diff --git a/src/harness/fourslash.ts b/src/harness/fourslash.ts
index 3bce13820d7..048beb21e09 100644
--- a/src/harness/fourslash.ts
+++ b/src/harness/fourslash.ts
@@ -1961,23 +1961,22 @@ namespace FourSlash {
 
         public verifyNavigationBarCount(expected: number) {
             const items = this.languageService.getNavigationBarItems(this.activeFile.fileName);
-            const actual = this.getNavigationBarItemsCount(items);
+            const actual = this.getNavigationBarItemsCount(items[0]);
 
             if (expected !== actual) {
                 this.raiseError(`verifyNavigationBarCount failed - found: ${actual} navigation items, expected: ${expected}.`);
             }
         }
 
-        private getNavigationBarItemsCount(items: ts.NavigationBarItem[]) {
-            let result = 0;
-            if (items) {
-                for (let i = 0, n = items.length; i < n; i++) {
-                    result++;
-                    result += this.getNavigationBarItemsCount(items[i].childItems);
-                }
+        private getNavigationBarItemsCount(root: ts.NavigationBarItem) {
+            ts.Debug.assert(root.kind === ts.ScriptElementKind.moduleElement);
+            function recur(item: ts.NavigationBarItem) {
+                let count = 1;
+                for (const child of item.childItems)
+                    count += recur(child);
+                return count;
             }
-
-            return result;
+            return recur(root);
         }
 
         public verifyNavigationBarContains(name: string, kind: string, fileName?: string, parentName?: string, isAdditionalSpan?: boolean, markerPosition?: number) {
diff --git a/src/services/navigationBar.ts b/src/services/navigationBar.ts
index bcf0726ffd5..f6f7b741a56 100644
--- a/src/services/navigationBar.ts
+++ b/src/services/navigationBar.ts
@@ -9,16 +9,10 @@ namespace ts.NavigationBar {
             return getJsNavigationBarItems(sourceFile, compilerOptions);
         }
 
-        // If the source file has any child items, then it included in the tree
-        // and takes lexical ownership of all other top-level items.
-        let hasGlobalNode = false;
-
         return getItemsWorker(getTopLevelNodes(sourceFile), createTopLevelItem);
 
         function getIndent(node: Node): number {
-            // If we have a global node in the tree,
-            // then it adds an extra layer of depth to all subnodes.
-            let indent = hasGlobalNode ? 1 : 0;
+            let indent = 1; // Global node is the only one with indent 0.
 
             let current = node.parent;
             while (current) {
@@ -508,11 +502,6 @@ namespace ts.NavigationBar {
             function createSourceFileItem(node: SourceFile): ts.NavigationBarItem {
                 const childItems = getItemsWorker(getChildNodes(node.statements), createChildItem);
 
-                if (childItems === undefined || childItems.length === 0) {
-                    return undefined;
-                }
-
-                hasGlobalNode = true;
                 const rootName = isExternalModule(node)
                     ? "\"" + escapeString(getBaseFileName(removeFileExtension(normalizePath(node.fileName)))) + "\""
                     : "<global>";