---
key: find-your-way-around
title: Find your way around
audience: staff
section: getting-started
routes: ["/dashboard"]
since: 0.0.1
updated: 0.0.1
status: published
summary: Learn the sidebar sections and hub pages, search and bookmarks, your account menu, switching branches and organizations, and where to get help.
keywords: [menu, home, dashboard, sidebar, search, bookmark, switch company, help, support]
related: [sign-in-to-nova, search-for-anything, customize-your-dashboard, find-a-setting, switch-between-your-organizations, use-the-notification-center, find-your-way-around-a-record]
---

After you sign in, Nova opens the **Dashboard**. The page address is `/dashboard`. Everything else is a click or two away: the sidebar on the left lists the areas of Nova, and the top bar holds the page title, search, notifications, help and your account menu.

## Steps

1. In the sidebar, select a section to open it. The sections are the areas of your work, such as **Accounts**, **Operations**, **Sales & Billing** and **Communications**. Each section lists its pages. For example, **Accounts** holds **All Accounts**, **All Leads**, **All Customers**, and **Contacts**. Which sections and pages you see depends on your plan, your role and your company's menu size (see [[choose-your-menu-size]]).
2. At the bottom of the sidebar, **Settings** and **Administration** are one link each. Each opens a page of cards grouped under headings, with a search box at the top. See [[find-a-setting]]. In the same way, **Reports Center** under **Reports** lists every report in Nova on one page.
3. Select a page to open it. Its name appears in the top bar, and the sidebar highlights where you are. Select your organization's name or logo at the top of the sidebar to return to the **Dashboard**.
4. To find anything, select **Search** (the magnifying glass) in the top bar, or press Ctrl+K (Cmd+K on a Mac), and start typing. Nova matches people, companies, phone numbers, work orders, and pages as you type. Select a result to open it. See [[search-for-anything]].
5. To keep a page you use often, select **Add bookmark** (the bookmark icon beside the page title). A plain page is added straight away. A page with filters on asks you to name the bookmark and choose **Just the page** or **The page with these filters**, then select **Add bookmark**. The page joins **Bookmarks** in the sidebar.
6. To rename or remove a bookmark, open its ⋯ menu under **Bookmarks** and select **Rename**, **Move to folder**, or **Delete**.
7. Select your picture or initials at the right end of the top bar to open your account menu. From here you can open your **Profile**, open **Help** (the question-mark button), switch between light and dark mode, or **Logout**.
8. If you belong to more than one organization, the same menu lists them under **Organizations**. Select one to switch; Nova reloads with that organization's records.
9. If your organization works from more than one branch, a branch button sits in the top bar. Select it to choose the branch you are working in. Pages that cover the whole organization show **All branches** instead.

## What you see

- Your dashboard can contain the widgets you use most. See [[customize-your-dashboard]] to arrange them, change filters, or save a shared layout.
- The bell in the top bar opens your **Notifications**. Select one to jump to the record it is about.
- On a phone or a narrow window the sidebar hides. The menu button at the top left opens it, and it closes again when you pick a page.
- You can drag the sidebar's edge to make it wider or narrower, or collapse it to gain room.
- The bottom of the sidebar has three buttons: **Help** (the question mark), **Support** (the headset) and, if your role can change the menu settings, **Customize sidebar** (the sliders), which opens the sidebar settings. Rest the pointer on a button to see its name. The Nova version sits beside them; select it for **What's new**.

## If something looks different

- A shorter sidebar is normal. Your admin decides which areas your role can open, and Nova hides the rest.
- Your admin can also rename sections, reorder them, or add links for the whole team, so the names above may differ in your organization.
- Stuck? **Help** (the question-mark button in the top bar, in your account menu, or at the bottom of the sidebar) opens the help articles for the page you are on, with **Report a problem** if something is broken. **Support** (the headset at the bottom of the sidebar) opens the support page. [[route:/support|Open Support]]

The Contact link on Nova emails opens the public contact page at `/contact`. It shows Nova’s company name, mailing address, support phone and support email. You can use it without signing in. Emails from a business use that business’s own contact link instead.

Select **Help** on the Contact page to browse all help articles. If you are signed in, Help keeps your current organization, enterprise or platform workspace, even if you do not belong to an organization. If you are signed out, the public help site opens.

## Go back from a drawer

Opening a detail, editor or settings drawer changes the page address. Use your browser's Back button, the phone's Back action, or a browser back swipe to return to the screen underneath. If you opened another drawer inside it, Back returns one level at a time. The drawer's close button returns to its caller too.

You can copy a drawer address to reopen the same saved record or setting. The person opening it still needs access to that organization and record. A direct link opens without requiring the original list row to be visible. Closing a direct link returns to the containing page.

Unsaved edits stay in the open form while you visit a child drawer, such as Help. Leaving the editor asks how to handle unsaved changes. A copied address contains the selected record or setting, not your unfinished form entries. Files that have not been uploaded are available only in the draft where you selected them.

Menus, confirmations and sign-in challenges are temporary controls. They do not have shareable addresses. A back swipe depends on your browser and device supporting that gesture.