diff --git a/docs/_static/css/custom.css b/docs/_static/css/custom.css
index 59811a21311..f69fdaad6ee 100644
--- a/docs/_static/css/custom.css
+++ b/docs/_static/css/custom.css
@@ -24,23 +24,30 @@ ul#navbar-main-elements li:first-of-type {
 #bd-docs-nav div ul a:hover {
     text-decoration: underline;
 }
-/* top bar items on hover */
 ul#navbar-main-elements > li:hover { 
     text-decoration: underline;
 }
-/* first level items in the side menu */
+
+/* first-level items in the side menu */
+#bd-docs-nav > div > ul > li {
+    padding-bottom: 15px;
+}
 #bd-docs-nav > div > ul > li > a {
-    color: #0068B5;
-    padding-bottom: 0;
+    color: #000000;
+    font-weight: bold;
 }
 /* second level items                 */
 #bd-docs-nav > div > ul > li > ul {
-    padding-left: 0.5rem;
+    padding-left: 0.3rem;
 }
-#bd-docs-nav div ul li ul li a {
-    padding-top: 0;
-  /*padding-bottom: 0; */
+/* overwrite menu chevron directions for open and closed states  */
+.toctree-checkbox~label i {
+    transform: rotate(270deg);
 }
+.toctree-checkbox:checked~label i {
+    transform: rotate(0deg);
+}
+
 
 
 
diff --git a/docs/_static/js/open_sidebar.js b/docs/_static/js/open_sidebar.js
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..80688c0c216
--- /dev/null
+++ b/docs/_static/js/open_sidebar.js
@@ -0,0 +1,7 @@
+$(document).ready(function() {
+    const elems = $( "ul.bd-sidenav > li > input" )
+    console.log(elems)
+    for(let i = 0; i < elems.length; i++){
+        elems[i].setAttribute("checked", "checked");
+    }
+})
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/docs/conf.py b/docs/conf.py
index 08e52a9224c..0387e39e598 100644
--- a/docs/conf.py
+++ b/docs/conf.py
@@ -181,4 +181,5 @@ def setup(app):
     app.add_js_file('js/custom.js')
     app.add_js_file('js/graphs.js')
     app.add_js_file('js/graphs_ov_tf.js')
+    app.add_js_file('js/open_sidebar.js')
     
\ No newline at end of file