UX Feedback: Board Sidebar

[Paul Vincent Dutcher]

I’m really enjoying the new Trello design—it’s clean, minimalist, and the rounded elements are aesthetically pleasing. Trello is meant to enhance productivity, making workflows faster and smoother, not hinder them. However, there’s one significant usability issue affecting our workflow.

Previously, we had all our boards neatly listed down the left-hand side, making it effortless to switch between them quickly. Now, with the updated design, boards are tucked away behind a single button at the bottom. In our large organization, and I imagine for many other users, we rarely stay on a single board for an extended period. We constantly switch between multiple boards throughout the day.

The new setup means we now have to click the button each time and then search for the board we need, significantly slowing down our productivity. It would greatly enhance user experience if Trello offered an option to restore the previous sidebar layout or introduced an expandable sidebar listing all the boards a user belongs to for rapid navigation.

Such a feature would be immensely helpful and appreciated, preserving both the beauty of the new design and the efficiency we’ve come to rely on.

[Gizat Makhanov]

This.

[Daydreamer Mike]

Hi @Paul Vincent Dutcher 

I have been using the new Trello design since it was in closed beta so have had >5months with it...At first, I felt the same as you about the board switcher and yearned for the side bar to be back. 

That feeling waned over time and now I don't miss it at all.  The board switcher is just a different way of doing things with pros and cons when comparing to the sidebar.  I realised in my case, it was the change I found difficult, not the implementation.  

I think feedback saying, "Bring the old sidebar back" is not the way to approach this, i'm certain the new board switcher is here to stay and furthermore it better fits the new direction of Trello.  

So, my suggestion is to provide feedback by answering this question, "What improvements can be made to the new board switcher to make it more usable to you?"

I know the Trello team are evaluating feedback in this particular area, across hundreds of thousands of users and generally speaking the response is positive.  It's perhaps us long-term Trello users that are more stuck in the old way still.  The team are working on what they can do to make the board switcher experience better for all users so they WILL take your feedback on board...

One thing I would love to see is a "Recents" and "Stared boards" shortcut to be available direct from the UK, without going into board switcher....This will enable quick switching, which is probably the main thing from your original message that your users would benefit from...

[ACE]

Hi. I understand your point of view, @Daydreamer Mike  Personally, I love changes and improvements in any work application. Especially improvements suggested by experienced users. I'm not sure if the changes I've seen in the beta are in response to those suggestions for improvements from those users or rather to attract new users for personal, non-business use.
You know that there are many things that don't work well in Trello or could be significantly improved, and that there are hundreds of suggestions and complaints from many veteran and/or new users (many of them very easy to implement/solve at the programming level).
I'd like to ask you, since you've tested the beta much more than I have: What do you think is better about using 2 or 3 clicks instead of just one when switching boards? And in general, your opinion of the improvements we've seen in the beta? Thanks, friend.

[Paul Vincent Dutcher]

Hi @Daydreamer Mike ,

While I appreciate your anecdotal experience, dismissing critical usability concerns as merely resistance to change oversimplifies and trivializes legitimate workflow disruptions. Trello is akin to a Swiss Army knife—every user leverages it differently. For you, replacing a knife with a fork may seem insignificant because you rarely use it, but for those who regularly cut ropes, such a change is catastrophic.

In our large organization—which I personally introduced Trello into—rapid switching between numerous boards isn't a preference; it's a fundamental requirement.

The removal of immediate sidebar access isn't simply an inconvenience—it fundamentally impairs productivity. Your assumption that this shift represents mere resistance to change overlooks the complexity and intensity of our daily operational needs.

Adaptability to new designs is indeed essential, but any worthwhile change must enhance functionality, not degrade it. The current board switcher, despite your personal acclimation, is objectively less efficient for organizations that rely heavily on swift board navigation.

If Trello permanently removes the sidebar, we—and many other extensive user groups that have voiced similar concerns in this forum—will be forced to reevaluate our platform choice, potentially migrating our entire workflow to alternative tools like Monday. Your approach suggests that user feedback should simply conform to the new design rather than critique fundamental flaws, which disregards the varied and significant needs of different user bases.

I strongly urge the Trello team to thoughtfully reconsider reintroducing a sidebar option or developing a genuinely effective alternative, such as a persistent or expandable board list. The longevity and effectiveness of Trello within large, workflow-intensive organizations rely on recognizing and addressing these diverse and critical user needs.

[Michael Stephenson]

@ Paul Vincent Dutcher ... well said.

[Daydreamer Mike]

Hi @Paul Vincent Dutcher 

In our large organization—which I personally introduced Trello into—rapid switching between numerous boards isn't a preference; it's a fundamental requirement.

I understand this and it is the one area of the change I am still wrestling with, I think/hope that the team will release some changes that will mitigate this... 

The removal of immediate sidebar access isn't simply an inconvenience—it fundamentally impairs productivity. Your assumption that this shift represents mere resistance to change overlooks the complexity and intensity of our daily operational needs.

My reference to "resistance to change" is based on my own real experience and I am not saying to to challenge your point, I'm saying it to give you hope.  I am a Trello consultant so I am constantly switching between boards and workspaces as I bounce from many different client workspaces.  I was a very heavy user of the left navigation bar. I am saying it was incredibly inconvenient at the beginning but over time, it got easier and I have found from speaking with other Beta users, people find their own way to make it work... 

If Trello permanently removes the sidebar, we—and many other extensive user groups that have voiced similar concerns in this forum—will be forced to reevaluate our platform choice, potentially migrating our entire workflow to alternative tools like Monday. Your approach suggests that user feedback should simply conform to the new design rather than critique fundamental flaws, which disregards the varied and significant needs of different user bases.

Monday is a great tool, don't get me wrong. I am a certified Monday consultant also so am very well aware of its strengths and weaknesses. If you want to consider such a tool because it offers levels of functionality beyond what Trello does, that is well worth looking into...But, in no instance have I ever seen Monday be more efficient with users time.  It is a tool where for it to work, users spend more time in it, not less.

On your second part...what I am saying is that you can criticise any part of Trello but the facts are they are very unlikely to backtrack on the board switcher, so instead of just saying the new board switcher is rubbish and you want the left navbar back, you will stand more of a chance in getting them to change something if you offer suggestions as to how they could make the board switcher fit your needs better.  What can be added to the board switcher to get it closer to what you need?!  You have taken this as me pushing back but I'm trying to help you...

[Daydreamer Mike]

Hi @ACE 

Thanks for your well rounded response.

Hi. I understand your point of view, @Daydreamer Mike  Personally, I love changes and improvements in any work application. Especially improvements suggested by experienced users. I'm not sure if the changes I've seen in the beta are in response to those suggestions for improvements from those users or rather to attract new users for personal, non-business use.

Trello had been meandering for years, with no meaningful updates and no identity amongst the Atlassian portfolio.  The awkward truth is Trello was losing out for business and project management to other solutions. Jira is also Atlassian's tool of choice for technical and business teams now.  The changes that have come give Trello a position within Atlassian that no other solution is hitting, individual productivity. The way I see it with Trello, it was change or die.

On the whole what they've come up with is great, it's a gap in the market that is open to be exploited, it creates greater harmony with the rest of Atlassian portfolio and it introduces a new audience to Trello, while (theoretically) maintaining the existing user base.

You know that there are many things that don't work well in Trello or could be significantly improved, and that there are hundreds of suggestions and complaints from many veteran and/or new users (many of them very easy to implement/solve at the programming level).

Your comment about lots of suggestions they could implement and haven't, I get that and its mildly comforting to hear people who use other Atlassian products like Jira and Confluence complaining that there are features/bugs reported 10 years ago that still haven't been worked on. It's certainly not unique to Trello and its not even unique to Atlassian.  

One thing the Trello team (who are amazing btw) have to constantly contend with is the wide range of audience. The truth Atlassian don't want to hear is that Trello is effectively used for complex projects, with larger businesses and teams and it does an incredible job of it, but it also caters for a lot of non-technical audiences, Solopreneurs, freelancers and personal users.  This means there has to always be a judgement call over functionality v's simplicity, siding with maintaining simplicity a lot of the time, which is one of the reasons so many people love it.

The other thing worth mentioning is that the Trello team have done amazing things in the past 12 months with a very small team. Actually, what very few realise is during the past few years, when there were very few new features being released, they were busy doing wholesale rewrites of legacy code (code written before Atlassian's acquisition) to enable them to be able to release features and updates far faster from now on.  

I'd like to ask you, since you've tested the beta much more than I have: What do you think is better about using 2 or 3 clicks instead of just one when switching boards? And in general, your opinion of the improvements we've seen in the beta? Thanks, friend.

I'm still not 100% on the board switcher but certainly am not of the view they should throw it in the bin and return to the old design.  The new design is fresh, different and on the whole much better.  I think there are a couple of things that could be changed to improve it.  First thing, I tend to only switch between a handful of boards at any given time (3-4) so I want to see a quick switcher between recent boards and Starred boards.  I think/hope this is something Trello can and will do.  I also think we can get bogged down by clicks and actually what I realised with the nav bar is that it wasnt just about click reduction, it was about muscle memory in my brain. I basically did it on autopilot.  Over time, my brain was retrained to use the board switcher and now the difference in time between the 2 is negligible .

[ACE]

Thank you for your time and opinion @Daydreamer Mike . I really appreciate it.
On this point, I'm 100% with @Paul Vincent Dutcher .
As I mentioned before, I'm passionate about changes and improvements in any application in general, but above all, I'm fascinated by IMPROVEMENTS to things that are clearly improvable.

This time, it doesn't seem like an improvement at all, but rather a step backward.
I agree that (unless there were a galactic-sized number of complaints about the new way of accessing boards), they won't reverse it. And that's not going to happen because people generally have little time to come here to give their opinions, much less to support the immense amount of suggestions that Trello's people accumulate on that site, which isn't particularly accessible.

I've reported a few bugs and some suggestions. Something so silly yet so tedious (at least for me) that the shortcut to filter cards (F) doesn't work accurately with a capital F (as indicated on some official pages) but only with a lowercase f. LOL

I truly understand that for a small team, that amount of suggestions and reports can be overwhelming, and I understand even more that if those above ask you to "please" invest your time in programming new things to make Trello different and attractive to new users, you have to listen to them, because otherwise you'd have a serious problem. But this has a big drawback, which seems irrelevant to those above.

Why spend so much time and logistics recording so many suggestions for improvements and bug reports, only to then "ignore" them for months, even years? To truly keep users "enthusiastic" that their opinions and ideas are being taken into account?... When we see that they've dedicated so much effort and resources to new features that surely few people have asked for, and that in some cases even worsen what we already had, it's disheartening.
I'm back to the point: they'll do what they can with what they have and what they're told to do with their time, but I don't think spending more time trying to recruit new users, while ignoring those who currently pay, is the best strategy.

I also understand when you're referring to Trello's simplicity. That's right, it's one of its strengths. But incorporating configuration options has never been about complicating things, but rather about giving that wide range of client types customization options and adaptability to the program's tools and interface.

I've only been using Trello for a few months. I was also the one who introduced it to the company of my own volition; no one asked me to. I don't consider myself a great expert, but I'm the person ultimately responsible for ensuring all of this works properly within our organizational chart, and I've spent a lot of time configuring it to best suit us, and I continue to do so today. I think it's been a big change for us, and over the past few months I've seen the program's strengths and weaknesses, and I truly hope to continue reporting potential bugs and suggestions. I've been meaning to submit my ideas for a more adaptable and configurable interface, but sometimes I struggle to find the time to do so, as I spend between 8 and 12 hours a day using Trello, sometimes much more (including a fair amount of free time).

Let's keep talking. Hugs.

[pmselig]

I have tried the Beta several times and I always switched out of it because the left navigation is gone. 

With the new design (Beta), I have to click on a button to see the boards, and then I have to scroll around to find my board, which is not plainly in view.  Out of sight is out of mind.  So making the navigation harder is a no-win for me.

I'm looking at using Monday.com or Wekan with Docker.  But I would only switch if the left nav is removed when the beta is made final -- July 2025.

I am requesting that the left navigation showing Boards is retained.

[Ignat Ignatov]

Yes! I like the idea of the planner and the inbox, though I have issues with them, like the planner being slow to sync and not showing the title of the table the card comes from.

But, I just NEED my board list on the side too! I have to be able to quickly switch between my boards. The new middle of screen pop-up is not only slower, it shows the boards as big buttons, which some people might like, but it is not as efficient as a list, especially when you have many boards.

[Rafael Fischmann]

Please! +1