Blender Add-on · from the maker of KIT OPS

Simple N-Panel

Install enough add-ons and Blender's N-Panel overflows into a sideways strip you scroll and squint through. Simple N-Panel gives it an index — press one hotkey (or click the heart in the viewport header) and a tidy menu lists every tab. Pick one and you're there. Built for artists whose add-on collection outgrew the tab strip — hard-surface, archviz, and production artists, and anyone tired of reading tab names sideways.

Get it now! → Watch the video Read the docs

5.0★

EVERY RATING FIVE STARS

Shift+`

ONE HOTKEY

$10

ONE-TIME

// simple-n-panel.heart

The Idea

Stop reading your tabs sideways.

The sidebar hosts every tool you own. Simple N-Panel is the index Blender never gave it.

It's a lightweight, $10 Blender 4.2+ extension that fixes one thing well: finding the right sidebar tab. Install a handful of add-ons and the N-Panel sprouts a stack of vertical tabs — too many to scan, their names long, clipped, and printed on their side. The more tools you own, the worse it reads.

Chipp Walters has been fighting this tab strip since 2021, when he shipped a free add-on called Simple Tabs to organize the N-Panel; its BlenderArtists thread has drawn over 26,000 views, and people were still posting in it five years later. Simple N-Panel is the modern answer — rebuilt from scratch as a Blender 4.2+ extension, current through Blender 5.0.

Press Shift + ` — or click the heart in the viewport header — for a clean menu of every tab
Sorted A–Z out of the box, reordered any way you like
Pick one and the sidebar opens straight to that category — in the exact viewport you clicked in, so multi-viewport layouts behave
Reorder tabs, rename them, and hide the ones you never touch in the preferences
Export the whole layout as a file you can carry to another machine
No scene data, no external dependencies, no network — it only reads which panels are registered

// twenty-five add-ons, one strip

// it stays small and quiet on purpose

See It Work

Faster to watch than to explain.

// see it in motion — one hotkey, every tab

How It Works

Five steps, and most of them are optional.

Press Shift + `

Or click the ♥ heart button in the 3D Viewport header. A pop-up menu lists every N-Panel tab — add-on and built-in — sorted A–Z until you say otherwise.

Pick a tab

The sidebar opens if it was hidden and switches straight to that category — in the viewport you clicked in, not just the first one.

Shape the list in preferences

Reorder with move-up / move-down / move-to-top, rename any tab with an alias (the real category name still does the switching, so renaming never breaks navigation), and hide the tabs you never use.

Keep it current

Install a new add-on, hit Refresh — its tab joins the menu at the bottom of your saved order, customizations untouched. Reset rebuilds from scratch only when you ask.

Take it with you

Export the whole layout — order, names, visibility — to one JSON file; import it on another machine or hand it to a team or classroom. Import reports exactly what came in and what was skipped.

Features

Every add-on you own, easier to reach.

Simple N-Panel doesn't add modeling or rendering features — it makes every tool you already own faster to get to.

The heart menu

Click the heart in the viewport header and a menu lists every N-Panel tab in your order; pick one and the sidebar opens straight to it. Shift-click the heart to toggle the sidebar instead.

One hotkey: Shift + `

The same menu from the keyboard — one memorable keystroke instead of scanning an overflowing strip. Collides with your keymap? Change it in Blender's keymap preferences.

Sorted, not scattered

Tabs list in clean A–Z order out of the box, so a long list stays scannable with zero setup.

Reorder to taste

Move-up, move-down, and move-to-top controls push your most-used add-ons to the front of the menu.

Rename without breaking

Give any tab a shorter display name. Names are aliases only — the real category is used under the hood, so renaming never breaks the jump.

Portable layout

Export order, names, and visibility to one JSON file and import it anywhere. Import tells you exactly what was imported and what was skipped.

Refresh, not reset

Refresh folds in tabs from newly installed add-ons while keeping your setup. Reset rebuilds from scratch only when you ask.

The Simple N-Panel heart button in the Blender 3D Viewport header

// the heart button — top of every 3D viewport

One heart button. Every add-on.

The heart lives in the 3D Viewport header — always one click away. It opens the menu; Shift-click toggles the N-Panel itself. Prefer the keyboard? Shift + ` opens the very same menu, and everything acts on the viewport you're actually working in.

Menu lists every N-Panel tab, in your saved order
Opens the sidebar if it's hidden and switches straight to the tab
Multi-viewport aware — acts on the viewport you clicked in
Refresh entry at the bottom of the menu itself

The Simple N-Panel pop-up menu open in the Blender viewport, listing every N-Panel tab

// the menu — a–z until you say otherwise

The menu — every tab, one list.

This is the whole trick: one pop-up, every tab, in your order. No scrolling a sideways strip, no hunting. Pick the tab and the sidebar snaps to it.

Simple N-Panel preferences — reorderable tab list with rename, hide, and export/import controls

// preferences — reorder, rename, hide, export

Set it once. Take it everywhere.

The preferences screen is a single reorderable list: visibility toggles, custom-name fields, and move controls per tab, with Refresh, Reset, Export, and Import one click away. Changes save to user preferences immediately, so your layout survives restarts.

Per-tab show/hide and custom display-name aliases
Export and import the full configuration as JSON
Import feedback tells you what was imported or skipped
No external dependencies — settings live in your preferences

Artists' words

Every rating it has is five stars.

★★★★★

“The new addon by Chipp Walters, Simple N-Panel, is the answer to a frustration that I have had about Blender for a long time. This makes a crowded N-panel usable. Amazing!”

— Frank Maturi

★★★★★

“An ingenious solution to the problem Chipp! I like it a lot.”

— Mark Kingsnorth, add-on developer

★★★★★

“boggles my mind they haven't integrated this natively yet.”

— Si

★★★★★

“One thing that has been annoying since I started using Blender has actually been that the N-Panel's text is vertical. This add-on is perfect in its simplicity.”

— Håkan Fors

★★★★★

“Simple, functional, and super easy to use. Should be installed by default in Blender.”

— Whiskey

★★★★★

“Works right out of the 'box' with zero fuss. Automatically sorts the list too.”

— Leo DeGrance

★★★★★

“Chipp was extremely helpful with troubleshooting errors that came down to my strange install and user error. Buy with confidence.”

— BToast

Common Questions

How much does it cost?

$10, one-time purchase. It's the quiet utility that makes every other tool in your sidebar easier to reach.

Will Shift + ` clash with my keymap?

If another add-on already uses it, reassign the shortcut in Blender's keymap preferences. The heart button in the viewport header works mouse-only, no hotkey needed.

I installed a new add-on and its tab isn't in the menu.

Hit Refresh Panel List (in preferences, or at the bottom of the menu itself). New tabs join at the bottom of your saved order; your customizations stay put.

Does renaming a tab break anything?

No. Display names are aliases only — the real category name still does the switching underneath.

Can I group tabs under category headers?

Not today. Hide, rename, reorder, and move-to-top are the tools for taming a long list.

The first time I open the menu I get an error, then it works.

A known timing quirk on slower machines: Blender is still opening the sidebar when the tab switch fires. Fix: keep the N-Panel open in your startup file, or tap N once before first use. After that it behaves.

What happened to Simple Tabs?

Simple Tabs was Chipp's free 2021 take on this problem. Simple N-Panel is the modern rebuild — a proper Blender 4.2+ extension, current through Blender 5.0.

Shouldn't Blender just build this in?

Customers keep saying so, and we'd take that as a compliment. Until then, Simple N-Panel fixes it today — built by a Blender Dev Fund contributor who'd be glad to see the problem disappear.

What You Get$10 · One-Time Purchase

Small. Local. Yours.

Simple N-Panel is a $10, one-time purchase. No dependencies, no network, no scene data — it only reads which panels are registered and stores a small list in your preferences.

The Simple N-Panel extension (Blender 4.2+, .zip, drag-drop install)

Full documentation and an active Discord where a human answers

GPL-3.0-or-later — open license, yours to keep

Requirements

Blender4.2+ (modern Extension) — current through Blender 5.0

PlatformsWindows · macOS · Linux

TypeUser Interface / 3D View add-on

Price$10 · one-time purchase

LicenseGPL-3.0-or-later

InstallDrag the zip onto the viewport, or Edit → Preferences → Add-ons

Support

Support that actually answers.

The quiet utility with a perfect record — and a catalog behind it that answers. Backed by first-class support for Blender customers since 2019: an active Discord where a human replies.

5.0★

Every one of its 13 Superhive ratings is five stars

2019

Supporting Blender artists since

6K+

Members in the Discord where a human replies

Quiet the clutter.

One hotkey replaces the overflowing tab strip. Simple N-Panel is small, local, and built for the way Blender artists already work.

Get it now on Superhive → Read the docs