Navigation and Interface
How Greenroom's sidebar, top bar, and page navigation are organized
Greenroom's navigation lives in two places: a sidebar on the left that never moves, and a thin bar across the top for context that changes with where you are. There's no separate top navigation menu bar — the sidebar is the main navigation.
The sidebar
Every section of the product you use day to day is one click away in the left sidebar:
| Item | What's there |
|---|---|
| Dashboard | Your production's snapshot and status |
| Payees | Employees, loan-outs, contractors, and vendors |
| Packets | The document templates payees sign during onboarding |
| Run Payroll | Start or resume the current payroll run |
| History | Every past payroll run |
| Obligations | One-time contract charges owed outside a run — see Union Obligations |
| Union Studio | Union agreements and effective-dated rate rules — see Union Studio Versions and Publishing |
| Reports | Payroll register, remittance, QuickBooks package (QBD), consolidated register, 1099 preview |
| Settings | Company, team, chart of accounts, and account preferences |
While your company is waiting on Greenroom's approval, a Company setup item appears in the sidebar too — above Dashboard, since it's the first thing to finish. It disappears once you're approved, since setup is done by then.
None of this applies if you're a super admin, which no company manager is: Greenroom staff work in a separate console mode instead of a company's regular sidebar. Opening the app drops them into the Greenroom admin console (Review queue, Companies, All payees, All payrolls, Health) with no company nav at all; clicking "View as" on a specific company from there swaps the sidebar to that company's normal nav, with a "Back to Greenroom admin" link at the top to leave it. The two never show at once.
The sidebar collapses to icons-only with the arrow at its bottom edge, if you'd rather have the screen space; hover a collapsed icon to see its label. Your preference is remembered on that device.
The top bar
The top bar is deliberately thin. From left to right:
- On mobile, a menu icon that opens the sidebar as a slide-in panel.
- The company switcher — click it to see every company you have access to, jump between them, or create a new one. It's there even if you only manage a single company today, ready for when you add a second.
- On the right, while your company is unapproved: a status chip (for example, "Approval pending" or "Changes requested") that links to Company setup.
- On the right, whenever a payroll run is in progress: a pill showing its run code and status, linking straight back into it.
There's no separate notifications bell or top-right account menu — your account info and sign-out live at the bottom of the sidebar instead (see below).
Breadcrumbs
Breadcrumbs only show up on pages with real depth — a payee's detail page, a specific payroll run, a company detail page in the admin console — not on top-level pages like Dashboard or Payees, where they'd just repeat what the sidebar already tells you. They're short: typically a section name and the item you're on, for example Payees / Jordan Alvarez or History / PR-2026-0041. The last item is plain text, never a link, since it's where you already are.
Tabs and step-by-step flows
A few pages organize content into tabs or steps instead of one long page:
| Page | Structure |
|---|---|
| Payees list | Tabs to filter by type: All, Employees, Loan-outs, Contractors, Vendors |
| Settings | Tabs: Me, Company, Chart of accounts, QuickBooks, Team, Activity |
| Run Payroll | A 5-step bar: Employees & Loan-outs, Vendors & Contractors, Payroll Summary, Union Reports, Submit |
A payee's own detail page is the exception worth calling out: it's one continuous scroll, not tabs — see Payee Onboarding for how that page is actually organized.
On the Run Payroll step bar, the first two steps are always clickable; later steps unlock as you complete the ones before them, with a tooltip explaining what's still needed if you try to jump ahead.
Getting to these docs from the app
At the foot of the sidebar, just above your name, a Need help? / Read our docs link opens this documentation site in a new tab — deliberately, since the question usually arrives mid-payroll-run or mid-onboarding form, and navigating a wizard away would lose the work in progress. It's in both the manager sidebar and the payee portal's, and it's there whether the sidebar is expanded or collapsed to icons.
Your account and signing out
Your name, role, and a sign-out button live at the bottom of the sidebar — click sign out and you're immediately logged out, no confirmation dropdown involved. To change your name, email, or manage two-factor authentication and passkeys, go to Settings → Me (covered in Authentication & Recovery Codes).
Mobile navigation
On a narrow screen, the sidebar becomes a slide-in panel triggered by the menu icon in the top bar. It's the same flat list of sections as the desktop sidebar — tapping a section takes you straight there and closes the panel; there's no separate expand-to-reveal-sub-items step.
Keyboard basics
Standard browser behavior works throughout: Tab moves between fields, Enter submits forms or activates the focused button, and Esc closes open menus, dropdowns, and popovers (including the company switcher and filter panels).
Quick actions
Buttons for common actions sit right where you need them rather than in a separate menu — Add payee (which opens the New payee page), Export CSV, and Import CSV at the top of the Payees list, a Filter button alongside search, and Run payroll (or Resume payroll, once one is underway) on the Dashboard.
Getting help
Most forms show plain help text under a field when it needs explaining, right where you're filling it in. One dedicated helper is worth knowing about: on the New payee page, a "Not sure? See examples" link beside Tax classification opens a "Which type should I choose?" panel walking through Employee vs. Loan-out vs. Contractor vs. Vendor if you're not sure which applies.
Next steps
Now that you know your way around, head to Dashboard Overview to learn what's on your dashboard, or start Payee Onboarding to build your roster.