Atlassian is rolling out a new navigation system for Jira Cloud making it more consistent across all Atlassian products: Jira, Jira Product Discovery, Jira Service Management, and Confluence.
The most impactful change is moving the top navigation bar to a vertical sidebar on the left, with the goal of simplifying, decluttering, and modernizing Jira’s navigation—while also making it easier for teams to work across Atlassian’s suite of products.
Key benefits of the new UI:
- Better organization – the new sidebar allows quick access to recent and starred items. You can also customize it to fit your workflow;
- More focus – a clear separation between global navigation (top bar) and project-specific tools (sidebar) makes it easier to find what you need while facilitating movement between Jira and other Atlassian products;
- Improved productivity – a more intuitive, modern and streamlined interface helps you complete tasks faster and work seamlessly across Jira and other Atlassian products, minimizing context switching.
More than just a visual change in position, the new redesigned sidebar offers greater customization. Users can remove unnecessary options, reorder key elements, and streamline their workspace based on their roles.
Key updates include:
- Enhanced Sidebar customization – hide irrelevant options and rearrange items for a cleaner interface;
- Merged “Your Work” section – combines key elements for a more intuitive experience;
- Custom Display settings – choose how starred and recent projects appear;
- Collapsible Sidebar – expand or minimize it to maximize screen space;
- Global Top Bar – consolidates settings, notifications, and search for easier access;
- Project Board Menu - fully customize your project planning options according to your needs;
- New Project Settings location – now in a more intuitive dropdown menu in the meatball menu when hovering each project.
What do these changes mean to Xray?
Accessing the Testing Board
Project Board
With these changes, Xray’s Testing board now has a new “home.” You can find it within the Project Board menu on the top part of your projects’ options, previously on the left-side menu.
Image 1 - Accessing Testing Board (New UI)
You can add the Testing Board to your default view by clicking the “Add to Navigation” button. In the new UI, you can rearrange the Project Board by dragging and dropping each tab into your desired position across the menu.
“Apps” menu on the Sidebar
Just like before, you can access the Testing Board directly from the Xray App. Now, selecting Xray opens the app directly from the sidebar instead of navigating to a new page, improving your experience with Xray.
Navigate to “Apps” and select “Xray.” The Testing Board can be quickly accessed from the drop-down menu.
Figure 2 - Accessing the Testing Board from Apps
There were no other changes within the Testing Board, so you can find all the same options in the same places.
Setting up Xray at a project level
Since the top bar has been reserved for global settings and notifications, every Project-level configuration is now accessible through the left-side navigation menu. To configure Xray settings, go to the Project Settings menu (click the meatball menu next to the project name).
Figure 3 - Access Project Settings at project level
Once inside the Project Settings menu scroll down to “Apps” and select “Xray Settings.”
Figure 4 - Access Xray Settings at project level
From this point on, you will enter the Xray setting menu, where no additional changes were made, so you can configure your project as you did before.
Gradual rollout & adoption
The rollout begins in March 2025 for standard edition users, followed by premium and enterprise customers later in the year. Free editions and new trials will automatically feature the updated navigation. Sandbox environments will allow admins to opt-in and test changes before full implementation.
Other than navigation updates, all of Xray’s features and functionalities remain unchanged. Once you adjust to the new layout, everything will work as it always has—just with a more streamlined experience.
