# Navigation sections

> For the complete documentation index, see [llms.txt](https://falconer.com/docs/llms.txt).

Tabs, groups, anchors, and links, how each renders on the site, and how to control what's published, hidden, or private.


Tabs, groups, anchors, and links, how each renders on the site, and how to control what's published, hidden, or private.

The **Docs** view is a tree of sections and pages. Drag to reorder or nest, and the site follows. Every section has a kind that decides how it renders.

## The four kinds

| Kind | On the site | Can hold pages | Can have a URL |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| **Group** | A labeled, collapsible list of pages in the sidebar | Yes | No |
| **Tab** | A section in the site header. The sidebar shows only that tab's pages. | Yes | Optional |
| **Anchor** | A heading in the sidebar that never collapses, with its pages under it | Yes | Optional |
| **Link** | An entry in the navigation that goes to another website | No | Required |

![A published site with header tabs, a sidebar anchor, and groups](/docs/images/public-docs-navigation-site.png)

### Groups

A group is what **Add folder** creates. On the site it's a collapsible section that starts open. Visitors can collapse it, and the site remembers their choice; a group that holds the current page always opens. Groups nest inside groups, anchors, and tabs.

### Tabs

Tabs split a large site into top-level areas, such as Documentation and API reference. They sit directly under the site root; a tab nested deeper renders as a group. The header shows one entry per tab, and clicking one lands on its first page. On phones the tabs appear at the top of the sidebar.

Give a tab a URL and it becomes an **external link tab**: it goes to another site and holds no pages. A tab with no pages and no URL isn't shown as a tab.

Pages outside every tab still publish. They show in the sidebar when the visitor is on one of them; on a site where everything else is in tabs, a visitor on such a page sees the first tab's sidebar.

### Anchors

An anchor is a heading in the sidebar. Unlike a group it never folds, so its pages are always visible. Use anchors to break a long sidebar into named parts. An anchor with a URL and no pages renders as a plain link.

### Links

A link points at another website, such as a community forum or your main site. It can't hold pages, and its address has to start with `http://` or `https://`.

## Create and change sections

Right-click the **Published** header or a section, or click its **...** button.

| To | Do this |
| --- | --- |
| Add a group | **Add folder** |
| Add a tab | **Add tab** on the Published header |
| Add an anchor | **Add anchor** |
| Add an external link in the header | **Other > Add external link tab**, then enter a **Label** and a **Destination** URL |
| Change a section's kind | **Convert to**, then **Group**, **Tab**, or **Anchor**. **Tab** is offered only for sections directly under the site root. |
| Change a link's address | Click the section; its link dialog opens |
| Reorder or nest | Drag, or use **Move** |
| Rename | **Rename**, or click the name |
| Remove | **Remove from Docs**. Pages keep their files. See [Unlink a page](https://falconer.com/docs/public-docs/docs-and-files-views.md#unlink-a-page). |

Creating and converting sections needs an organization owner. A section with no pages is left out of the site.

## Private and hidden

Right-click a section and open **Publishing options**. The two settings are independent.

| Option | What it does |
| --- | --- |
| **Restrict access** | Marks the section private. Nothing in it is built, so it's absent from the site, search, Ask the docs, the sitemap, and `llms.txt`. Choose **Open access** to publish it again. |
| **Hide from navigation** | Builds the pages but leaves them out of the sidebar and search, and marks them `noindex` for search engines. Visitors can still open them from a direct link. Choose **Show in navigation** to list them again. |

Access is inherited. A section with no setting of its own follows its parent, and the site root is public, so the menu always shows the opposite of the section's current effective state. A private section's pages are private too, and the setting is stored only where it differs from the parent.

In the Docs tree, a section with its own setting shows a small icon after its name: a lock for **Private: not built on the site**, or a crossed-out eye for **Hidden: left out of the site menu and search**. Pages inside it inherit without showing the icon.

To publish one page inside a private section, set `access: public` in that page's frontmatter.

## Page settings

A page's frontmatter can set `hidden` and `access` for that one page, and `access` on a page wins over its section's setting. The full list of keys is on [Write pages](https://falconer.com/docs/public-docs/write-pages.md#page-settings).

A page's address comes from its file path, not from its frontmatter or its place in Docs. See [Docs view and Files view](https://falconer.com/docs/public-docs/docs-and-files-views.md).