---
title: "3 Secret Features of Drupal 8"
date: "2019-05-14T14:40:08+00:00"
summary:
image:
type: "article"
url: "/acquia-cloud-platform/help/91776-3-secret-features-drupal-8"
id: "e91ec2a3-cee2-4dd1-8234-26d4905c98b6"
---

You've undoubtedly heard about some of the major new features in Drupal 8.

You've heard that Views is in core, that there is a new WYSIWYG editor, and that the codebase has been redesigned with Symfony.

At [OSTraining](http://ostraining.com/) we've written posts about many of these headline features, including one we posted here at Acquia called, [10 New Features in Drupal 8 Core](https://dev.acquia.com/blog/drupal-8/10-new-features-in-drupal-8-core/15/09/2015/6721).

Well, Drupal 8 has much more to offer. I'm going to show you three really useful new features in Drupal 8 that most people aren't talking about.

At first, you'll notice that the Drupal 8 Admin menu looks very similar to Drupal 7.

![OSTraining website dashboard with navigation tabs, search bar, and welcome message indicating no front page content has been created yet.](https://acquia.widen.net/content/nqiu7c41wc/web/url_de32888d5be83dfb0c014598106287b5.png?v=22785816-2979-4b19-9d05-df7d311beb30)

However, the Admin menu is much more flexible in Drupal 8. For example, there's an arrow in the top-right corner. Click this arrow and watch how the menu changes.

![Red arrow pointing to a small button on a webpage with "Edit" and "My account" options visible.](https://acquia.widen.net/content/kqwflkxr73/web/url_f35bb8657c38503d7e5f83cceddcfa45.png?v=78080807-5295-4c96-b7ae-7399c574f52b)

If you click the arrow above, the menu moves to the left. This is the same view that's enabled Drupal 8's Admin to be used on mobile phones.

![Sidebar menu displaying options: Content, Structure, Appearance, Extend, Configuration, People, Reports, and Help, with a "Log out" button at the top.](https://acquia.widen.net/content/nzaygiermv/web/url_83caa31fdb5a01e9ce28f6b4005cf95f.png?v=0b86819c-bbb7-4ba9-8b6a-f6afcc95cdd7)

Also in the top-right corner is an "Edit" link. Click this link and the whole screen will become editable.

![Red arrow pointing to "Edit" button on a blue and black interface with "My account" and "Log out" options visible.](https://acquia.widen.net/content/gw2ctfjjzs/web/url_e103f0e0ae26bf938156f7c98ade9119.png?v=33564e11-acba-4120-8754-f048d79c03d2)

After clicking the "Edit" link in the menu, you'll see small pencil icons next to all the page elements.

![Webpage interface with "My account," "Log out," and multiple pencil icons for editing on a blue and white background.](https://acquia.widen.net/content/3demkyxisw/web/url_09d2742aa5520b98466b3549e433ba56.png?v=8729fae8-c40b-40e4-81d7-9aecde0335bb)

You'll be able to edit any element on the page, directly from the front of the site.

![Webpage titled "Test Article 1," submitted by "steve" on 10/23/2015. Includes a 404 error icon and a blue drop logo.](https://acquia.widen.net/content/a4drya8m9e/web/url_fd7b5323904203706b90c55a0df24a06.png?v=6da342f8-a366-4ce6-839b-90cad590a606)

Comments were a fairly basic feature in Drupal 7.

No longer. In Drupal 8, comments have their own area. You can see a list of all "Published comments" and another list of all "Unapproved comments." You can perform bulk actions on the comments from here.

You can also create different types of comments in Drupal 8. For example, you can have one type of comments on public-facing blog posts and another type of comments for private feedback from admins.

![Table listing comment types: Default, Feedback, Private, with descriptions and "Manage fields" buttons under Operations.](https://acquia.widen.net/content/cgxzgjr1gf/web/url_f23877584373c6710a566c57b614c5df.png?v=724479ee-fe61-42d1-8f9f-27f7e033977d)

When you add new comment types, you'll see that comments can now be applied to much more than just content. You can add comments to blocks, contact messages, content, taxonomy terms, users -- even to comments!

![Form interface for adding a comment type, with fields for label and description, and a dropdown menu for target entity type selection.](https://acquia.widen.net/content/nqi3czjz22/web/url_3b4796f7d53403e490d35cace84cb78d.png?v=ed190af0-922f-4093-8a81-2376f9488ac3)

Each comment can have its own set of fields.

![Table showing fields: Body, Comments, Image, Tags, with machine names and field types. Each has an "Edit" button under Operations.](https://acquia.widen.net/content/jfa3kwrnhq/web/url_ef3a74c39b0b537f10defbd11f07b832.png?v=0f3993bd-8b7d-4b8a-9554-bd7679333913)

In Drupal 7, if you wanted to create forms, you had to use a module such as Webform or Entityform. Now in Drupal 8, forms are in core.

By default, Drupal 8 provides two contact forms: "Personal contact form" and "Website feedback."

"Personal contact form" is the form that's added to each user's profile. "Website feedback" is a generic website contact form.

![Table showing forms, recipients, selection status, and operations with options to manage fields or edit.](https://acquia.widen.net/content/zwel8haglc/web/url_722abe1fb6674f6a318f02fa34957930.png?v=d93ad0ab-b5cf-4ac4-b524-8c1d79ba3bf0)

Drupal 8 forms can have normal fields, but they also have custom elements: such as "Sender email,""Recipient username," and "Send copy to sender." The one feature missing is the ability to store entries that are sent, but I suspect a module will soon be created to meet that need.

![url_bc3672a38a5f322c9e73048afa7f4826.png](https://acquia.widen.net/content/c10c21aele/web/url_bc3672a38a5f322c9e73048afa7f4826.png?v=ae3f2dc1-4f05-4255-a7b0-e36953b7516d)