Quick Launch on a page layout in 2013

Question

I am developing a custom branding for my SharePoint 2013 site.

I have a single master page, and two page layouts - HomePageLayout and ThreeColumnPageLayout.

I want the ThreeColumnPageLayout to have the quick launch appear in the leftmost column. However I cannot use the provided snippets to add the quick launch to a page layout - only a master page. Granted I can use CSS/JS trickery to put the Quick Launch on the master page and then only cause it to show up when a certain page layout is used, but this seems like a hack to me and a waste of bandwidth.

Is there no way to add the Quick Launch to a page layout? This is what I tried:

<div id="sideNavBox" class="ms-dialogHidden ms-forceWrap ms-noList">
    <div class="ms-core-navigation">
        <!--MS:<asp:ContentPlaceHolder ID="PlaceHolderLeftNavBar" runat="server">-->
            <!--SPM:<asp:ContentPlaceHolder ID="PlaceHolderLeftNavBarTop" runat="server"/>-->
            <!--SPM:<asp:ContentPlaceHolder ID="PlaceHolderQuickLaunchTop" runat="server"/>-->
            <!--SPM:<asp:ContentPlaceHolder ID="PlaceHolderLeftNavBarDataSource" runat="server"/>-->
            <!--SPM:<asp:ContentPlaceHolder ID="PlaceHolderCalendarNavigator" runat="server"/>-->
            <!--SPM:<asp:ContentPlaceHolder ID="PlaceHolderLeftActions" runat="server"/>-->
            <!--SPM:<asp:ContentPlaceHolder ID="PlaceHolderQuickLaunchBottom" runat="server"/>-->
        <!--ME:</asp:ContentPlaceHolder>-->
    </div>
</div>

this didn't work - whenever i upload the html file with this code block in it, it fails to update the aspx file, and results in the problem described here: Design Manager not updating aspx from my html

Answer 1

It's not possible to remove the QuickLaunch navigation from the masterpage as it is necessary for other functionality in sharepoint to work.

I don't see what the issue is hiding it with CSS and then in your pagelayout insert a <style> tag included some CSS to show it again when needed.

It's not a hack. It's a workaround which is very much recommended.

Answer 2

I got quick launch to work in a page layout by posting the following code into my pagelayout HTML file. I placed it in a bootstrap column and it renders correctly with one caveat. the "View All Site Content" link does not render. Can't seem to figure out exactly why, the contentPlaceHolder is created on page load, but none of the code is rendered to create it.

None the less, if you want Quick Launch in a page layout, add the code below. My testing is with a MasterPage that has the Quick launch removed, so there is no duplication of code.

<div id="sideNavBox" class="ms-dialogHidden ms-forceWrap ms-noList">
    <!--SPM:<SharePoint:AjaxDelta id="DeltaPlaceHolderLeftNavBar" BlockElement="true" CssClass="ms-core-navigation" role="navigation" runat="server">-->
    <!--SPM:<asp:ContentPlaceHolder id="PlaceHolderLeftNavBar" runat="server">-->
    <a id="startNavigation" name="startNavigation" tabIndex="-1">
    </a>
    <!--SPM:<asp:ContentPlaceHolder id="PlaceHolderLeftNavBarTop" runat="server"/>-->
    <!--SPM:<asp:ContentPlaceHolder id="PlaceHolderQuickLaunchTop" runat="server"/>-->
    <!--SPM:<asp:ContentPlaceHolder id="PlaceHolderLeftNavBarDataSource" runat="server"/>-->
    <!--SPM:<asp:ContentPlaceHolder id="PlaceHolderCalendarNavigator" runat="server"/>-->
    <!--SPM:<asp:ContentPlaceHolder id="PlaceHolderLeftActions" runat="server"/>-->
    <div class="ms-core-sideNavBox-removeLeftMargin">
        <!--SPM:<SharePoint:SPNavigationManager
id="QuickLaunchNavigationManager"
runat="server" 
QuickLaunchControlId="V4QuickLaunchMenu"
ContainedControl="QuickLaunch"
EnableViewState="false"
>-->
        <!--SPM:<SharePoint:DelegateControl runat="server" 
    ControlId="QuickLaunchDataSource">-->
        <!--SPM:<Template_Controls>-->
        <!--SPM:<asp:SiteMapDataSource 
            SiteMapProvider="SPNavigationProvider" 
            ShowStartingNode="False"
            id="QuickLaunchSiteMap" 
            StartingNodeUrl="sid:1025" 
            runat="server"
/>-->
        <!--SPM:</Template_Controls>-->
        <!--SPM:</SharePoint:DelegateControl>-->
        <!--SPM:<SharePoint:AspMenu
    id="V4QuickLaunchMenu"
    runat="server"
    EnableViewState="false" 
    DataSourceId="QuickLaunchSiteMap"
    UseSimpleRendering="true"
    Orientation="Vertical"
    StaticDisplayLevels="1"
    AdjustForShowStartingNode="true"
    MaximumDynamicDisplayLevels="1"
    SkipLinkText=""
/>-->
        <!--SPM:</SharePoint:SPNavigationManager>-->
        <!--SPM:<SharePoint:SPNavigationManager
    id="TreeViewNavigationManagerV4"
    runat="server" 
    ContainedControl="TreeView"
    CssClass="ms-tv-box"
>-->
        <!--SPM:<SharePoint:SPLinkButton runat="server" NavigateUrl="~site/_layouts/15/viewlsts.aspx" id="idNavLinkSiteHierarchyV4" Text="&#60;%$Resources:wss,treeview_header%&#62;" accesskey="&#60;%$Resources:wss,quiklnch_allcontent_AK%&#62;" 
    CssClass="ms-tv-header"/>-->
        <!--SPM:<SharePoint:DelegateControl runat="server" ControlId="TreeViewAndDataSource">-->
        <!--SPM:<Template_Controls>-->
        <!--SPM:<SharePoint:SPHierarchyDataSourceControl
                runat="server"
                id="TreeViewDataSourceV4"
                RootContextObject="Web"
                IncludeDiscussionFolders="true"
/>-->
        <!--SPM:<SharePoint:SPRememberScroll runat="server" id="TreeViewRememberScrollV4" onscroll="javascript:_spRecordScrollPositions(this);" 
                style="overflow: auto;">-->
        <!--SPM:<SharePoint:SPTreeView
                id="WebTreeViewV4"
                runat="server"
                ShowLines="false"
                DataSourceId="TreeViewDataSourceV4"
                ExpandDepth="0"
                SelectedNodeStyle-CssClass="ms-tv-selected"
                NodeStyle-CssClass="ms-tv-item"
                SkipLinkText=""
                NodeIndent="12"
                ExpandImageUrl="/_layouts/15/images/tvclosed.png?rev=23"
                ExpandImageUrlRtl="/_layouts/15/images/tvclosedrtl.png?rev=23"
                CollapseImageUrl="/_layouts/15/images/tvopen.png?rev=23"
                CollapseImageUrlRtl="/_layouts/15/images/tvopenrtl.png?rev=23"
                NoExpandImageUrl="/_layouts/15/images/tvblank.gif?rev=23" 
>-->
        <!--SPM:</SharePoint:SPTreeView>-->
        <!--SPM:</SharePoint:SPRememberScroll>-->
        <!--SPM:</Template_Controls>-->
        <!--SPM:</SharePoint:DelegateControl>-->
        <!--SPM:</SharePoint:SPNavigationManager>-->
        <!--SPM:<asp:ContentPlaceHolder id="PlaceHolderQuickLaunchBottom" runat="server">-->
        <div class="ms-core-listMenu-verticalBox">
            <!--SPM:<SharePoint:ClusteredSPLinkButton
            runat="server"
            id="idNavLinkViewAll"
            PermissionsString="ViewFormPages"
            NavigateUrl="~site/_layouts/15/viewlsts.aspx"
            Text="&#60;%$Resources:wss,AllSiteContentMore%&#62;"
            accesskey="&#60;%$Resources:wss,quiklnch_allcontent_AK%&#62;"
            CssClass="ms-core-listMenu-item ms-core-listMenu-heading"/>-->
            <!--PS: Start of READ-ONLY PREVIEW (do not modify)--><a id="ctl00_idNavLinkViewAll" accesskey="3" class="ms-core-listMenu-item ms-core-listMenu-heading" href="#"><span class="ms-splinkbutton-text">All Site Content</span></a><!--PE: End of READ-ONLY PREVIEW-->
        </div>
        <!--SPM:</asp:ContentPlaceHolder>-->
    </div>
    <!--SPM:</asp:ContentPlaceHolder>-->
    <!--SPM:</SharePoint:AjaxDelta>-->
</div> <!-- END QuickLaunch Code -->