How do I disable the auto expand for "left navigation sidebar" and "right issue details sidebar"

[lord zheng]

Hi there,

In our cloud Jira, the "left navigation sidebar" and "right issue details sidebar" will automatically appear once in a while even if I have closed them.

This is freaking annoying and unreasonable.

This automatical expansion wastes my time and focus when I work within Jira if they somehow appear and takes up most of my screen.

If both of them are automatically opened, my actual working space are shrinked and almost half of my screen is taken up by the two panels which are useless and unhelpful.

I think if a user closes them, they should stay closed, right? And if I ever need them, I will manually open them.

Could someone take a look at this issue? I would appreciate if there is an option to disable such auto expansion.

[Peter_DevSamurai]

Hi @lord zheng , 

Right now in Jira Cloud there isn’t any setting to completely disable the auto‑expansion of

• the left navigation sidebar, or

• the right issue details panel on boards.

So what you’re seeing is expected behavior at the moment, not a configuration issue on your site. So the best way to push this forward is either:

1. Check if there’s already an open suggestion/bug for this in Atlassian’s public Jira (Jira Cloud project). -> Personally I cannot find one so you should create a new one 

2. If you don’t find one, create a new suggestion and include with evidences, for example:

   • Subject: Jira Cloud: Sidebars auto‑expand even after being collapsed
   • Description: 

     In Jira Cloud, both the left navigation sidebar and the right issue detail panel (on boards/backlog/issue view) will automatically expand again after I’ve manually collapsed them.

     This happens, for example, when:

     • Navigating between board, backlog, and issue views

     • Opening an issue from a link/bookmark or notification

     • Refreshing the page or opening Jira in a new tab

     • Expected behavior

       • If a user collapses the left navigation sidebar and/or the right issue detail panel, Jira should persist that choice per user and keep them collapsed across navigation and page reloads, and

       • The panels should only open again when the user explicitly expands them.

I hope everything works out well for you. 

Best regards, 

Peter

[Tomislav Tobijas]

Hey @lord zheng ,

Guessing that's not a good UX 🫤

I've never experienced this myself, but I'm guessing it could happen, although this should not be by design.

👉 Now, the best bet, if you're on a paid plan, would be to reach out to Atlassian Support where they will most likely ask you things like:

• Which browser are you using?
• Does this happen on specific pages or at random?
• If there is any pattern you could notice when panels open up/expand.

Support does have a team dedicated to these kinds of things (unusual UI behavior), and you'll most likely need to generate a HAR file (when things like this happen) and provide that to them.

I did manage to find a couple of, let's say, related feature requests/suggestions:

• JSDCLOUD-16441: Keep the sidebar collapsed when the option is selected even though the page is refreshed - assets as an app 
• JRACLOUD-86719: View Settings on Jira Boards should remain across devices and browsers 

But these are not 100% same as what you're experiencing. 🤔

Cheers,
Tobi