How to change the chatter position in Odoo (right, bottom, or however you like)

Quick answer: by default, Odoo puts the chatter on the right on screens wider than 1534 pixels and at the bottom on all other screens, with no user option. To choose for yourself, install Kameos's free Chatter Position module: it adds a button to the chatter bar that switches between side and bottom layouts, with a resizable splitter. Compatible with Odoo 17, 18 and 19, Community and Enterprise.

Why Odoo decides the chatter position on its own

The chatter — the messaging and history panel attached to every Odoo record — can take two positions: to the right of the form (side mode) or below the form, across the full width (bottom mode). The choice between the two is automatic: Odoo applies the o_xxl_form_view CSS class as soon as the viewport exceeds 1534 pixels in width.

This threshold is hard-coded in Odoo's web module. It takes into account neither the information density of the form, nor user preferences, nor the working context. A purchase order form with 8 columns per line is treated exactly like a 4-field contact form.

The result: on screens between 1280 and 1534 pixels (most 13" and 14" business laptops), the chatter systematically drops to the bottom, even when the user would rather keep it on the right. And on very large screens, it is forced to the right and eats into the width of dense forms.

The Chatter Position module: one button, two modes, zero database

Chatter Position is an open-source Odoo module published by Kameos under the LGPL-3 licence. It adds a button to the chatter bar (right next to the search magnifier) that switches the layout between side and bottom on demand, regardless of screen width.

In side mode, a vertical separator (the splitter) appears between the form and the chatter. Users can drag it with the mouse to adjust the proportions, or double-click it to return to the default 60/40 ratio with a smooth 180 ms transition.

The layout choice and the ratio are stored in the browser's localStorage, under the keys chatter_position and chatter_split_ratio. The module creates no model, no table, no field and never writes server-side: two users sharing the same Odoo database each keep their own configuration without any special permission.

Native Odoo vs Chatter Position: what actually changes

How to install Chatter Position in Odoo

Installation takes less than two minutes and requires no configuration.

1. 1 Download the module from the Odoo App Store or our public GitHub repository.
2. 2 Drop the chatter_position folder into the addons directory of your Odoo instance.
3. 3 Restart the Odoo service and activate developer mode in Settings.
4. 4 Update the apps list and search for Chatter Position, then click Install.
5. 5 Open any record that has a chatter (contact, quote, invoice…) and click the new button in the chatter bar to switch between the two layouts.

Three real-world uses from the field

Public API for Odoo developers

The module exposes a service named chatterPosition in the Odoo registry. Any OWL component can read the current position or toggle it programmatically, without manipulating the DOM or localStorage directly:

/** @odoo-module **/
import { Component } from "@odoo/owl";
import { useService } from "@web/core/utils/hooks";

class MyComponent extends Component {
    setup() {
        this.cp = useService("chatterPosition");
    }
    isSided()    { return this.cp.getPosition() === "sided"; }
    flip()       { this.cp.toggle(); }
}

Under the hood, the module patches the FormController and FormRenderer classes of the web module to neutralise Odoo's native o_xxl_form_view logic. No global monkey-patch, no XML override, no data file.

Odoo compatibility

Frequently asked questions