Is there something I have to do to get the drop downs on the left side of the screen in the black area under the "qb Intuit quickbooks". I can't create a new invoice.

Essentially I have no way of creating an invoice.  There used to be a highlighted link in the invoices widget, but that gone.  I've seen other people advise to click +New on the left side, but I dont' have any options, it's just a blank space under the qb Intiut quickbooks logo.  I can click the logo and it refreshes my layout