Jira and Confluence – New Navigation Experience

What's new?

Jira New Navigation (Cloud):

• Customisable Sidebar: The new navigation centres around a sidebar that users can personalise. Users can pin frequently used projects, filters, and dashboards for quick access, resize or collapse the sidebar for screen space, and use keyboard shortcuts (e.g., ] to expand, [ to collapse).

• Streamlined Project Navigation: Project admins can reorder or remove project tabs, set default views, and access project settings directly from the sidebar, making navigation more intuitive.

• Quick Access to Work Items: Features like “Recent,” “Starred,” and “For You” provide faster access to filters, dashboards, and issues, reducing clicks to resume work.

• Unified Design: The navigation aligns with other Atlassian products, offering a consistent look and feel across tools like Confluence and Bitbucket.

• Improved Search and Apps Access: Site-wide search includes Confluence and linked Bitbucket accounts, and apps are accessible directly from the sidebar.

Confluence New Navigation (Cloud):

• Unified Top Navigation Bar: A new top bar includes a “Home” link, product switcher, and quick access to recent pages, spaces, and people, improving cross-product navigation.

• Enhanced Home Page: The Confluence Cloud home page features a “Following” feed for relevant activity, a “Popular” feed for company-wide updates, and quick access to recent pages, making it easier to stay informed and resume work.

• Space Settings Accessibility: Space settings are now accessible from the top of the left navigation, with a refreshed, user-friendly interface for easier configuration.

• Editor Improvements: The cloud editor introduces new templates and different page formatting compared to Data Centre, though some macros lack feature parity, requiring testing during rollout.

UI/UX Impact Summary:

• Jira: The sidebar-driven navigation reduces navigation time, enhances personalisation, and aligns with modern software design, improving efficiency for frequent users. However, the removal of the legacy “issues” drop-down and reliance on the “Your Work” menu may require adjustment.

• Confluence: The updated home page and top navigation streamline content discovery and cross-product access, but differences in editor functionality and macro support may affect workflows reliant on specific features.

• Learning Curve: The shift to a new interface may initially disrupt workflows, particularly for users accustomed to the old navigation or Data Centre versions, necessitating training and communication.

Why is this happening?

Reasons for the Change:

• Global Rollout by Atlassian: Atlassian is rolling out the new navigation across Jira, Confluence, Jira Service Management, Jira Product Discovery, and Atlassian Home to standardise and modernise the user experience across its cloud products.

• Benefits Delivered:

  • Enhanced Efficiency: Customisable navigation and quick access to work items reduce time spent navigating, benefiting large teams like your 900+ users.

  • Consistency Across Products: The unified design ensures a seamless experience when switching between Atlassian tools, improving productivity for users accessing multiple products.

  • Modernised UX: The updated interface aligns with contemporary software design trends, making it more intuitive for new users and supporting future feature integrations.

• Strategic Alignment: Atlassian aims to phase out legacy navigation (already deprecated in Jira Cloud) to focus development on a single, scalable interface, reducing maintenance overhead and enabling new features like Forge app compatibility.

When will this happen?

Atlassian’s Default Rollout:

• The new navigation is being progressively rolled out, starting in April, 2025. Atlassian provides admins a window to test and enable the feature before it’s automatically activated.

• If admins do not manually enable the new navigation, Atlassian will automatically switch sites to the new navigation “a few weeks” after it becomes available, though exact dates vary by instance.

If you prefer Specific Cutover Date:

• Admin-Controlled Rollout: Jira admins can enable the new navigation via Jira Labs by toggling “Turn on just for you” to test, then “Turn on for everyone” to roll it out to all users. This allows you to choose a specific date and time for the cutover.

• Recommendation: To manage the impact on your users, select a low-activity period (e.g., a weekend or evening) and coordinate with Atlassian support or solution partner to confirm your instance’s rollout window. Contact Atlassian via their support portal (Atlassian Support ) to request a specific cutover date, though availability depends on their schedule.

Who Is Impacted?

• All Jira and Confluence Users: The new navigation affects all users of Jira, Jira Service Management, and Confluence Cloud across your organisation.

• Specific Impacts:

  • End Users: All employees using Jira for project tracking, issue management, or workflows, and Confluence for documentation or collaboration, will experience the new interface. The learning curve may affect productivity initially, especially for non-technical users.

  • Admins: Project and site admins will need to configure sidebar settings, project tabs, and space settings, and may face additional tasks during user acceptance testing (UAT) for macros and integrations.

  • Developers: Teams using custom Forge or Connect apps may need to update apps to support the new navigation, as it includes navigation-specific context (e.g., isNewNavigation boolean).

Where can I get more information?

• For Jira, check out https://support.atlassian.com/jira-software-cloud/docs/what-is-the-new-navigation-in-jira/
• For Confluence, check out https://support.atlassian.com/confluence-cloud/docs/what-is-the-new-navigation-in-confluence/