Exploring the Sidebar and Game Menu | Fortnite Creative Documentation

The sidebar is the menu that pops out from the right when you press the Esc key. You can access the sidebar across all Fortnite game genres (Save the World, Battle Royale, Creative and so on), although the choices listed in the sidebar may differ, depending on which genre you are in, and where in a game or experience you are.

Press the Esc key to open the sidebar and you'll see that it includes many different sections.

Find your Profile options by clicking your character portrait and the top left of the panel.
The Social options are displayed when you click one of four icons at the top of the left navigation bar on the panel: Party Up, Add Friends, Looking for Party, and Voice Chat. By default, the panel opens with the Party Up options displayed.
Open the Game Menu by clicking the gear (Menu) icon above the red arrow (Exit) icon.
Return to the lobby or close Fortnite by clicking the red arrow (Exit) icon.

Each of the sidebar icons are explained in more detail in the following sections below.

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Profile

Click the character portrait at the top left of the sidebar to open your Profile options. Here you can choose your player tags, whether to display your online status, who can join your party, and your participation status. You can also change your matchmaking region, whether to display your language, and whether to display mutual friends.

This tab displays a list of all your friends and has the Go Looking For Party button to party up with a squad.

Add Friends

This tab displays any friend invites you've received, a list of people you've played with recently, and a list of friend suggestions based on mutual friends.

Looking for Party

Clicking the Looking for Party button opens another set of options for finding available players through tags similar to those you’ve used in your own profile and selecting Shuffle to find another group of players to play with.

Voice Chat

In this tab, you can choose whether voice chat is on the Game Channel or the Party Channel. If you're chatting on the Game Channel, everyone in the game you're playing can hear you. If you chat on the Party channel, only people in your party will hear you. You can modify Voice Options at the bottom of the panel.

You can also modify Voice Chat options by clicking the Open Voice Settings button.

Settings

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Selecting the Settings option from the sidebar menu opens a new page. This is where you can find the User Settings. The User Settings allow you to change and customize a number of settings to tailor your game experience to your needs. The menu bar at the top of the settings page has 10 different settings.

Video: Determines your display and graphics settings.
Volume: Change the volume on different parts of the Fortnite experience. You can also set the sound quality, voice chat settings, and whether to play licensed audio or not.
Game: Set your language, movement, combat style, building, and tutorial tips to enhance your gaming experience. You can even determine your extra game options, replays, and energy saving settings.
Game UI: Determine what displays on your HUD and the reticle and damage feedback you receive.
*Touch and Motion: Change the gyro options to further customize your gaming experience.
Mouse & Keyboard: Set your mouse sensitivity and keyboard movement to determine how your player moves. Mouse Flight and Tank Settings determine how your character pilots airplanes and tanks in-game.
Keyboard Controls: Create presets for keybinding to the mouse or keyboard. Change which keys control the character movement in-game.
Controller: Determine how your character moves, draws a weapon, as well as the controller deadzone, and sensitivity of the controller.
Controller Mapping: Create controller binding presets based on different preset options. Set your controller platform and which buttons control the character's movement, building, and other character options.
Account & Privacy: Find your account information and social privacy settings as well as clipping, gameplay privacy, credits, and legal information.

The Game Menu

The options on this menu change, depending on where you are in Fortnite.

The three areas where you can access this menu are:

Game Menu While in the Lobby

Game Menu Options When You Are in the Lobby

The Game Menu tab has the following options when you are in the Fortnite lobby:

Fortnite Crew: See what’s in the Fortnite Crew pack and purchase the crew pack from the sidebar.
Parenting Controls: If you are a minor, your parents can use this to set limits on your game experience.
Reporting: Here you can report problems or bugs, report violations of the Code of Conduct, and provide feedback to the dev team. You can also review the Community Rules.
Support and Refunds: When you click this option, you can either open the Fortnite Support web page or return and cancel purchases.
Legal: When you click this option, it opens the Fortnite Legal Information dialog box. This has two tabs, Legal Information and Credits. Legal Information takes you to page where you can review the EULA (End User License Agreement), Third Party Software, Privacy Policy, Fan Content Policy, Terms of Service, and Close.

Credits: Select this to see who has worked or is working on Fortnite or Unreal.

This is an extremely long list, as past employees and contractors do not get removed from the list when they leave Epic.

Fortnite Media: Provides a way for you to turn on and off Fortnite announcements and media in the sidebar.

Game Menu While on the Hub

Game Menu Options When You Are in the Hub

The Game Menu tab has the following options when you are in the hub:

Reporting: You can report problems or bugs, report violations of the Code of Conduct, and provide feedback to the dev team. You can also review the Community Rules.
Support and Refunds: When you click this option, you can either open the Fortnite Support web page, or return or cancel purchases.
Legal: This opens the Fortnite Legal Information dialog box. This has two tabs, Legal Information and Credits. Legal Information takes you to page where you can review the EULA (End User License Agreement), Third Party Software, Privacy Policy, Fan Content Policy, Terms of Service, and Close.
Respawn: When you click this option, it opens the Respawn dialog. The dialog asks you to confirm whether you want to respawn on the island, in case you clicked this by accident. If you do want to respawn, press A, or click Apply. If not, press Esc or click Cancel.

Team Select: When you click this option, it opens the Team Select dialog. You can use this to assign yourself to a team. This is useful when you are building and testing an island game or experience that uses teams, because you can assign different teams to yourself and test your game in Play mode.
Back to Hub: When you click this option, you respawn in the Hub.

Game Menu While on Your Island

Game Menu Options when you are on your island

The Game Menu tab has the following options when you are on your island in Create mode:

Reporting: Here you can report problems or bugs, report violations of the Code of Conduct, and provide feedback to the dev team. You can also review the Community Rules.
Support and Refunds: When you click this option, it opens the Fortnite Support web page.
Legal: When you click this option, it opens the Fortnite Legal Information dialog box. This has two tabs, Legal Information and Credits. Legal Information takes you to page where you can review the EULA (End User License Agreement), Third Party Software, Privacy Policy, Fan Content Policy, Terms of Service, and Close.
Respawn: When you click this option, it opens the Respawn dialog. The dialog asks you to confirm whether you want to respawn on the island, in case you clicked this by accident. If you do want to respawn, press A or click Apply. If not, press Esc or click Cancel.
Team Select: When you click this option, it opens the Team Select dialog. You can use this to assign yourself to a team. This is useful when you are building and testing an island game or experience that uses teams, because you can assign different teams to yourself and test your game in Play mode.
Island Settings: When you click this option, it opens the Island Settings options.
Back to Hub: When you click this option, you return to the Hub.
Start Game Button: When you click this button, it starts your game or experience. Use this to test your gameplay and make sure everything is working the way you want.

Exit from the Lobby

If you click the Exit tab while you are in lobby, or while playing a game, the options are Leave Party (this is disabled if you are not in a party), and Close Fortnite.

When you click Close Fortnite a confirmation dialog opens, asking "Are you sure you want to exit Fortnite?". Click Yes to close the game, or No to close the Sidebar and return to where you were.

Exit from the Hub or Your Island

Exit Options in the Hub or on Your Island

If you click the Exit icon when you are in the Hub, or on your island in Create mode, you can select Return to Lobby or Close Fortnite. If you are on your island and want to return to the Hub, open the Game Menu and click Back to Hub.

If you click Return to Lobby a confirmation dialog opens, asking "Leave and return to the lobby?". Click Yes to return to the lobby, or No to return to the Hub or your island.

If you click Close Fortnite a confirmation dialog opens, asking "Are you sure you want to exit Fortnite?". Click Yes to close the game, or No to close the Sidebar and return to where you were.