---
title: "Finding your way around | Trelice User Guide"
description: "A tour of the screen: the menu on the left, the bar at the top, and the notification bell."
canonical_url: "https://www.trelice.com/docs/finding-your-way-around"
---

# Finding your way around

Every page in Trelice has the same frame: a dark menu column on the left, a white bar across the top, and your work in the large area between them. Once you know this frame, no page will surprise you. This guide walks the screen top-to-bottom, left-to-right.

## The menu on the left (the sidebar)

The dark blue column on the left edge of the screen is the main menu. It is always there, on every page.

At the very top you will see the word **Trelice** next to a small document symbol, with **Clinical Trial Platform** underneath. This is just the product name, it is not a button.

Below that comes the list of menu items. Each is a small symbol with a label. The item for the page you are on is highlighted with a lighter blue background. Click any item to go to that page:

- **Dashboard**: your home page, with counts and recent activity. See [Your dashboard](/docs/your-dashboard).
- **Studies**: the list of your organization's studies. Almost all daily work starts here. See [Working with studies](/docs/working-with-studies).
- **Pending Tasks**: every piece of work that is waiting on someone, across all studies. See [Pending tasks](/docs/pending-tasks).
- **Approval Queue**: sections waiting for **your** approval. See [Your approval queue](/docs/approval-queue).
- **Audit Trail**: the permanent record of who did what and when. See [The audit trail](/docs/audit-trail).
- **Settings**: your personal notification choices. See [Notifications and reminders](/docs/notifications).
- **ICF Generator**: a tool that drafts a consent form from an uploaded protocol PDF. See [The ICF Generator (from a PDF)](/docs/icf-generator).

### The Administration group

If you are an administrator, a heading in small capital letters, **ADMINISTRATION**, appears below the items above, with six more entries:

- **Users**: invite colleagues, set roles, unlock accounts. See [Managing users and invitations](/docs/managing-users-and-invitations).
- **Templates**: reusable protocol outlines. See [Protocol templates](/docs/protocol-templates).
- **Review Workflows**: who reviews, and in what order. See [Setting up review workflows](/docs/review-workflows-and-approvals-setup).
- **Abbreviations**: your organization's abbreviation list.
- **Redaction**: what gets blacked out in redacted copies.
- **Budget Pricing**: procedure prices used by the site budget. These last three are covered in [Abbreviations, redaction, and budget pricing](/docs/library-and-settings).

> **Note:** The **ADMINISTRATION** group only appears for the System Admin and Sponsor Admin roles (and platform administrators). If you do not see it, your account is not an administrator account, nothing is wrong. See [Roles and permissions](/docs/roles-and-permissions).

### The Platform group

Platform administrators, the people who run Trelice itself, across all customer organizations, see one more heading, **PLATFORM**, with a single entry:

- **Tenants**: create and manage customer organizations. See [Managing customer organizations](/docs/managing-tenants-and-demo-data).

Most users will never see this group.

### Your name, at the bottom

At the very bottom of the menu, in a small panel, you will see your full name with your role underneath it, for example, MEDICAL WRITER. This is a handy way to confirm which account you are signed in with. It is not a button.

## The bar at the top (the header)

Across the top of the screen runs a slim white bar. From left to right:

**The page title.** On the left, in bold, for example **Dashboard**, **Studies**, or **Approval Queue**, so you always know where you are.

**The notification bell.** Near the right side is a bell symbol. When you have unread notifications, a small red circle with a number sits on the bell. Click the bell and a panel titled **Notifications** drops down, listing your most recent notifications, a section approved, a review assigned to you, a due date approaching. Each entry shows a title, a short message, and how long ago it happened; unread ones have a pale blue background and a small blue dot.

1. Click a notification to jump straight to the item it is about.
2. Click **Mark all read** at the top of the panel to clear the red counter in one go.
3. Click **Notification preferences** at the bottom of the panel to choose which notifications you receive. See [Notifications and reminders](/docs/notifications).

What you'll see if there is nothing new: the panel simply says **No notifications yet**.

**Your email address.** To the right of the bell, in small grey text, is the email address you are signed in with.

**The sign-out button.** At the far right is a small door-with-arrow symbol. Rest your mouse on it and a tooltip says **Sign out**. Click it to sign out and return to the sign-in page. See [Signing in and your account](/docs/signing-in-and-your-account).

## The work area

Everything between the menu and the top bar is the work area, the page itself. Its content changes with each menu item, but the frame around it never moves. When a page is longer than the screen, only the work area scrolls; the menu and the top bar stay put.

## The session warning

One more thing lives on every page, though you will rarely see it: if you leave Trelice untouched for close to an hour, a small window titled **Session Timeout** appears in the middle of the screen with a countdown. Click **Stay Logged In** to keep working. This is explained fully in [Signing in and your account](/docs/signing-in-and-your-account).

> **Troubleshooting:** If a menu item described here is missing from your screen, it is being hidden on purpose, either your role does not include it, or your organization's Trelice contract does not cover that feature. Compare with [Roles and permissions](/docs/roles-and-permissions), and ask your administrator if you believe you need access.

## A suggested first walk

1. Click **Dashboard** and read [Your dashboard](/docs/your-dashboard).
2. Click **Studies** and open any study to look around, looking never changes anything.
3. Click **Pending Tasks** to see how work is tracked.
4. Click the bell once, just to see the panel.

Five minutes of clicking, and the frame will feel like home.