What’s changing in Jira and JSM apps with Atlassian’s GA launch of New navigation?

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We’re excited to announce the General Availability (GA) of Atlassian’s new navigation for Jira, Jira Service Management, Jira Product Discovery, Confluence, and Atlassian Home. In this article, you’ll find key details about what’s changing, when those changes will occur, and what they mean for App developers.

What’s changing when it comes to navigation?

Jira, Jira Service Management, and Jira Product Discovery	Atlassian Home	Confluence
Discover Jira’s fresh look and navigation.	Learn about Atlassian Home’s navigation.	Read about Confluence’s Navigation.

The new navigation is centered around customization capabilities and ease-of-use improvements. Designed to feel familiar to anyone who uses software products, it’s also the foundation for new features that are being built and will ship soon. We want to ensure everyone can take advantage of these enhancements as they roll out across all Atlassian products. Read about how we built the new navigation.

What’s changing with regards to Jira and Jira Service Management apps?

As Atlassian updates its navigation system, the locations for accessing Jira and Jira Service Management apps have also been modified as outlined below.

Feature	Old navigation experience	New navigation experience
Global apps are transitioning from the top navigation to the left navigation Modules: jira:globalPage Web-Item: global-navigation-product Web-Item: system.top.navigation.bar
Jira project apps are transitioning from the left navigation to horizontal tabs Modules: jira: projectPage Web-Item: jira:project.sidebar.navigation
Jira Service Management project apps are moving from the dedicated Apps section in the left navigation to within the left navigation of the Jira Service Management project Modules:  jira: projectPage Web-Item: jira:project.sidebar.navigation
Modification of entry point locations for board and backlog apps. Modules: Web-Item: jira.software.board.tools Web-Item: board-tools-1 Web-Item: view-actions-print
Global multi-page apps Reference
Jira project multi-page apps Forge reference Connect proof of concept code

Recommendations for Jira and JSM apps

1. For apps that will have a dual left navigation or dual tab experience in the old navigation, we recommend adopting subpages in Forge. For Connect, you can follow the POC code to get an idea of how to build app navigation that is compatible with Jira. In case the subpages concept doesn’t work for your use case and you would still want to have the app nav alongside Jira navigation, that’s still fine. Users will have the option to collapse the side navigation and tabs at their discretion, as illustrated below.

2. We recommend utilizing global apps that are accessible in the apps section of the Jira’s side navigation when operations are conducted across multiple projects. Conversely, apps situated at the project level (within tabs for Jira and in the side navigation of each project for JSM) should provide functionalities that specifically support operations within the context of the respective project.

What to expect?

For insights into the GA rollout strategy, please refer to the table below.

Note: The timelines are tentative only, and we’ll offer more clarity for the phases when we’re closer to the release. Please watch this page and see the public roadmap to get the status and more information on the new navigation.

Cohort	Timeline	Details
EAP and Beta participants	Ongoing	If you enrolled your site for new navigation during the EAP/Beta phase, the rollout process doesn’t impact you as we’ll not be disabling it for you and your users. You and users can continue the new navigation. We’ll remove the option to turn off the new navigation and enable the new navigation for all users on the site by mid-April 2025.
5% of sites on the Standard edition	Mar 17, 2025	We’ll start the new navigation rollout for 5% of sites on the Standard edition. The sites are chosen randomly and your admins are notified about the changes to the products.
Free edition	Mar 17, 2025	We’ll transition sites on the Free edition to the new navigation. Admins and users won’t be able to turn off the new navigation.
All sites have optional opt-in	Mid-April 2025	If you’re an admin of a site, you can turn on the new navigation: For just yourself For everyone on the site
Standard edition	Late April 2025	We’ll transition sites on the Standard edition to the new navigation. If you’re an admin, we’ll remove the option to turn off the new navigation and enable the new navigation for all users on the site. For Jira and Atlassian Home, users can still turn off the new navigation only for themselves until the end of May 2025. This will not affect anyone else on the site.
Premium edition	Mid-May 2025	We’ll transition sites on the Premium edition to the new navigation. If you’re an admin, we’ll remove the option to turn off the new navigation and enable the new navigation for all users on the site. For Jira and Atlassian Home, users can still turn off the new navigation only for themselves till mid-June 2025. This will not affect anyone else on the site.
Enterprise edition	June 2025	We’ll transition sites on the Enterprise edition to the new navigation. If you’re an admin, we’ll remove the option to turn off the new navigation and enable the new navigation for all users on the site. For Jira and Atlassian Home, users can still turn off the new navigation only for themselves till July 2025. This will not affect anyone else on the site.
100% rollout	July 2025	All users of all editions are on the new navigation.

Frequently asked questions about Jira and JSM Apps

We have compiled a list of frequently asked questions based on the inquiries we have received. This list will be updated frequently as we gather more questions.

	Question	Answer/Response
1	Can we identify whether the side navigation is collapsed or expanded? This capability would enable the app to load with the navigation in the preferred state or adjust its functionality accordingly.	Implementing this feature could lead to inconsistencies in Jira's navigation items and negatively impact the overall user experience. Consequently, we have decided not to pursue this solution.
2	Could we dynamically identify which customers are using the old or new navigation? This information would help us optimize the app's appearance until the new navigation is fully rolled out and the opt-out option is removed.	This feature is currently unavailable. The Jira team is exploring its implementation; however, we can't guarantee whether and when it will be available. We recommend optimizing your app for the new navigation.
3	Are there any plans to enable the addition of apps directly to the main navigation, beyond the designated app section in the left-side navigation?	No, there are no plans to allow the creation of apps outside of the designated app section in the left-side navigation.
4	I've noticed that my app link includes an ellipsis ('...') that directs users to "App settings." How is the target page for this link determined?	For Forge, it is a URL to the admin page, but if one is not defined, it links to the configuration page (if available). For Connect, a link to the first (top-most) admin page from the admin_plugins_menu location is returned
5	The project apps in Jira are organized into tabs, while they are situated in the left navigation panel within each Jira Service Management (JSM) project	The navigation structure has been finalized and tested with customer feedback.
6	The icons in the project navigation transform into ellipses for adminis when the tabs are active. Is this behavior expected?	Yes, this design is tailored to meet the accessibility needs of users.

In the meantime, join our focus group to stay updated, ask questions, raise concerns, and connect with the team working on the new navigation. 

Regards,
Atlassian Navigation Team

[Pablo Silva]

I've been using it for a few months and... 
... although I agree with the reasons why, like refresh, adapt to a 21:9 screen with more space on the sides.
I don't like the end result, it's not only because of change, as any other may require time to adapt, but it added more clutter on both ver and horiz menus, and is more confusing and slow to reach where we want. 

I appreciate the effort, but... needs improvement.

[Shraddha]

We as admins have tested these features in the EAP phase for our sandbox instance and honestly we are still not adapted to the new features. It's a lot of clicks, back and forth navigation of pages, let alone the clutter on the left panel.

I wish Atlassian can provide the option to disable this feature for folks who not like or are getting adapted.

[Yatish Madhav]

Thanks for this post @Chandana Meka