If your admin has enabled the Enhanced Navigation Labs feature, you can access Looker’s redesigned navigation experience, which includes the following changes:

• The Development Mode toggle has been moved from the Develop menu to the bottom of Looker’s new enhanced left navigation panel.
• Looker no longer displays a Browse menu; instead, the options formerly in the Browse menu are now options in the new enhanced left navigation panel.
• The Explore and Develop menus have been moved and are now options in the new enhanced left navigation panel.
• The Admin menu has also been moved into the new enhanced left navigation panel.

Overview

If your Looker admin has enabled the Enhanced Navigation Labs feature, Looker’s main navigation is located in the left navigation panel in the app. When the Enhanced Navigation Labs feature is enabled, Looker does not display a Browse menu. Instead, the options formerly in the Browse menu are now options in the left navigation panel:

Depending on your permissions, you can access the Explore, Develop, and Admin menus from the new enhanced left navigation panel. The Development Mode toggle is also located in the new enhanced left navigation panel.

As of Looker 21.12, when the Enhanced Navigation Labs feature is turned on, Looker displays the Browse, Explore, Develop, and Admin menus in the top navigation bar when an admin views a page in the Admin panel.

See the Using the enhanced navigation panel section on this page for more information about the options available in the left navigation panel.

New enhanced navigation changes

The following is a summary of changes to Looker’s main navigation when the Enhanced Navigation Labs feature is enabled:

When the Enhanced Navigation Labs feature is enabled, Looker does not display the Browse menu. Instead, the options previously available in the Browse menu and left navigation are located in the new, enhanced left navigation panel:	When the Enhanced Navigation feature is not enabled, Looker displays the Browse menu and left navigation panel:

When the Enhanced Navigation Labs feature is enabled, the Explore and Develop menus are located in the new enhanced left navigation panel:	When the Enhanced Navigation feature is not enabled, the Explore and Develop drop-down menus are located in the top navigation bar:

When the Enhanced Navigation Labs feature is enabled, the Home, Recently Viewed, and Favorites options are located in the new enhanced left navigation panel. You can also expand the Recently Viewed and Favorites sections of the left navigation panel to reveal their contents:	When the Enhanced Navigation feature is not enabled, you can access the Home, Recently viewed, Favorites, and Popular pages by selecting them from the Browse menu or left navigation panel:

When the Enhanced Navigation Labs feature is enabled, you can expand the Boards section to display a list of boards that you have created or followed. You can also expand a board in the list to reveal its sections, and you can navigate to Looks and dashboards that have been pinned to a board directly from the new enhanced left navigation panel:	When the Enhanced Navigation feature is not enabled, boards that you have created or followed are listed in the Boards section of the Browse menu and left navigation panel, and you can navigate to a board by selecting its name from the Boards section:

When the Enhanced Navigation Labs feature is enabled, you can expand the Folders section of the new enhanced left navigation panel to reveal a list of folders including your default folder, your personal folder, and the All folders folder:	When the Enhanced Navigation feature is not enabled, you can access your default folder, your personal folder, and the All folders folder from the Browse menu and left navigation panel:

When the Enhanced Navigation Labs feature is enabled, users with the appropriate permissions can access the Development Mode toggle from the left navigation panel:	When the Enhanced Navigation feature is not enabled, the Development Mode toggle is located in the Develop drop-down menu in the top navigation bar:

When the Enhanced Navigation Labs feature is enabled, admins can open the Admin panel by selecting the Admin option in the new enhanced left navigation panel:	When the Enhanced Navigation feature is not enabled, admins can access the Admin panel by selecting the Admin menu in the top navigation bar:

See the Using the enhanced navigation panel section on this page for more information on the navigation options you can access from the new enhanced left navigation panel when the Enhanced Navigation Labs feature is enabled.

Using the enhanced navigation panel

This section describes the following options in the new enhanced left navigation panel:

• Explore
• Develop
• Home
• Recently Viewed and Favorites
• Boards
• Folders
• Development Mode

Explore panel

An Explore is a starting point for a query, designed to explore a particular subject area. Users can view a list of Explores in the Explore panel. You open the Explore panel by selecting the Explore option in the new enhanced left navigation panel:

Navigating to an Explore

Selecting the Explore option in the left navigation panel opens the Explore panel, which displays a list of models and the Explores that are defined within each model. For example, the eCommerce model in the following example contains the Explores Customers, Inventory, and Order Items.

Users can select the name of an Explore in the new enhanced left navigation panel to open the Explore to query data from the fields’ (dimensions and measures) in that Explore.

For more information about building and modifying Explore queries in Looker, see the Exploring data in Looker documentation page.

Expanding and collapsing the left navigation panel

When a user navigates to an Explore, the new enhanced left navigation panel is collapsed by default. Users can select the hamburger icon to open the left Explore panel:

This opens the Explore panel in the new enhanced left navigation panel. Users can navigate back to the main navigation by selecting the close Explore back button:

Develop panel

Users with develop permissions can open the Develop panel by selecting Develop in the left navigation panel:

The Develop panel displays options for accessing the Content Validator, SQL Runner, and the LookML Projects page, in addition to a list of projects:

Navigating to a LookML project

You can use the Find a Project search bar to narrow the list of projects to display only projects with titles that contain the search term that is entered. To navigate to a project, select the name of the project you want to view:

Expanding and collapsing the left navigation panel

When you navigate to a page from the Develop menu, Looker collapses the new enhanced left navigation panel by default. You can open the left navigation panel by selecting the hamburger icon in the top navigation bar:

Home

You can select Home in the new enhanced left navigation panel to navigate to your homepage:

See the Viewing content on your homepage section of the Finding content in Looker documentation page for more information about homepage settings in Looker.

Recently Viewed and Favorites

When the Enhanced Navigation Labs feature is enabled, you can access the Favorites and Recently Viewed pages from the new enhanced left navigation panel:

Click the arrows next to the Recently Viewed or Favorites sections of the new enhanced left navigation panel to expand a list of Looks and dashboards that you have recently viewed or that you have added to your favorites.

You can also click Recently Viewed or Favorites from the new enhanced left navigation panel to open the Recently Viewed or Favorites pages.

Boards

Boards in Looker provide a way for teams to find curated dashboards and Looks. You can access a list of boards that you have created or that you have added to your list of boards from the left navigation panel.

Opening a board from the left navigation panel

You can select the title of a board in the Boards section of the new enhanced left navigation panel to open that board:

Expanding the contents of a board in the left navigation panel

You can expand a board to display a list of its sections directly in the left navigation panel:

Similarly, you can expand the sections of a board to display any Looks or dashboards that have been pinned to that section of the board:

Hovering over the name of a pinned Look or dashboard reveals a tooltip that indicates whether that content is a Look or a dashboard. You can open a Look or a dashboard that has been pinned to a board by selecting the name of that Look or dashboard.

Creating or finding a board from the left navigation panel

To create a new board or find a specific board, select the plus icon in the Boards section:

Removing a board from your list of boards in the left navigation panel

You can also select the three-dot menu that appears when you hover over a board to remove it from your left panel:

Folders

When the Enhanced Navigation Labs feature is enabled, you can access folders from the new enhanced left navigation panel.

The Folders section of the left navigation panel includes your default folder, your personal folder, and the All folders folder.

To view a list of your folders, expand the Folders section in the left navigation panel:

Select the name of that folder in the new enhanced left navigation panel to navigate to that folder.

Development Mode

Users with develop permissions can enter Development Mode to make and test LookML changes.

When the Enhanced Navigation Labs feature is enabled, you can enable Development Mode by selecting the Development Mode toggle in the new enhanced left navigation panel:

When Development Mode is enabled, Looker displays a banner at the top of the screen; this banner includes the option to Exit Development Mode:

You can also turn off Development Mode by selecting the Development Mode toggle in the left navigation panel.

For admins: Accessing the Admin panel

When the Enhanced Navigation Labs feature is enabled, admins can access the Admin panel by selecting the Admin option in the new enhanced left navigation panel:

When you select the Admin option in the new enhanced left navigation panel, the left navigation panel displays an expandable list of sections in the Admin panel:

You can view and navigate to the pages in the Admin panel by expanding the different sections of the Admin panel.