diff --git a/app/Services/NavbarService.php b/app/Services/NavbarService.php
index 183184b..0030c01 100644
--- a/app/Services/NavbarService.php
+++ b/app/Services/NavbarService.php
@@ -29,9 +29,13 @@ class NavbarService
         $allowedIds = $this->mapModel->getNavItemIdsForRoles($roles);
         if (empty($allowedIds)) return [];
 
-        // Load all enabled items, then filter
+        // Load all enabled items, then filter.
+        // The displayed sidebar is alphabetized after the tree is built so
+        // new menu items fall into place without relying on manual sort_order.
         $rows = $this->navModel->where('is_enabled', 1)
             ->orderBy('sort_order', 'ASC')
+            ->orderBy('label', 'ASC')
+            ->orderBy('id', 'ASC')
             ->findAll();
 
         // index by id
@@ -53,11 +57,40 @@ class NavbarService
                 $tree[] = &$node;
             }
         }
+        unset($node);
+
+        $this->sortTreeAlphabetically($tree);
 
         $this->cache->save($cacheKey, $tree, 300); // 5 minutes
         return $tree;
     }
 
+    private function sortTreeAlphabetically(array &$nodes): void
+    {
+        usort($nodes, fn ($a, $b) => strnatcasecmp(
+            $this->labelSortKey((string) ($a['label'] ?? '')),
+            $this->labelSortKey((string) ($b['label'] ?? ''))
+        ));
+
+        foreach ($nodes as &$node) {
+            if (!empty($node['children']) && is_array($node['children'])) {
+                $this->sortTreeAlphabetically($node['children']);
+            }
+        }
+        unset($node);
+    }
+
+    private function labelSortKey(string $label): string
+    {
+        $label = trim(preg_replace('/\s+/', ' ', $label) ?? '');
+        $label = preg_replace('/^[^[:alnum:]]+/u', '', $label) ?? $label;
+        $label = preg_replace('/^(the|an|a)\s+/iu', '', $label) ?? $label;
+
+        return function_exists('mb_strtolower')
+            ? mb_strtolower($label, 'UTF-8')
+            : strtolower($label);
+    }
+
     public function clearCache(): void
     {
         // simplest: flush; or if you have a tagged cache, clear only keys