am

      SO helpful, that’s been frustrating me, I thought I must have inadvertently clicked something. Or used a keystroke that had collapsed it.

      Reply
    15. Meike says

      June 08, 2022 at 4:50 am

      hahahahaha so simple yet I was not able to figure it out myself. Thanks for this post! The collapsing sidebar was driving me insane 😀

      Reply
    16. Roma says

      May 07, 2022 at 10:07 am

      Thanks so much! That collapsing menu was annoying until I finally decided to do a search and your site came up with the simple solution! Simple once you know it! Thanks again!

      Reply
    17. me says

      April 16, 2022 at 12:35 pm

      THANK YOU

      Reply
      • Lorraine Bell says

        April 28, 2022 at 12:03 pm

        Thank you so much!!! This has been driving me crazy for the last few weeks 🙂

        Reply
    18. Dorji says

      March 16, 2022 at 8:03 am

      Thank you. It was adding to my covid stress.

      Hope some people in Google would do something better to justify their salary
      HA HA HA

      Reply
    19. Rob says

      March 07, 2022 at 12:37 pm

      Thank you!!! The collapsing label panel was so irratating! Thank you for saving my sanity!

      Reply
    20. Heidi F says

      February 17, 2022 at 11:13 am

      THANK YOU! I goofed somehow and did the fatal disappearing-click-trick. The way the skinny menu kept animating to slide out when I hovered over it was maddeningly distracting. Productivity happiness and stable chonky menu now restored!

      Reply
    21. Isabelle says

      February 03, 2022 at 4:32 am

      oooh that tip made my day! I was getting mad that I had activated that option my accident. Thanks a million!

      Reply
      • Kelsey Smith says

        February 03, 2022 at 9:34 am

        I'm here for you!

        Reply
    22. Forester says

      January 04, 2022 at 2:25 pm

      Wonderful! Thanks that solved my issue.
      Happy new 2022

      Reply
      • Abbie says

        January 24, 2022 at 9:17 pm

        Dear kelsey, you say: When you unhide the menu, it will always display the sidebar by default. I clicked on the hamburger and am on Main menu. So I have it unhid but the whole side bar is covered up by Meet window. I can only see Inbox, Starred, Snoozed and then the rest of the side bar is covered by this Meet window in front of it. When I try the scroll thing to go down, it goes too fast. So I can't see Drafts or Sent and I need to get into these. What do I need to do? Thank you. Abbie

        Reply
        • Kelsey Smith says

          January 25, 2022 at 9:51 am

          There is a horizontal line right above the Meet section, you can click and drag that down to reveal more of your folders.

          Reply
          • John Alden says

            March 13, 2022 at 1:42 pm

            Ah if only that were true (vertical line). Yes, I have the 3 bar (menu) at the top left, and yes when I click it it narrows and widens the list however the list only contains system mailbox folders, none of my mail folders. There is NO vertical bar at the right of the list because the list is so short. Clicking 'More' just shows a few more system lists such as starred, important, chats etc etc. I cannot see my created folders. Reloading Gmail returns the list to normal but it's not long before the list is abbreviated once more. I cannot figure out what I do that causes my folders to be removed from the list. Any ideas would be appreciated. John.

            Reply
            • Kelsey Smith says

              March 15, 2022 at 9:57 am

              That is strange. Try going to Settings then click on Labels and see if any of your Labels are set to Hide. You might also try accessing your inbox in another browser to determine if it's a browser-specific issue (possibly caused by a plug-in).

    23. Lawrence says

      December 17, 2021 at 2:28 pm

      Awesome Kelsey, thanks so much for this well explained and quick fix to a silly Google option that nobody ever wanted! But I digress.

      Reply
      • Kelsey Smith says

        December 20, 2021 at 6:04 pm

        Happy to help Lawrence!

        Reply
    24. Some French Guy says

      December 16, 2021 at 2:00 pm

      Merci !

      Reply
      • Kelsey Smith says

        December 16, 2021 at 2:07 pm

        De rien

        Reply
    25. Matt Breslow says

      December 13, 2021 at 12:04 pm

      This just became my favorite blog post of all-time! Thanks for posting and saving me much aggravation.

      Reply
      • Kelsey Smith says

        December 13, 2021 at 1:12 pm

        I am honored.

        Reply
    26. Kanchana Kodituwakku says

      December 11, 2021 at 2:55 am

      Thank you SO MUCH! The collapsing bar was irritating me beyond belief and I've been putting weird search strings into Google trying to figure out a workaround. Couldn't believe it was so easy. Thank you again!

      Reply
    27. Dawn says

      December 08, 2021 at 11:53 am

      Big help! I never thought that it was that easy. It's been annoying me for days. I must have clicked the hamburger button accidentally.

      Reply
    28. TINA says

      November 19, 2021 at 11:05 am

      NOW I CANT LIVE WITHOUT YOU!!!

      Reply
      • Kelsey Smith says

        November 19, 2021 at 12:44 pm

        😆 happy to help!

        Reply
    29. solid aim says

      November 10, 2021 at 12:41 am

      Thanks Kelsey, it helped.

      Reply
    30. Julie says

      October 26, 2021 at 6:05 am

      Thank you! I could not figure this out for the life of me. Such an easy fix too!

      Reply
      • walt.barbier says

        October 28, 2021 at 5:58 pm

        You just saved another person from the insane asylum! Thank you!

        Reply
    31. Pete says

      October 15, 2021 at 10:59 am

      Thank you! This was driving me crazy.

      Reply
    32. Yvette van Antwerpen says

      October 13, 2021 at 5:46 am

      Thanks Kelsey. Very useful.

      Reply
    33. Annette says

      October 11, 2021 at 10:41 am

      Thank you so much, it was driving me crazy!

      Reply
    34. Nicolas says

      October 08, 2021 at 11:52 am

      Thank you so much. It was so annoying

      Reply
    35. Celine Rose says

      October 03, 2021 at 12:25 pm

      Thank you AGAIN! I fixed my sidebar by way of your instructions here I am, today...a few months later and my sidebar collapsed again! I found your advise and I'm good to go! You saved me so much frustration for a second time. I love smart people who dumb stuff down for those of us who are technically challenged!

      Reply
      • Kelsey Smith says

        October 03, 2021 at 8:21 pm

        Hey Celine, I'm happy I could help out (twice!)

        Reply
    36. Bia says

      September 28, 2021 at 8:46 am

      Oh my god, thank you SO much. It had been stressing me out for the past weeks. Lots of love to u, have a nice week

      Reply
      • Kelsey Smith says

        September 28, 2021 at 11:00 am

        You have a great week, too!

        Reply
    37. Steve says

      September 26, 2021 at 10:31 am

      Thank you!! so simple - so frustrating lol

      Reply
    38. KBorland says

      September 09, 2021 at 10:16 am

      OMG Thank you! I just noticed this happening on my personal computer (which is newer) and was driving me nuts. Today on my work computer it did it as well. ENOUGH. Thank you for the tip!

      Reply
      • Kelsey Smith says

        September 09, 2021 at 10:52 am

        Happy to help!

        Reply
      • GK says

        September 10, 2021 at 10:08 am

        Thank you so much!!!! That collapsing side bar was driving me insane!

        Reply
    39. Nat says

      September 08, 2021 at 7:16 am

      Thanks so much! I hadn't even notice that Main Menu icon.

      Reply
    40. Mag says

      September 07, 2021 at 4:47 pm

      Very nice! – you actually answered the question in the title of your post. But why write a whole article about it when one short sentence would have sufficed?

      Reply
      • Kelsey Smith says

        September 07, 2021 at 8:35 pm

        Hi Mag. Considering the other comments left on this article, I think many readers have found value beyond the headline. Thanks for stopping by.

        Reply
    41. Shivani Bhatt says

      September 07, 2021 at 12:59 am

      Hi Kelsey,
      Thank you for this. I was going crazy trying to keep my sanity.
      You are my hero for this month!

      Shivani

      Reply
      • Kelsey Smith says

        September 07, 2021 at 10:15 am

        You're very welcome. I am happy to help.

        Reply
    42. mike kauffman says

      September 03, 2021 at 12:30 pm

      Also... Hamburger Menu? These are generally actual menus with multiple options. I'm not sure which is dumber, the "feature" of disappearing menus, or the fact that they used an inappropriate and unintuitive method to fix their shoddy work.

      Reply
    43. mike kauffman says

      September 03, 2021 at 12:27 pm

      Thank you! It is sad that I had to google this. Sad for me and even sadder for the dev team that made such a stupid feature. It really sucks even if they insisted that some people want this, they failed to make the method for disabling it apparent. They are usually better at making things intuitive. F- on this, gmail team!

      Reply
    44. Anni says

      August 31, 2021 at 2:37 am

      THANK YOU so much. It was driving me insane. I knew I accidentally clicked on something one day and the darn thing collapsed, but I couldn't figure out what it was. A Google search and bam! There you were. Thank you, thank you. Sanity restored!

      Reply
    45. sirisha says

      August 28, 2021 at 10:22 pm

      Thank you very much for fixing the gmail sidebar issue.

      Reply
    46. romina says

      August 05, 2021 at 1:37 am

      thank you SO MUCH!!!!

      Reply
      • Kelsey Smith says

        August 10, 2021 at 4:26 pm

        You are so very welcome.

        Reply
    47. Linda Nichols says

      July 23, 2021 at 8:28 pm

      OK, what am I doing wrong? This hint used to work but today it isn't. I've been trying for a couple hours. I have a choice of nothing on my side bar or only 3 icons show up. I want the list of choices in actual words. How do I get them back?

      Reply
      • Kelsey Smith says

        July 26, 2021 at 11:50 am

        This should still work to reveal the icon names. I'm not sure of any other setting that would hide/reveal the sidebar icon names.

        Reply
        • Linda Nichols says

          July 28, 2021 at 8:08 pm

          Since the Gmail upgrade 2 weeks ago, now I either get 4 icons or the words MAIL or MEETING over on the side and when I'm in an email there are a bunch of icons that show up along the top of the page
          I need to be able to get into my SPAM folder. I volunteer with a group that assists disabled vets and sometimes they end up in SPAM for some reason.
          I now can't pull up SPAM, TRASH or DRAFTS. Very frustrating.
          Thanks for replying. I'll just keep poking things.

          Reply
          • Kelsey Smith says

            July 29, 2021 at 10:40 am

            Okay I have two ideas:
            Here is something you can check: Go to Settings > Labels > and under System Labels you should see Spam, make sure that you have "show" selected.
            Another thing could be that the "Meet" block is just covering your labels. There is a thin horizontal line above the Meet section, you should be able to drag this line down and expose any hidden folders/labels.

            Reply
    48. Jack says

      July 05, 2021 at 11:18 pm

      OMG thanks! I was going crazy trying to find how to keep the sidebar from collapsing! I'm glad I searched using the right keywords it took me to your article.

      Reply
    49. Brooke says

      June 23, 2021 at 1:04 pm

      Kelsey! Thank you so much!!!
      Another grateful person that you have helped. 🙂

      Reply
    50. Edward Bear says

      June 18, 2021 at 1:42 pm

      Thanks. There is nothing worse than sidebars flashing open and closed literally a hundred times a day. I have three screens to I don't need this space-saving "feature".

      Google has great ideas but should ALWAYS offer a way to opt out, which is explained at the time of introduction.

      Reply
    51. Becca says

      June 03, 2021 at 2:40 pm

      OMG, thank you so much for posting this because I could not deal with not being able to see my left side panel, and I searched the settings via the icon that looks like a "gear" at the top right of gmail. I read some other explanation on the web of how to solve this issue, but I could not, for the life of me, figure out where my "hamburger menu" icon was. I could not find any icon that looked like a hamburger. So, thanks a million for explaining what a hamburger menu looks like!!

      Reply
    52. Sadiya says

      June 01, 2021 at 1:17 am

      Thank you so much!!!!
      Much love from India!

      Reply
    53. Melinda says

      May 20, 2021 at 9:36 am

      Thank you so much!

      Reply
    54. nicole says

      May 17, 2021 at 4:25 pm

      OMG That was it!? It was that simple yet complicated! Haha! Thanks for this post! Without it I was completely lost!

      Reply
    55. Yuan says

      May 06, 2021 at 7:33 pm

      google are nuts if they think thats intuitive.... everyone else has a effing pin symbol. The hamburger is a drop down menu symbol.

      Reply
    56. Laura says

      April 29, 2021 at 3:10 pm

      Thank you so much for stating how to expand and collapses the mail "inbox." I looked for this for hours. Thank you so much!

      Reply
    57. Joy says

      March 30, 2021 at 2:25 pm

      Thank you so much! I was going crazy with this collapsing menu.

      Reply
    58. Nellybelly says

      March 25, 2021 at 9:15 pm

      Thank you, you saved my life! This had me on the brink of insanity : (

      Reply
    59. BJ says

      March 21, 2021 at 3:42 pm

      THIS WORKS!!!
      Thanks for taking the time to post this. That #&*@! collapsible menu was driving me to distraction. NOTE TO GOOGLE DEVELOPERS: "Different" is NOT always "better."

      Reply
    60. Jenna says

      February 04, 2021 at 9:34 pm

      The collapsing Menu on the left side of Gmail. was driving me nuts, I got dizzy spells and nausea while working.
      Thank you so much for your advice, you saved me from going mad.

      Great Job!!!
      Jenna

      Reply
    61. Amy M says

      February 02, 2021 at 2:16 pm

      Hi, I know this was posted ages ago, but I told myself I'd ask anyway. I have a massive amount of labels, but I also use hangouts quite regularly. Sometimes, I can't access the hangouts, because I think the labels list takes over. Usually I can drag the labels section up to get access, but I'm not sure how I do it even. Could you help me?

      Reply
      • Kelsey Smith says

        February 02, 2021 at 2:22 pm

        There's a grey line just above the Meet/Hangouts section of the sidebar. When you hover your cursor over it, another horizontal grey line appears. Grab and drag that to pull the meet/hangouts section up.

        Reply
        • Nellybelly says

          March 25, 2021 at 9:17 pm

          I have the opposite problem; I HATE the Hangouts tab, which takes up my precious label space, but I can't pull it down any further and it just lives there in the way....FOREVER!

          Reply
          • Kelsey Smith says

            March 25, 2021 at 9:26 pm

            You can toggle it to disappear. Below the hangouts box are three icons, a person, a chat bubble, and a phone. Click the chat bubble and Hangouts will disappear.

            Reply
    62. Petra Wilson says

      February 02, 2021 at 6:29 am

      thanks for this great tip - small thing, but great benefit! Just in case you have ever given it any thought ..... I am looking for tips on sharing gmail with a co-worker. I run my own business and have just engaged a personal assistant, I want to be able to delegate some emails to her with capacity to answer etc. Is there a way of doing that? Can one delegate just the 'primary' tab in gmail?
      Thanks again!

      Reply
      • Kelsey Smith says

        February 02, 2021 at 10:32 am

        Here are instructions on how to add a delegate, but it's email-wide access, not limited by subfolder.

        Reply
    63. Pratap Kodancha says

      January 31, 2021 at 8:46 pm

      Hello Kelsey Smith,
      Thanks a lot for fixing this very irritating feature!
      I feel it is stupid irritating bug, not a institutive feature at all!
      Thanks again!
      Best, Pratap

      Reply
    64. M D says

      January 29, 2021 at 7:29 pm

      Good god,this was easily one of the most helpful and impactful articles I ever read!! The auto-hide behavior was driving me nuts and the solution was indeed really not self explanatory. Kudos !!

      Reply
    65. Karen Miller says

      January 26, 2021 at 4:45 pm

      Thank you! I've been trying to figure this out all day.

      Reply
    66. AT says

      January 26, 2021 at 1:32 am

      Thank you.

      Reply
    67. Melissa says

      January 20, 2021 at 9:37 pm

      Oh thank you THANK YOU!! I was going CRAZZZZZY with the collapsed side and found nothing worked! Wow, it was there all along, hidden in plain sight, pretty sneaky of Google/Gmail! Thank you again for a fix that was easy to understand and apply, within a couple of minutes!!!

      Reply
    68. Avi says

      January 17, 2021 at 9:59 am

      Thank you. Amazing how they could make such a UI mistake!

      Reply
    69. Serious says

      January 08, 2021 at 8:38 am

      Must have just had an update or something and I just dealt with this for the last couple days. In my web design days we used to call this Mystery Meat Navigation. It's terrible UX design.

      Reply
      • Kelsey Smith says

        January 08, 2021 at 9:15 am

        Mystery meat! I love that, thank you for sharing.

        Reply
    70. Karen says

      January 05, 2021 at 11:10 pm

      Oh my gosh thank you!

      Reply
    71. AlanaP says

      December 23, 2020 at 8:46 am

      Thank you. The little sucker kept on disappearing and could not get it to stop. It is now as it should be.

      Reply
    72. Kevin O'Donnell says

      December 15, 2020 at 2:51 pm

      This had me absolutely FLUMMOXED!! I HATE that the sidebar kept disappearing on me. I use about 4 different Gmail accounts and this was only happening on 1 so this was worse still!

      Thanks so much for fixing it. You have removed a stone from my shoe!

      Kevin

      Reply
    73. Alex says

      December 10, 2020 at 8:21 am

      Oh wow what a terrible UI experience, somehow mine just became collapsed and I'm so thankful to have it back!

      Reply
    74. James says

      December 10, 2020 at 5:31 am

      Thank you - great help I disliked the new auto hide feature, this is a simple solution! Have clicked on your ads too 🙂

      Reply
    75. Barbara says

      November 24, 2020 at 10:47 am

      Thanks so much - like the many commenters above, you saved the day for me! And I learned a new term I can impress my digital native kids with - "Hamburger" - how cool is that!

      Reply
    76. T Morris says

      November 21, 2020 at 9:53 am

      OMG! This article is about 2 years old, but I am SOOOO glad I found it...even today, it proved to be very helpful! Thank you so much!!!!!

      Reply
    77. lurch says

      November 03, 2020 at 12:40 pm

      hahaa thanks for this! helped me a lot, i was going crazy.
      there may be too much explaining for such a simple solution (take it as a suggestion if you like), but it did the job anyway. 🙂

      Reply
    78. Deb says

      October 21, 2020 at 1:26 pm

      I have a Samsung Galaxy S6 Tab Lite and there is nothing on any of the menus on my GMail app that address the lock sidebar issue. And, the menus are not in the places you mentioned. Any ideas? Thanks

      Reply
      • Kelsey Smith says

        October 21, 2020 at 4:14 pm

        I'm not familiar with that tablet, but you're welcome to send me a screenshot of what your google app looks like ([email protected]) and I can take a stab at trouble shooting with you.

        Reply
    79. Clint Smitheman says

      October 05, 2020 at 12:08 pm

      I can't believe I've been living with a collapsed menu for 2 years and I did not have to. Passed your link onto a friend.

      Thank you for the time you took to post a well thought out answer with screen shots and arrows.

      Reply
    80. Heather says

      September 28, 2020 at 9:23 am

      SUPER helpful, thank you!!

      Reply
    81. Adrian says

      September 21, 2020 at 6:26 pm

      Thank you.

      Reply
    82. john says

      September 17, 2020 at 11:01 am

      fk so many words and so little useful

      Reply
      • Kelsey Smith says

        September 17, 2020 at 11:08 am

        Move along, John.

        Reply
    83. Damian says

      September 16, 2020 at 12:51 pm

      Thanks!!!!
      this was driving me crazy.

      Reply
    84. jon says

      September 07, 2020 at 12:04 am

      Looks like it was auto-changed on my accounts over the last couple of days to no longer show the side bar... As both a desktop and a mobile user I _should_ have figured this out.

      On the other hand, I was suddenly greeted by 20 some Icons with no text. And quite honestly I use a number of e-mail programs and web based e-mails that I just can't memorize every icon for every different system when I'm switching back and forth all day.

      Thank You!!!

      And thank you for updating this! (If you hadn't modified it with a date, I probably would have skipped it in my search results for being too old, especially since the change on my desk top just happened!)

      Reply
    85. Elizabeth Grant says

      September 03, 2020 at 7:10 pm

      I'll repeat what most of the comments are...this was driving me bat crazy when I was left literally with less then an INCH to see my menu on the left BECAUSE MY MENU WOULD HIDE AND HANGOUTS/MEETINGS WERE TAKING UP MY REAL ESTATE! I never use those options (now removed them). Lame-o Google.

      Thank you so much. This was not you or us. This was very dumb design. Very. I had no unearthly idea when this changed on me and I struggled with this for way too long. The exact opposite of what good tech does. Thanks for permanantly and quickly solving this.

      Reply
    86. Edward Toh says

      August 23, 2020 at 11:14 pm

      Millions thanks to you Kelsey !
      This thing was driving crazy for weeks. And finally I found this solution from you.
      God bless you !

      Reply
    87. Antonios J Tsompanidis says

      August 19, 2020 at 6:07 am

      Thank you! This drives me nuts to not be able to see my created folders!

      Reply
    88. Kip Ingram says

      August 12, 2020 at 11:30 pm

      Ah.... Kelsey, I love you. Thank you so much. I owe you dinner - that was making me lose my mind. Stay safe out there!

      Reply
    89. Mary says

      August 11, 2020 at 3:00 pm

      Thank you so much. It is so simple, I would have never thought of it!!! All the best!

      Reply
    90. Theresa says

      August 03, 2020 at 3:44 pm

      Thank you for the humerus, self-deprecating explanation that was making me crazy. Will check out your other tips for organizing Gmail.

      Reply
    91. Penni says

      July 20, 2020 at 11:41 am

      Thank you!!! It was making me crazy.

      Reply
    92. Jack says

      July 01, 2020 at 11:20 am

      subject: enlarging the left panel on GMAIL
      I am sorry to disturb you with a problem which, for so many others, you already solved.
      But in my case, it is not solved: PC, Windows10
      What I can see, is a small window which let me see only two labels at once :"INBOX" and "IMPORTANT". Then I can move the existing little cursor and one after the other , other labels appear! This makes me unhappy, I would like to see the entire list , but nothing I tried I, solved a problem . (There is there a little straight line, which can me lowered with mouse and, all the labels list could be seen. But only as long as the mouse is there!)
      I will be very much in debt to you, if you can help !
      Thanks for your time,
      Jack Cohen, PhD
      TelAviv,Israel

      Reply
      • Kelsey Smith says

        July 02, 2020 at 9:43 am

        In your label sidebar, scroll to the bottom and there should be a gear icon that says "Manage Labels." On this page you can force individual labels to show or hide.

        Reply
    93. Sean Keam says

      June 22, 2020 at 5:22 pm

      THANK YOU SO MUCH! Your guide saved my brain from exploding!

      Reply
    94. Keith Langley says

      June 13, 2020 at 5:17 am

      Thanks for that. This has solved the problem and is one of the most user friendly explanations I've ever seen. My only question is why Google don't make it more obvious how to stop the collapsing sidebar.

      Reply
    95. Chanea says

      June 08, 2020 at 9:13 pm

      Thank you!!

      Reply
    96. roni says

      June 07, 2020 at 3:06 am

      you helped me! thank you

      Reply
    97. Claudia says

      June 01, 2020 at 3:30 pm

      Thank you so much!

      Reply
    98. Linda Fitzpatrick says

      May 25, 2020 at 12:13 pm

      Thank you, even all this time later, such a helpful post! I was trying to get rid of the "Chat" and "Meet" sidebar sections which had suddenly appeared. (Managedto find a way to get rid of Chat, but in the process, somehow made the sidebar collapse as default. So THANK YOU for the quick and easy fix! <3

      Reply
    99. Jose Escobar says

      May 25, 2020 at 1:27 am

      Thank you K!

      Reply
    100. Siobhan Wilsnagh says

      May 20, 2020 at 5:49 am

      Thank you, it totally stumped me too - now I'm happy! 🙂

      Reply
    101. Helen Shin says

      May 13, 2020 at 8:50 am

      Thank you!!!

      Reply
    102. RowBare says

      May 10, 2020 at 5:56 pm

      Worked like a charm.
      Many thx.

      Reply
    103. Marilyn Johnson says

      May 05, 2020 at 5:56 pm

      My Labels in my gmail sidebar disappeared. I finally got them back by clicking on the bottom of where they used to be and clicked on the middle icon for Hangouts conversations. Tall of my labels immediately reappeared!

      Reply
    104. MB says

      May 01, 2020 at 5:49 pm

      OMG, thank you baby jesus!

      Reply
    105. Natasha says

      April 27, 2020 at 4:12 pm

      Oh thank goodness! Finally found the answer to the most frustrating collapsing sidebar... I searched every setting option and could find nothing. Thank you for this simple but very helpful explanation 🙂

      Reply
    106. Jan Roberts says

      April 26, 2020 at 7:52 pm

      Thank you SO much, Kelsey. This is the only sane answer I have found. Took me quite a long time to get the proper answer. Awesome!!

      Reply
      • Kelsey Smith says

        April 27, 2020 at 9:46 am

        Happy to be of service.

        Reply
    107. Olivia S. says

      April 15, 2020 at 12:46 am

      Oh my... it was that easy? god thank you so much for writing this you are a savior

      Reply
      • Kelsey Smith says

        April 15, 2020 at 9:37 am

        It got all of us, you're not alone.

        Reply
    108. Hannibal Starbuck says

      April 14, 2020 at 4:45 pm

      Mahalo.

      Reply
      • Kelsey Smith says

        April 14, 2020 at 5:10 pm

        Happy to help!

        Reply
    109. TOI E HERSHMAN says

      April 06, 2020 at 10:36 pm

      Thanks Kelsey - super helpful!

      Reply
      • Kelsey Smith says

        April 14, 2020 at 5:11 pm

        Glad it worked!

        Reply
    110. CL Koay says

      March 30, 2020 at 9:59 am

      Thanks for this

      Reply
    111. Debi says

      March 26, 2020 at 8:32 am

      .......so simple yet so out of my grasp. Doh!!!

      thx

      Reply
    112. Brandy says

      March 16, 2020 at 9:01 am

      OMG! Thank you so much! I dont even know how I collapsed it in the first place. This was so simple, yet was driving me crazy because I couldn't figure out how to undo it. You are the best!

      Reply
      • Kelsey Smith says

        March 16, 2020 at 9:14 am

        You are more than welcome! Happy to help.

        Reply
    113. Manny Negron says

      March 11, 2020 at 11:41 am

      Thanks for keeping me from going crazy... this is soooooooooo unintuitive.

      Reply
    114. CORD THOMAS says

      March 05, 2020 at 3:52 pm

      I echo all the thanks. It was quite frustrating and glad to have my sidebar back.

      Reply
      • Kelsey Smith says

        March 05, 2020 at 5:27 pm

        Happy to help!

        Reply
    115. Cameo Lovell says

      March 01, 2020 at 11:00 am

      Thank you so much! This was driving me crazy!

      Reply
    116. Roberto says

      February 25, 2020 at 5:13 pm

      It was driving me crazy! - clearly the developers don't know how ppl use the email - specially for work

      Reply
    117. dennis says

      February 11, 2020 at 10:15 am

      Was going too fast and did it on accident - it was great to find your tip! thanks

      Reply
    118. Fred Wilbur says

      February 09, 2020 at 11:38 am

      Thanks, Kelsey. I'm a tech guy and sometimes the simplest of functions stump me. After weeks of that collapsing panel frustration, I decided to find the answer. You did well in describing this and I thank you for sharing your knowledge with us.

      Reply
    119. Arthur Grace says

      February 08, 2020 at 9:29 am

      Thank-you! Remain a star!

      Reply
    120. CH.NAGESWARA RAO says

      January 17, 2020 at 1:56 am

      Thanks for your help and the solution to the disappearing sidebar in gmail. It was driving me crazy!

      Reply
    121. Tamara says

      January 06, 2020 at 8:18 am

      Thank you so much! This has been driving me nuts!

      Reply
      • Kelsey Smith says

        January 06, 2020 at 10:15 am

        Happy to help!

        Reply
    122. Jenna says

      January 02, 2020 at 8:17 am

      Thank you!

      Reply
      • Kelsey Smith says

        January 02, 2020 at 9:12 am

        You're welcome!

        Reply
    123. Joann says

      December 30, 2019 at 10:34 am

      Thanks for the solution to the disappearing sidebar in gmail. It was driving me crazy!

      Reply
      • Kelsey Smith says

        December 30, 2019 at 10:59 am

        Happy to help, Joann. Thanks for commenting.

        Reply
    124. lotte says

      November 28, 2019 at 6:27 pm

      damn! this WAS SO HELPFUL!!

      Reply
    125. Michelle Walker says

      November 15, 2019 at 12:40 pm

      Doh!

      Reply
    126. Anne says

      November 13, 2019 at 6:05 am

      Thanks! I believe Google's Ux designers are trying to force their new Ux ideas too much.If you understand their concepts, yes, you may feel comfortable using their Ux. However, I believe the Ux should be 'natural'. In the natural world you don't tap hamburgers to drag a paper from under another paper.

      Reply
      • Kelsey Smith says

        November 13, 2019 at 9:32 am

        I think you're right, they're probably trying to lead the way while the rest of us are running to catch up.

        Reply
    127. Rena says

      November 08, 2019 at 11:06 pm

      Thank you so much! I was frustrated for days! I can't imagine what Google was thinking with this feature. The icons are strange and the constant opening/closing of the sidebar on hover was obnoxious. So happy!

      Reply
      • Kelsey Smith says

        November 09, 2019 at 3:03 pm

        I completely agree, I don't care for collapsing sidebars.

        Reply
    128. Sarah says

      November 07, 2019 at 8:53 pm

      Holy cow, been frustrated with this for months thinking it had to have been just a forced update that couldn't be changed. Otherwise I would have figured out how to roll it back by now, right? And to finally look it up and discover it's the most simple toggle... lol thanks so much, Kelsey!

      Reply
      • Kelsey Smith says

        November 08, 2019 at 9:57 am

        I completely agree with you, it was not an intuitive feature. I am happy I could help!

        Reply
    129. helen says

      November 07, 2019 at 7:30 am

      Over a year later and this is still useful! Thanks Kelsey, and now I know about your site, what you do and your dog Beta!

      Keep up the good work!

      Reply
      • Kelsey Smith says

        November 07, 2019 at 10:17 am

        You are quite welcome, Helen. Happy to help.

        Reply
    130. PD says

      September 16, 2019 at 11:58 am

      Thank you! A real god-send. You have done your required service to humanity.

      Reply
      • Kelsey Smith says

        September 16, 2019 at 12:03 pm

        You are too kind.

        Reply
    131. David Krein says

      September 14, 2019 at 12:44 pm

      Thank you, something that was so simple yet eluded me for too long. I agree with you, not everyone likes every enhancement. Picking and choosing is no longer an option.

      Reply
      • Kelsey Smith says

        September 16, 2019 at 12:03 pm

        Glad I could help!

        Reply
    132. NileD says

      September 13, 2019 at 10:32 pm

      THANK YOU! It was killing me......

      Reply
    133. Barbara Michalec says

      August 25, 2019 at 6:33 pm

      Thank you so much. I too hit the Main Menu bars by mistake without even noticing I'd done it. Next thing I knew, the sidebar was collapsing and not permanent. Your explanation was the only one I could find that I could understand ... and it worked beautifully. I was looking for a push-pin or something similar. I did see the Main Menu bars, but figured they would take me somewhere where I didn't want to go. Who would have thought that Main Menu = pin/unpin sidebar. Not me. Thanks again.

      Reply
      • Kelsey Smith says

        August 26, 2019 at 7:12 am

        Google has caused us all a lot of grief! I hope they consider improving this.

        Reply
    134. Jennifer says

      August 25, 2019 at 6:09 am

      Thanks for the tip!

      Reply
      • Kelsey Smith says

        August 26, 2019 at 7:11 am

        You're welcome, Jennifer!

        Reply
    135. Deborah G Robertson says

      August 17, 2019 at 6:18 am

      Thanks it was driving me nuts. I like new things but I am old school. I am also following your site. Lots of information tidbits. Have a great day. Thanks again.

      Reply
      • Kelsey Smith says

        August 17, 2019 at 6:53 am

        Happy I could help! Thanks for following, I appreciate it.

        Reply
    136. Lori says

      August 13, 2019 at 6:32 am

      Thank you so much! This is the first answer that worked after I looked a number of online forms. I cannot believe how easy it was to fix....thank you!!!

      Reply
      • Kelsey Smith says

        August 13, 2019 at 6:50 am

        You are very welcome. When it happened to me, I knew I couldn't be the only one.

        Reply
    137. Jerry says

      August 10, 2019 at 5:14 pm

      Yes! So easy yet so frustrating! THANK YOU!!

      Reply
      • Kelsey Smith says

        August 11, 2019 at 4:49 pm

        I'm very happy I could help out.

        Reply
    138. Jamie Allen says

      July 30, 2019 at 4:23 pm

      Lifesaver. I accidentally closed it and had no idea how to unhide it. Thanks.

      Reply
      • Kelsey Smith says

        July 31, 2019 at 7:42 am

        Happy to help.

        Reply
      • Charmaine says

        April 02, 2020 at 1:39 pm

        Totally! I didn't know what I clicked on when my sidebar collapsed, and I spent months in agony not knowing how to pull the sidebar back in. Coming to know about this fix from this article made it sound like it had been intuitive but obviously it wasn't. Thanks for this short explanation. 🙂

        Reply
    139. Will Manuel says

      June 17, 2019 at 4:42 pm

      Thanks for the help, needed this. It was frustrating me to no end lol!

      Reply
      • Kelsey Smith says

        June 18, 2019 at 7:28 am

        Happy to help!

        Reply
    140. Luke says

      May 22, 2019 at 1:30 pm

      Thank you!

      Reply
    141. Kathryn B Stakelin says

      April 20, 2019 at 1:47 pm

      I feel so stupid!!

      Reply
    142. Jake says

      January 01, 2019 at 10:53 pm

      Bless you!
      I must have accidentally toggled the gmail main menu "hamburger" icon without noticing it at the time. Thanks for showing us how to control this behavior. It seems Google is incapable of leaving well enough alone. Too bad my experiences with Yahoo mail and Microsoft mail have been even more frustrating.
      No wonder my adult children and their peers have largely moved to phone text instead of email. Not an option for my own clumsy thumbs, though.

      Reply
      • Kelsey Smith says

        January 04, 2019 at 4:36 pm

        Every now and then Google introduces a new feature or function that drives me crazy! I definitely understand.

        Reply
    143. Zohar says

      November 10, 2018 at 12:32 pm

      Thanks. Perfect!

      Reply
      • Kelsey Smith says

        November 10, 2018 at 12:56 pm

        Happy to help.

        Reply
    144. Sandy says

      November 07, 2018 at 6:22 pm

      Thanks for this. I was going crazy trying to figure out how to keep that thing open. Gmail getting less and less intuitive

      Reply
      • Kelsey Smith says

        November 08, 2018 at 4:21 pm

        I am right there with you. Very glad to help!

        Reply
        • sanjay says

          June 23, 2021 at 2:32 am

          Thank you so much Kelsey,Though a small thing i was not able to figure out how to make the sidebar from not collapsing.

          Reply
      • Carol says

        December 13, 2020 at 9:40 pm

        Thank you so much!

        Reply
      • lisa says

        February 11, 2021 at 4:38 pm

        DITTO!!! I was going crazy too!!! Thank you!

        Reply
      • Jen says

        July 06, 2021 at 11:48 am

        likewise this was also driving me crazy until i came across this on your blog - THANK YOU! (and too bad Google did not make this more intuitive or - at the very least - explain how to do this when they made the change)

        Reply
      • Charley Borremans says

        July 28, 2021 at 4:43 am

        You life saver you! I don't understand how this tip is already 3 years old. My menu must have been switched on all the time and inadvertently hidden at some point. Always thought it to be some new feature. Glad I know how to make it permanent again.

        Reply
      • Celine says

        August 10, 2021 at 4:02 pm

        Oh my god. THANK YOU SO MUCH! I am so happy you helped me with that feature. I was frustrated about 20 minutes of every day of my life ever since Google decided that we wanted a collapsed menu. The collapsed menu should be an 0PTION NOT A GIVEN! It's unfortunate that Google is obviously in control but their interface is frustrating and archaic. I'm just glad I found someone to help me fix it. YOU RULE!.

        Reply
        • Kelsey Smith says

          August 10, 2021 at 4:26 pm

          I'm so happy I could help, I was right there with you!

          Reply

    Primary Sidebar

    Photo of Kelsey Smith

    Hi, I'm Kelsey! I am a freelance content writer for college-level textbooks by day, mommy by night, and a blogger in between. I live in Knoxville, Tennessee with my husband, Xavier. When I'm not working, you might find me here, sharing easy comfort food recipes.

    More about me →

    Popular

    • Nutella overnight oats in a mason jar topped with strawberries, Nutella, and hazelnuts.
      Nutella Overnight Oats
    • Rotel chicken spaghetti being scooped out of a baking dish by a wooden spoon.
      Rotel Chicken Spaghetti
    • Small bowl of ground beef and sausage chili with shredded cheddar and diced avocado on top.
      Classic Beef and Sausage Chili
    • Meatloaf on a cutting board garnished with fresh parsley. Two one-inch slices are cut off the loaf.
      Meatloaf with Ritz Crackers

    Footer

    ↑ back to top

    About

    • About Me
    • Contact Me
    • Shop My Amazon Store
    • Privacy Policy

    Newsletter

    • Sign Up

    Follow Me

    • Instagram
    • Facebook
    • Facebook Recipe Group

    As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.

    Copyright © 2022 Kelsey Smith

    We use cookies to ensure that we give you the best experience on our website. If you continue to use this site we will assume that you are happy with it.Ok