How to Customize the ClickUp Chat Sidebar

What the ClickUp Chat sidebar controls

The Chat sidebar provides a navigational list of conversations connected to your ClickUp workspace. Depending on how the workspace is configured, chats may be associated with spaces, folders, lists, or other supported locations. The sidebar helps you move between those conversations without repeatedly searching through the full workspace.

It is important to separate three related ideas:

• Availability: whether the chat or chat view exists in the workspace.
• Visibility: whether that chat is currently shown in your Chat sidebar.
• Priority: whether the chat is pinned or otherwise kept close to the top of your working list.

Changing visibility does not normally mean deleting the conversation. It changes how easily the conversation can be reached from the sidebar. The exact labels and controls can vary as ClickUp updates its interface, so use the relevant chat, view, or more-options control when a label differs from the examples below.

Open the Chat sidebar and review its structure

Start from the main sidebar in your ClickUp workspace and select Chat. Review the list before changing anything. Look for conversations that are active, duplicated, difficult to identify, or no longer relevant to your current work.

1. Open ClickUp and locate the main sidebar.
2. Select Chat to open the Chat sidebar.
3. Review how conversations are grouped or labeled.
4. Identify the chats that support your current work and the ones that create unnecessary scanning.

Do not begin by pinning everything that looks important. First decide what deserves regular access. A sidebar with too many pinned chats loses the benefit of prioritization and becomes another long list.

Show or hide a chat in ClickUp

Hiding a chat is useful when the conversation still belongs in the workspace but does not need to remain in your everyday navigation. Examples include completed projects, infrequently used team discussions, and chats that are available through a parent location when needed.

Hide a chat

1. Open the Chat sidebar.
2. Find the conversation you want to remove from the sidebar view.
3. Open the chat’s available options, such as a more-options menu.
4. Choose the option to hide or remove the chat from the sidebar.
5. Confirm that the conversation no longer appears in the active sidebar list.

Hiding a chat should be treated as a navigation decision, not a records-management decision. Before hiding it, make sure team members know where the conversation can still be found and that it is not being used as the only place for an active handoff.

Show a hidden chat again

If a hidden conversation becomes relevant again, navigate to the space, folder, or list connected to it. Open the relevant chat view or view settings and look for the control that makes the chat visible in the Chat sidebar. Return to Chat and confirm that it is available again.

If the chat does not reappear, check whether the parent location is still active, whether the view was renamed, and whether you have the permissions needed to access it. A missing chat is not always a sidebar setting problem.

Pin important chats for faster access

Pinning is a way to mark conversations that deserve frequent access. Good candidates include an active delivery team chat, a current client project discussion, or a working channel used for daily coordination.

Pin a chat

1. Open the Chat sidebar.
2. Locate the conversation you want to prioritize.
3. Use the chat’s available options or pin control.
4. Confirm that the chat has moved into the pinned area or a higher-priority position.

To unpin a chat, use the same control on the pinned conversation. Review pinned chats when a project changes phase. A chat that was critical during delivery may no longer deserve priority during support or closure.

Use ClickUp’s hierarchy to organize conversations

The sidebar is easier to understand when chat names and locations follow the same logic as the rest of the workspace. Spaces often represent broad functions or work areas. Folders can group related projects or processes. Lists can represent specific workstreams, clients, or operational queues.

For example, a chat connected to a recruitment workflow might be easier to identify as “Business Analyst hiring” than as “Recruitment chat” if several roles are being managed at the same time. This is a hypothetical naming example, not a recommendation to create a separate chat for every small activity.

Consistent naming is especially important when people join the workspace later. A new team member should be able to infer a chat’s purpose from its location and name without opening several conversations to compare them.

A practical sequence for maintaining the sidebar

Use the following sequence when the Chat sidebar becomes difficult to scan:

This sequence prevents a common mistake: using pins and hidden chats to compensate for unclear workspace architecture. If people cannot tell which location owns a conversation, sidebar customization will only make the underlying problem less visible.

Diagnose a missing or confusing chat

When a conversation cannot be found, ask these questions in order:

This diagnostic separates a navigation issue from a workspace design issue. If the same confusion happens repeatedly, the answer may be a clearer location and naming standard rather than another sidebar adjustment.

Design the sidebar around ownership and decisions

A conversation is easier to manage when its purpose and owner are explicit. The owner does not need to moderate every message. Their responsibility is to ensure that the chat remains connected to the right work, that important decisions are not lost, and that the channel is retired or deprioritized when its purpose ends.

For example, imagine a delivery team using one chat for an active implementation and another for general department discussion. The implementation chat can be pinned while delivery decisions are being made. Once the implementation moves into support, the owner can unpin the delivery chat, update the relevant location if needed, and keep the history accessible without leaving it at the top of everyone’s navigation.

This is a small example of a broader systems principle: navigation should reflect business states. Active, paused, completed, and archived work should not all compete for the same level of visibility.

When ClickUp workspace design needs a broader review

If users repeatedly create duplicate chats, cannot tell where a conversation belongs, or rely on private messages for decisions that affect shared work, the issue may extend beyond the sidebar. Review the workspace structure, naming conventions, permissions, and handoff process before adding more views or integrations.

ConsultEvo’s ClickUp consulting service covers workspace architecture, workflows, dashboards, automation, and integrations. A related example of a tailored ClickUp recruitment workflow is available in the ClickUp hiring workflow portfolio.

The process-first approach is simple: clarify what each conversation is for, decide who owns it, place it in the right workspace location, and only then use visibility and pinning to improve navigation.