Azure Fundamentals Step 6 of 6

Navigating the Azure Portal

July 27, 2026 · 4 min read ·Beginner
Azure Fundamentals
#Azure#Azure Portal#Navigation#Resources

The Azure portal is a web-based console for creating, managing, and monitoring Azure resources. Learning a few navigation patterns makes the portal much easier to use.

In this article
  • The main areas of the Azure portal
  • How to find services and resources quickly
  • How directory and subscription filters affect what you see
  • How to use favorites, dashboards, and resource views

What is the Azure portal?

The Azure portal is a unified graphical console. It provides an alternative to command-line tools for common Azure tasks.

You can use it to create resources, change settings, review costs, monitor services, manage access, open Cloud Shell, and find documentation.

The main portal areas

1Global searchFind services, resources, Marketplace items, and documentation.
2Portal menuOpen Home, All services, Resource groups, Subscriptions, and Favorites.
3Global controlsUse Cloud Shell, notifications, settings, help, and account options.
4Service menuNavigate through the options for the current Azure service or resource.
5Command barCreate, delete, refresh, move, export, or run actions for the current view.
6Working paneView and edit the details of the selected service or resource.

The exact options change with the service, but this basic layout stays familiar across the portal.

Use search first

The global search bar is often the fastest way to navigate. You can search for:

  • A service, such as Virtual machines or Microsoft Entra ID
  • A resource by name
  • A resource type
  • A Marketplace item
  • Microsoft documentation

For beginners, search is usually faster and safer than trying to remember where every service appears in the menu.

Home, All services, and Create a resource

Home shows recent resources and common starting points.

All services displays Azure services by category. You can filter the list and add frequently used services to Favorites.

Create a resource opens the Azure Marketplace, where you can start a guided deployment for supported services and solutions.

Resource groups and All resources

Use Resource groups when you want to see resources as part of a solution or lifecycle.

Use All resources when you want a broad list across the subscriptions currently included by your portal filter.

Resource groups

Useful for a project, application, environment, deployment, or group of resources managed together.

All resources

Useful for searching and filtering resources by name, type, location, subscription, resource group, and tags.

When you open a resource, its Overview page normally shows identifiers, status, location, subscription, resource group, and important properties.

Directory and subscription filters

The portal can show different results depending on the active directory and subscription filter.

Before making a change

Confirm the current Microsoft Entra directory, subscription, resource group, and region. These four values prevent many simple mistakes.

An account can access multiple directories. Each directory can have different subscriptions and identities. The global subscription filter can also hide subscriptions from many portal views.

When a resource seems to be missing:

  1. Check the active directory.
  2. Open Portal settings.
  3. Review the subscription filter.
  4. Search again by resource name or resource ID.

Favorites

Favorites keep commonly used services near the top of the portal menu. Good beginner favorites include:

  • Resource groups
  • Subscriptions
  • All resources
  • Virtual machines
  • Virtual networks
  • Storage accounts
  • Microsoft Entra ID
  • Cost Management + Billing

Favorites are personal. Changing them does not change the portal for other users.

Dashboards

Dashboards provide an organized view of selected Azure information. You can pin supported resource tiles, metrics, and shortcuts to create a workspace for a project or operational role.

Dashboards are useful for quick access, but they do not replace monitoring design, alerts, documentation, or infrastructure as code.

Portal settings

In Portal settings, you can manage options such as:

  • Theme and contrast
  • Portal menu behavior
  • Startup page
  • Language and regional format
  • Directory preferences
  • Subscription filters
  • Sign-out timeout

A useful setup is to keep the menu behavior and favorites simple, then use search for everything else.

Safe habits in the portal

Read the scopeCheck directory, subscription, resource group, and resource name before every important action.
Review before createConfirm region, pricing tier, redundancy, networking, tags, and estimated cost.
Use the resource IDNames can repeat in different scopes. A resource ID identifies the complete Azure path.
Keep repeatable work in codeUse Bicep, ARM templates, Terraform, CLI, or PowerShell when a deployment must be consistent.

Summary

The Azure portal is a web console for Azure management. The most useful beginner skills are global search, scope awareness, resource filtering, and understanding the service menu.

This completes the first Azunkey learning path. You now have the basic structure needed to understand subscriptions, tenants, resource groups, regions, resource providers, and the Azure portal.

Official documentation