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How to remove the Recycle Bin from a SharePoint team site’s navigation menu

I recently had someone ask me how you could remove the Recycle Bin from a modern SharePoint team site’s left-hand navigation menu. Even if you click Edit on the navigation menu, Recycle Bin disappears as an option you can change. So how can it be done?

While it’s not the most straightforward process, it is possible to remove Recycle bin from a site’s navigation menu but it will require activating the SharePoint Server Publishing Infrastructure site collection feature.

Before you proceed, please read about this feature and its impacts in its entirety and check out Gregory Zelfond’s excellent write-up on the advantages and disadvantages here.

If you’d still like to proceed, and you’re the site’s owner, follow these steps to remove Recycle bin from your menu (video at bottom).

  1. Go to the site for which you wish to remove Recycle bin’s link
  2. Go to Site contents > Site settings
  3. Select Site collection features from the Site Collection Administration section
  4. Activate the SharePoint Server Publishing Infrastructure feature (this may take a minute or two)

Your Recycle bin has now been removed from your navigation menu, but you can still access it via Site contents > Recycle bin.

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How to change a SharePoint site theme and navigation (Video)

You can change your SharePoint site’s navigation menus and overall theme. This lesson demonstrates how to get started.

This video is part of my FREE 30+ lesson self-paced online training course called Collaboration in Microsoft 365 (OneDrive, SharePoint, and Teams). Enroll today at https://www.NateTheTrainer.com for the full learning experience including lesson discussions, quizzes, exams, and a completion certificate.

You can also watch the entire course as a YouTube playlist as well (just without the course discussions, quizzes, exam, and certificate). Be sure to subscribe to support my channel and for easy access to future content.

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How to switch SharePoint site navigation from left vertical to top horizontal

Until a recent update, SharePoint team sites always had a left side vertical navigation menu. Communication sites always had a top horizontal navigation menu that could be a cascading or mega menu style. Recently, Microsoft rolled out the ability to change a team site’s navigation from vertical (side) to horizontal (top).

Click to enlarge – Roadmap item for SharePoint Navigation Switcher.

Note: This change only applies to team site types. Communication sites are still top horizontal only.

Below are the steps to swap your team site’s navigation orientation. You must be a site owner to perform these steps.

How to change SharePoint team site navigation from left side to top

  1. Navigate to the team site for which you’d like to switch the navigation orientation.
  2. Click the settings wheel in the upper-right corner.
  3. Select Change the look.
  4. Select Navigation.
  5. Choose Horizontal and then choose either Mega menu or Cascading for menu style.
Click to enlarge – Navigation switcher options for a SharePoint team site.