The header toolbar always appears in the header of the page. One main advantage of the header bar is that this bar is always visible and will not scroll away. It contains actions that are relevant for the entire page.

Our general guideline is to use only icon buttons or text buttons. Icon and text should not be combined into one button. Buttons are always right-aligned.

Buttons are sorted from frequently-used to seldom-used. This ensures that the most important buttons go into the overflow last.

Usage

Use the header toolbar if:

• Your page contains several controls, and the actions are valid for the entire page.

Do not use the header toolbar if:

• You have closing or finalizing actions for the whole page. Place them in the footer toolbar instead.
• You have actions that belong to a specific UI element. Place them as close as possible to the corresponding object (for example, in a table or chart toolbar).

Responsiveness

To enable responsiveness, use the OverflowToolbar control. For more information, please refer to the corresponding section in the toolbar overview article.

The height of the toolbar changes on desktops (compact mode), tablets, and smartphones (cozy mode). For more information about cozy and compact modes, see content density.

Components

The header toolbar can contain the following components:

• App-specific actions
• Generic actions

The following actions count as generic:

• Add
• Flag and Favorite
• Share menu
• Overflow
• Paging

Behavior and Interaction

App-Specific Actions

If needed, the app team can define their own actions for the app. In this case, the text buttons should contain a short, unambiguous text that explains what action the button performs. A button text is usually a single-word verb (for example, Share). Note that translated UIs may increase the length of the text string.

Only use icon buttons if you are sure that the user will be able to interpret the meaning of the icon easily and without the aid of a tooltip.  Use standard and easily recognizable icons, such as a paper clip for an attachment.

Add (Generic)

The Add (item or row) action can be presented by a generic icon button or a text that describes the action in more detail. Place the action as close to the content as possible. Note that if you use icon buttons instead of text, the icon appears on the right, next to the text actions.

If the app development team wants to use a combination of actions, such as Add, Edit, and Delete, we recommend placing the actions as text buttons. Only by doing so can the buttons be arranged side by side.

If the Add action is a main function, the action should never be moved into the overflow.

If the app uses more than two Add actions, or if the meaning of the icon is not entirely clear, use text buttons.

Edit and Delete (Generic)

If you want to perform a global edit action, use the Edit button.

If you want to perform a global delete action, use the Delete button.

Favorite and Flag (Generic)

Users can mark objects as a favorite or flag objects for quick subsequent retrieval. The user does this by clicking or tapping the relevant generic Favorite or Flag button in the header toolbar. For more information, see flag and favorite.

Share (Generic)

The Share menu allows users to work with content outside the app they are currently using. It can include a variety of actions. All the buttons contain either text only or a combination of an icon and text. The following actions can be used and complemented by each app:

• Send Email (icon: email  )
• Discuss in SAP Jam (icon: discussion-2  )
• Share in SAP Jam (icon: share-2  )
• Send Message (icon: post  )
• Save as Tile (icon: add favorite  )
• Print (icon: print  )
• Export as Excel (icon: Excel attachment  )
• Export as PDF (icon: pdf attachment  )
• Export As…
• Open In…

If you expect the user to use the Open In… functionality frequently, place it directly in the header toolbar.

The Share action can appear on the full screen or the details screen, and is never moved into the overflow menu. It is always right-aligned. The overflow starts to the right side of the Share icon.

Overflow (Generic)

If apps use the overflow toolbar, the overflow is generated automatically. The overflow is activated if there is not enough space for all the actions on the toolbar, or if some actions are considered less important than others. In this case, the app team decides that only certain actions appear in the overflow.

The app team also decides whether some actions are so important that they should never move into the overflow.

Since release 1.30, new features have been added to the overflow toolbar. The  “…” (overflow) button is now a toggle button and can be used to switch the overflow menu on and off.

The user clicks or taps the overflow button to open a popover. In this action sheet, all icon buttons are labeled with text and the user can overflow the following controls:

• sap.m.SegmentedButton – when in the overflow, the segmented button is in select mode and looks like a select button, although it is technically still a segmented button
• sap.m.Select – when in the overflow, it is always in default mode to take advantage of the extra space, even if it was set to icon-only mode in the toolbar
• sap.m.ToggleButton
• sap.m.Checkbox
• sap.m.Input
• sap.m.SearchField
• sap.m.ComboBox
• sap.m.DateTimeInput

Split-screen layouts have their own overflow menus.

All buttons go into the overflow from right to left. This ensures that the most important buttons are the last to be moved into the overflow menu.

Paging (Generic)

Use the Paging button if you want to navigate to the previous or next object.

If you are using the Share button, the paging button should be placed to the right of the Share button.

Styles

Button styles should be used to help the user, and not for decoration.

They should be defined for actions that a user will primarily use, such as Edit, Create, and Save.

Use either a positive or negative (property: type – accept/reject), or an emphasized (property: type – emphasized) button. Avoid using both styles on one screen.

Exception 1: Message button appears.

Exception 2: Object is marked as flag/favorite.

For more information, see button.

Guidelines

Resources

Want to dive deeper? Follow the links below to find out more about related controls, the SAPUI5 implementation, and the visual design.