Navigation drawer: How do I set the selected item at startup?

Use the code below:

navigationView.getMenu().getItem(0).setChecked(true);

Call this method after you call setNavDrawer();

The getItem(int index) method gets the MenuItem then you can call the setChecked(true); on that MenuItem, all you are left to do is to find out which element index does the default have, and replace the 0 with that index.

You can select(highlight) the item by calling

onNavigationItemSelected(navigationView.getMenu().getItem(0));

Here is a reference link: http://thegeekyland.blogspot.com/2015/11/navigation-drawer-how-set-selected-item.html

EDIT Did not work on nexus 4, support library revision 24.0.0. I recommend use

navigationView.setCheckedItem(R.id.nav_item);

answered by @kingston below.

For me both these methods didn't work:

• navigationView.getMenu().getItem(0).setChecked(true);
• navigationView.setCheckedItem(id);

Try this one, it works for me.

onNavigationItemSelected(navigationView.getMenu().findItem(R.id.nav_profile));

You can also call:

navigationView.setCheckedItem(id);

This method was introduced in API 23.0.0

Example

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<menu xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
      xmlns:tools="http://schemas.android.com/tools"
      tools:ignore="UnusedIds">

    <group
        android:id="@+id/group"
        android:checkableBehavior="single">
        <item
            android:id="@+id/menu_nav_home"
            android:icon="@drawable/ic_home_black_24dp"
            android:title="@string/menu_nav_home" />
    </group>
</menu>

Note: android:checkableBehavior="single"

See also this