Mastering the FM26 UI

Introducing: Bookmarks

Anchoring the FM26 UI is the brand-new Navigation bar. Consolidated from previous editions into six categories at the top of the screen that all have their own submenus, this gives you faster access to your key areas of responsibility. 

Everyone plays FM differently and that different game screens and menus will be important to you at different stages of the season. To recognise that, we’ve introduced Bookmarks – simple, quick shortcuts to 24 different game areas. 

In our initial UI Feature Blog, we said that you’ll start with six preset Bookmarks based on the most visited areas of the game.

With feedback from user testing, we’ve upgraded this. Now, if you’ve got a high-resolution monitor, you can set up to 12 Bookmarks at any one time. 

You can adjust your preferred Bookmarks at any time to suit your preferences. They’re always accessible at the top of the screen, allowing you to quickly navigate between Recruitment, Training, Tactics and everything in-between.

With faster navigation, you’ll stay focused on what’s important. Change your Bookmarks, Change the game.

Levelling up the Search bar

Bookmarks offer a new way to navigate FM26, but they’re just one of several tools to help you find your way around the game. One way to quickly find what you’re looking for is FM26’s overhauled Search bar. 

In previous editions of FM, the Search function could only find entities, meaning players, clubs or competitions. It’s now much more powerful.

In FM26, the Search bar will pull in all relevant materials to your query from across various game areas. That means every message title, news item, guide or action relating to that topic. This brings together all relevant information in one place, making it simple to explore the details you need.

Take Training. A search for that will bring a shortcut to the Training menu as well as tiles explaining the Intensity settings, Individual Training work and your current Training Unit breakdown. You’ll also get relevant messages from your backroom team and quick links to FMPedia.

It’s a similar story if you look up Staff. Here, you’ll see relevant messages but also tiles highlighting any Staff Vacancies at your club, your Staff Overview, Staff Database and so on. 

So, whether you’re new to the FM series or a dugout veteran, the overhauled Search function allows you to find things faster and navigate more smoothly around your game world. 

Learn more with FMPedia

A key result in any Search query you have in FM26 is FMPedia – an extensive new addition for this year that’s also a navigation tool in its own right. 

Also found via the ribbon icon next to the Search bar, FMPedia is an extensive glossary of football and FM terminology that gives you instant context and detail without you needing to leave the game to find something out. 

FMPedia covers a total of 10 different game areas, from Squad to Tactics. Each section has a home page and then related sub-pages for you to explore, all of which are highlighted and linked in the text description. 

If you use Squad as an example, this covers everything from defining a Code of Conduct to explaining how the Youth Candidate system works in FM26. 

Within each page, there are tiles on the right-hand side that take you directly to relevant and related in-game menus and screens – allowing you to immediately put your knowledge to use. 

Make use of Tutorials

FMPedia is an educational tool to support your managerial journey and the same is true of our in-game Tutorial system. These are a longstanding feature in FM but they’ve been rebuilt and repurposed for FM26 to match the new UI.

Built-in natively as useful explainers at the start of your saves, Tutorials provide you with a key overview and understanding of each game area.

As you can see in this Portal Tutorial, it’s broken down into stages that inform you what each element of the screen is for and how it works. 

If you need a refresher at any point, just like with FMPedia, you can run through the tutorial again and get to grips with anything you’re struggling on.

Tutorials, just like the overhauled Search function and new additions like FMPedia and Bookmarks are part of our smarter, smoother new UI in FM26. 

Together, these tools give you the guidance and control you need to navigate every career, no matter how you play or who you manage.