There is no left side menu in Lightroom anymore.

No, I’ve been using Lightroom, not Lightroom Classic, for quite a while. I also have Lightroom Classic, but I learned how to work with Lightroom, so just prefer it because I don’t know what I don’t know. But all of a sudden, Lightroom doesn’t have the menus on the left on the program as opened in Creative Cloud, but it does when I select it from my program list in the Windows Programs. It’s the damndest thing. . . 

Hi @skilled_impression4105,

Thank you for writing in. This is a really common source of confusion, and I'm happy to clear it up. From your description, it sounds like you may have both Lightroom (the cloud-based app) and Lightroom Classic installed.
 

The cloud-based Lightroom has a different interface and does not include the left-side panels or features such as Edit In for third-party editors like Topaz.
 

Open the Creative Cloud desktop app > Find Lightroom Classic (it will say "Classic" explicitly) > click Open

Once it's running, right-click its icon in the Windows taskbar > select "Pin to taskbar"

From now on, always launch from that pinned icon.
 

Also, the app's icon will say LrC instead of Lr (which is Cloud-based). This is the one you need to select and pin to the taskbar or as a desktop shortcut.

I hope this helps.
 

Best,

Anshul Saini