# Collapse notebooks tree view by default and via context menu

**URL:** <https://discourse.joplinapp.org/t/collapse-notebooks-tree-view-by-default-and-via-context-menu/44210>\
**Category:** Features\
**Created:** [6 March 2025 13:59 UTC](https://discourse.joplinapp.org/t/collapse-notebooks-tree-view-by-default-and-via-context-menu/44210 "2025-03-06T13:59:42Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 3\
**Page:** 1

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![tburny](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/flex028/user_avatar/discourse.joplinapp.org/tburny/32/24626_2.png) [@tburny](https://discourse.joplinapp.org/u/tburny)\
**Post date:** [6 March 2025 13:59 UTC](https://discourse.joplinapp.org/t/collapse-notebooks-tree-view-by-default-and-via-context-menu/44210/1 "2025-03-06T13:59:42Z")

</div>

I have created a structure of Notebooks such that they are categorized by life areas, then other things.  
So I have "Business", then "Projects" and then some sub-notebooks for the projects and even they might have further sub-notebooks:

 ![Joplin Notebook view](https://canada1.discourse-cdn.com/flex028/uploads/cozic/original/3X/a/a/aa74ac86cd42b900f943aa02dd8a7a495e27c6bd.png)

This created quite a nested hierarchy. Joplin expands the notebooks tree view by default, which is very annoying from a UX perspective. It just takes a lot of scrolling and visual searching to navigate the notebooks although I know exactly where the according notebook is located.

On mobile phones the issue is even stronger, because of the limited screen space.

It would be awesome if

- the notebooks can be collapsed either at root level or one level below by default
- there is a way to "Collapse/Expand All" from the context menu of a notebook

This seems to be quite a popular request, but discussions are always locked due to timeout:

> [@Notebook list - Collapse notebook tree](https://discourse.joplinapp.org/t/notebook-list-collapse-notebook-tree/1239):
>
> After using Joplin for quite some time, I now have many sub-notebooks and I’d like an option to start Joplin with the notebook tree in the sidebar collapsed. It would also be really handy to have a menu item to collapse all / expand all by right clicking “Notebooks” in the sidebar.

> [@Request add collapse & expand notebook](https://discourse.joplinapp.org/t/request-add-collapse-expand-notebook/28096):
>
> request add collapse & expand notebook can collapse different levels of notebooks？

It would be nice to get some Feedback from @laurent on the topic. If you can give me some pointers in the code maybe I can figure out a way to make a pull request.  
Thanks a lot!

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![graphit0](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/flex028/user_avatar/discourse.joplinapp.org/graphit0/32/3435_2.png) [@graphit0](https://discourse.joplinapp.org/u/graphit0)\
**Post date:** [6 March 2025 14:07 UTC](https://discourse.joplinapp.org/t/collapse-notebooks-tree-view-by-default-and-via-context-menu/44210/2 "2025-03-06T14:07:04Z")

</div>

It was actually just recently implemented and probably going to be usable with newest pre-release

> <https://github.com/laurent22/joplin/pull/11905>

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![system](https://canada1.discourse-cdn.com/flex028/uploads/cozic/original/3X/1/c/1c948e33314e232a0927789508474d8624f4270b.png) [@system](https://discourse.joplinapp.org/u/system)\
**Post date:** [1 March 2026 14:07 UTC](https://discourse.joplinapp.org/t/collapse-notebooks-tree-view-by-default-and-via-context-menu/44210/3 "2026-03-01T14:07:49Z")

</div>

Closed on 1 March 2026 14:07 UTC

This topic was automatically closed 360 days after the last reply. New replies are no longer allowed.