We’ve reorganized the Guidelines experience so the tools you need are easier to find, while everything else stays out of the way. Editors and owners get a more focused workspace, viewers get a cleaner reading experience, and common actions now live in more predictable places.
The navigation has also been rebuilt on a modern technical foundation, creating room for faster and more AI-powered editing workflows in the future.
Good to know: Your existing tools and capabilities are still available. Some have moved to new locations or have been grouped together to make them easier to find.
What’s changed?
Here’s a quick overview of the changes:
What changed | What it means for you |
Settings are now in one place | Find settings such as Languages, Targets, Analytics, and Changelog in one Settings window. |
Editing tools are easier to access | Typography, Lists, Buttons, and Colour schemes now have their own icons in edit mode. |
Sharing actions have moved | Invite and Print are now on the bottom action bar. Public-link settings are in Settings. |
View mode is cleaner | When you’re viewing a guideline, editing tools stay out of the way. |
A new Back button | Return to your Guidelines dashboard in one click. |
Some dashboard controls have moved | Projects and other account-level controls are now available from the Guidelines dashboard. |
Note: Your navigation may look different depending on your role, permissions, enabled features, settings, and language.
Settings are now in one place
Instead of opening several separate panels, key guideline settings are now grouped together in a single Settings modal.
To open Settings:
Open a guideline
Select Settings in the bottom-left area of the navigation
Depending on your permissions and enabled features, you may see tabs for:
General settings
Languages
Targets
Analytics
Changelog
Other available feature settings
Instead of searching across different panels, you can now move between these settings from the same place.
Note: Analytics, Languages, and Targets are now tabs inside Settings rather than separate navigation items. Targets also includes controls for restricting access by target.
Editing tools are easier to reach
When you’re editing a guideline, commonly used design tools now have their own direct entry points in the left-hand navigation.
You can access:
Typography
Lists
Buttons
Colour schemes
directly, without opening Themes first.
This means fewer clicks for common editing tasks.
What happened to Themes?
All themes are available. Layout and navigation controls that previously lived inside a sub-section of Themes are now part of the main Themes experience.
Typography, Lists, Buttons, and Colour schemes have moved out of Themes and into their own direct navigation items.
The navigation adapts to what you’re doing
The left-hand navigation is now contextual. When you’re viewing a guideline, you see a simpler interface focused on the content. When you’re editing, the tools you need to manage and design the guideline become available.
This keeps the viewing experience cleaner without taking editing tools away from people who need them.
Invite and Print are now on the bottom action bar
Some sharing actions now live directly on the bottom action bar.
Invite people
The previous Team sharing option is now called Invite.
Use Invite on the bottom action bar to invite people to your guideline.
Print or save as PDF
Print and PDF options are also available from the bottom action bar.
Select the Print action to access the available print and PDF options.
Public-link settings are now in Settings
Public-link controls are no longer part of the previous Share modal.
To manage access and sharing for a public link, go to:
Settings → General → Access and sharing
Go back to your Guidelines dashboard in one click
There’s now a dedicated Back button in the top-left of a guideline. Select it to return directly to your Guidelines dashboard.
Previously, this action was accessed through the Frontify logo and navigated to the brand dashboard. The new button takes you directly to the guidelines dashboard.
Other navigation changes
A few additional items have moved as part of the redesign.
Projects: Projects are now accessed from the Guidelines dashboard sidebar rather than from inside an individual guideline.
Notifications, Marketplace, access management, and your profile: These controls are now located on the dashboard sidebar rather than inside the guideline navigation.
Restore content: Restore content is still available, but its entry point has changed. Open it from the history/clock control.
Import settings: Import settings remain available directly from the editing navigation.
Additional settings for owners and admins
Depending on your setup and permissions, you may also see additional controls within the new Settings experience, including options related to:
Adobe Creative Cloud Libraries
Google Tag Manager
Theme presets
Colour schemes
The options available to you depend on your Frontify configuration and permissions.
Frequently asked questions
Have any Guidelines features been removed? The navigation has mainly been reorganized rather than reduced. Some tools have moved, some related settings have been consolidated, and the interface now adapts more clearly between viewing and editing. Your available features still depend on your role, permissions, and Frontify setup.
Why does my navigation look different from the screenshots? The navigation can vary based on your: Role, access level, enabled features, guideline settings, language. As a result, you may see fewer or different options than another user.
Why can’t I see the editing tools? Tools such as Typography, Lists, Buttons, and Colour schemes are shown when you have the appropriate editing access and are working in edit mode. If you’re viewing a guideline, the navigation is intentionally simplified.
Where is Team? Team is now called Invite and is available from the bottom action bar.
Where are public-link settings? Go to: Settings → General → Access and sharing
Where is Analytics? Analytics is now a tab inside Settings.
Where is Changelog? Changelog is now available as a tab inside Settings.
Where are Projects? Projects are now available from the Guidelines dashboard sidebar rather than from within an individual guideline.
How do I return to the Guidelines dashboard? Use the dedicated Back button in the top-left corner of your guideline.
A cleaner foundation for what’s next
This update is more than a visual refresh.
The Guidelines navigation has been rebuilt on a modern technical foundation so we can continue improving the editing experience and support more powerful workflows over time, including future AI-powered editing experiences.
For now, the main difference you’ll notice is simple: The tools you need, when you need them, and out of the way when you don’t.