Navigation Link Missing in SharePoint Site Settings

Created a site collection for "Marketing" team today and they came with a complaint: "I couldn't see Navigation link under site settings! As 'Navigation' component  gives more options, we need it badly! How do we get it?".

Ok, I went to: Site Actions  >> Site Settings >> Look and Feel >> Nope! couldn't see Navigation link. Yes, Navigation link is missing!! instead I see "Quick Launch" and "Top Link Bar" links.


Cause:
The navigation link missing SharePoint 2010 because the site template is based on "Team Site" template. Navigation Link will be available on sites based on Publishing Site/Collaboration site templates or Navigation link appears on site collections with publishing feature enabled. (If not you'd see "Quick Links.")

Solution:
Activate "SharePoint Server Publishing Infrastructure" feature! Go to:

• Site Actions >> Site Settings
• Under "Site collection administration" section click on "site collection features"
• Activate the "Office SharePoint Server Publishing Infrastructure" feature
• Now for each site you can activate feature "Office SharePoint Server Publishing"
• Done! You should be able to see the option "Navigation" under look and feel.

You can do it only if you are a site collection administrator.

Alright, Don't want to activate publishing feature but want to access Navigation component? Sure, the simple workaround for this issue: Just append /_layouts/AreaNavigationSettings.aspx to the URL. E.g. http://sharepoint.crescent.com/teams/marketing/_layouts/AreaNavigationSettings.aspx
Don't want to activate publishing feature but need "Navigation" link under site settings? No issues. Here is the trick to get Navigation link in site settings: Navigation is actually a hidden feature which gets activated when you activate "Publishing Feature". So, we can just activate the "Navigation" feature directly. This will fix navigation link missing for SharePoint 2007.

stsadm -o activatefeature -name "navigation" -url "http://sharepoint.crescent.com/sites/sales" -force

For SharePoint 2010, you can enable the feature with PowerShell and get navigation link:

Enable-SPFeature -Identity "navigation" -url "http://sharepoint.crescent.com/teams/marketing/"