---
title: "Customize the sidebar, themes and how a media file opens"
description: "Set your languages and theme, reorder or hide sidebar items, and choose the layout every media file opens with. Admins can save either as a team default."
---

> Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.speakai.co/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# Customize the sidebar, themes and how a media file opens

![The Preferences page in Speak, reached from the account menu. Its four tabs read Languages, Themes, Navigation and Media View, with Languages open and showing Media language for transcription and analysis set to English (US), Platform Language set to English, and toggles for Filler Words and Recorder Pairing Codes below.](/help/media/account/account-preferences.jpg)

**Preferences** holds the settings that change how Speak AI looks and behaves for you. It has four
tabs: **Languages**, **Themes**, **Navigation** and **Media View**. Everything here is personal to
your login, so changing it never changes what a teammate sees, unless you deliberately save it as a
team default.

## Open Preferences

Preferences lives in the account menu at the bottom of the sidebar.

1. Select your avatar or name at the bottom of the sidebar.
1. Choose **Preferences**.

You can also go straight to [app.speakai.co/profile/preferences](https://app.speakai.co/profile/preferences).
Each tab keeps its own address, so a link you paste to a teammate reopens on the same tab.

## Set your languages

The **Languages** tab controls the language Speak AI transcribes in and the language the interface
is drawn in. They are separate settings and they do not have to match.

- **Media Language** is the default source language for transcription and analysis of your uploads.
  Set it if you mostly work in one language, so new uploads stop relying on auto-detection. See
  [transcription troubleshooting](/help/troubleshoot/transcription/) for the other two ways to
  control language on a file.
- **Platform Language** is the language of the interface itself.
- **Filler Words Detection** tracks words like "um" and "uh" in your transcripts. Turn it on and
  edit the word list, then save.
- **Recorder Pairing Codes** gives every new recorder a code a device can pair with. See
  [pairing codes](/help/recorder/pairing-codes/).

## Choose a theme

![The Themes tab of Preferences. Appearance mode offers Light, Dark and System, with Light selected. Below it a Theme grid offers Monochrome, ticked, alongside Indigo, Emerald, Rose, Orange and Purple, and a Font control is set to System Default.](/help/media/account/account-preferences-themes.jpg)

The **Themes** tab sets light and dark mode and the accent color of the interface.

- **Appearance mode** picks light, dark, or matching your system.
- **Theme** picks the accent color used for buttons, links and interactive elements.
- **Font** picks the font family for the interface.

## Reorder or hide sidebar items

![The Navigation tab of Preferences. A Sidebar items list shows Home, Dashboards, Analyze Data, Meeting Assistant, Chat and Favorites, each with a drag handle on the left and an eye icon on the right to hide it. Home carries a padlock instead, because it is always shown. Set as team default and Reset to team default sit above the list.](/help/media/account/account-preferences-navigation.jpg)

The **Navigation** tab rearranges the sidebar so the things you use sit at the top and the things
you never open are out of the way.

1. Open the **Navigation** tab.
1. Drag any row in **Sidebar items** by its handle to move it.
1. Select the eye icon on a row to hide it. Select it again to bring the row back.

**Home** can be reordered but never hidden, so it carries a lock instead of the eye icon. The
**Sections** card below does the same for the two groups the sidebar is divided into, **Content**
and **Workspace**: drag a section to reorder it, hide a section you do not use, or drag items
within it.

The editor only lists items you can actually reach. Anything your role, permissions or plan
does not give you is left out rather than shown and then blocked.

To undo everything, select **Reset to default**.

## Set how a media file opens

![The Media View tab of Preferences. A Layout preset row offers Balanced, Analysis first, Video + transcript, Transcript only and Custom, each with a small diagram, and Custom is ticked. Under Fine tune sit toggles for Open insights panel by default, Show video by default and Keep chat open by default, with a Transcript width slider below.](/help/media/account/account-preferences-media-view.jpg)

The **Media View** tab decides what you see the moment you open a file, so you do not rearrange the
same panels on every recording.

Start from a **Layout preset**:

| Preset | What you get |
|---|---|
| **Balanced** | The insights panel opens beside the transcript, with the player showing |
| **Analysis first** | The insights panel opens on the **Insights** tab and the player stays hidden |
| **Video + transcript** | The player and transcript only, with the insights panel closed |
| **Transcript only** | A wide transcript, with the player and the insights panel closed |

Then adjust anything you want under **Fine tune**. Changing any control switches the preset to
**Custom**, and a preview shows how a file will open.

- **Open insights panel by default** shows the insights panel beside the transcript.
- **Show video by default** shows the player when a file opens.
- **Keep chat open by default** opens the AI chat panel when a file opens.
- **Transcript width** sets how much width the transcript takes when the panel is open. It applies
  only while the panel opens by default.

Panel width and auto-open apply on wide screens. On phones and tablets the insights open as tabs
instead.

### Reorder the insight tabs

The **Insight tabs** list at the bottom of **Media View** sets the order the tabs appear in on every
file.

Drag a row to move it, select **Set default** to pick which tab opens first, and hide the ones you
do not use. Tabs that are unavailable on a given file are skipped rather than shown empty, so a
file still processing shows fewer tabs than a finished one.

## Change the layout while a file is open

The **Layout** menu on an open media file changes that file's layout without going back to
Preferences.

Open **Layout** in the media header and switch **Insights panel**, **Show video** or
**AI chat panel**. Select **Save as my default** to keep the arrangement for every file you open
next, or **More layout settings** to jump to the **Media View** tab.

The menu appears once a file has finished processing. On a file that is still transcribing there is
nothing to lay out yet, so the control is absent.

## Save a layout as your team default

Anyone who can manage team members can publish their own navigation or media layout as the starting
point for everyone in the workspace.

Set the tab up the way you want it, then select **Set as team default**. The button appears only
for accounts that can manage team members, so a member without that permission never sees it. See
[team permissions](/help/teams/permissions/).

A teammate who has never changed the tab themselves follows the team default and sees a
**Following your team default** badge. Once they change anything, their own choice wins and the
badge goes. Their reset button then reads **Reset to team default**, which puts them back on what
you published rather than on the Speak AI default.

## Does hiding a sidebar item turn the feature off?

No. Hiding an item only removes it from your sidebar. The feature keeps working, the page is still
reachable by its address, and anything scheduled or automated keeps running. Show the item again at
any time from the **Navigation** tab.

## Why is an item missing from the Navigation tab?

The Navigation tab lists only the items your account can open. An item tied to a permission you do
not hold, or to a feature your plan does not include, is left out of the editor entirely, so there
is nothing to reorder or hide.

## Do my preferences follow me to another device?

Most of them do. Your sidebar order, your media layout, your accent theme and your font save to
your account, so they apply wherever you sign in. **Appearance mode** is the exception: light, dark
and system are remembered by the browser you set them in, so pick it again on a new device.

Want a hand setting this up? [Book a free consult](https://calendly.com/speak-ai/consult?utm_source=docs&utm_campaign=consult) and we'll do it together on your account.

---
Related: [Account](/help/account/) · [Pairing codes](/help/recorder/pairing-codes/) · [Transcription troubleshooting](/help/troubleshoot/transcription/) · [Team permissions](/help/teams/permissions/)

Source: https://docs.speakai.co/help/account/preferences/index.mdx