# Flow Programming UI, how to keep Groups Collapsed

**URL:** <https://discourse.nodered.org/t/flow-programming-ui-how-to-keep-groups-collapsed/101471>\
**Category:** General\
**Created:** [13 July 2026 21:14 UTC](https://discourse.nodered.org/t/flow-programming-ui-how-to-keep-groups-collapsed/101471 "2026-07-13T21:14:03Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 5\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![bigMoose](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex026/user_avatar/discourse.nodered.org/bigmoose/32/107793_2.png) [@bigMoose](https://discourse.nodered.org/u/bigMoose)\
**Post date:** [13 July 2026 21:14 UTC](https://discourse.nodered.org/t/flow-programming-ui-how-to-keep-groups-collapsed/101471/1 "2026-07-13T21:14:03Z")

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As my program has grown, I collapse individual groups in the right sidebar in the Flow Programming UI, but when I "Deploy" They revert back to one widgit per line.

Is there a way to keep the right sidebar groups collapsed to one line per group except for the group you are working on? Currently at about 5 groups with up to 30-40 widgits per group.

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**Author:** ![Colin](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex026/user_avatar/discourse.nodered.org/colin/32/17040_2.png) [@Colin](https://discourse.nodered.org/u/Colin)\
**Post date:** [14 July 2026 08:09 UTC](https://discourse.nodered.org/t/flow-programming-ui-how-to-keep-groups-collapsed/101471/2 "2026-07-14T08:09:52Z")

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Are you talking about the use of @flowfuse/node-red-dashboard, and in particular the dashboard tab in the right hand pane? So not groups in the node-red flow editor?

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**Author:** ![bigMoose](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex026/user_avatar/discourse.nodered.org/bigmoose/32/107793_2.png) [@bigMoose](https://discourse.nodered.org/u/bigMoose)\
**Post date:** [14 July 2026 12:42 UTC](https://discourse.nodered.org/t/flow-programming-ui-how-to-keep-groups-collapsed/101471/3 "2026-07-14T12:42:56Z")

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Thanks Colin, does this picture help to explain it? On the right I have collapsed "Data" and "Graphs" Groups, "Plugs" is still extended.

Where it gets tedious is when I am working on "Plugs" for example; after each "Deploy" when I come back to rearrange widgets say in "Plugs", I find "Data" and "Graphs" re-expanded.

Using Flow Fuse I believe, V 5.0.0 I am only about a month into this great program, so my vocabulary is not yet honed. As they say, a picture is worth 1000 words!

 ![Screenshot (19)](https://us1.discourse-cdn.com/flex026/uploads/nodered/original/3X/0/2/024532f045a9087edc577c68abe7431e0b0b4cb6.png)

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**Author:** ![Colin](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex026/user_avatar/discourse.nodered.org/colin/32/17040_2.png) [@Colin](https://discourse.nodered.org/u/Colin)\
**Post date:** [14 July 2026 12:57 UTC](https://discourse.nodered.org/t/flow-programming-ui-how-to-keep-groups-collapsed/101471/4 "2026-07-14T12:57:27Z")

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Yes, it is a pain. There are a couple of open issues on this, see below, but the problem is that there are apparently no flowfuse developers available to work on the dashboard, and not enough in the community helping, so nothing much is happening at the moment.

> <https://github.com/FlowFuse/node-red-dashboard/issues/1593>
>
> \### Current Behavior
> 
> Hi,
> 
> In Dashboard 2, whenever a flow is updated, the Layou…t \\ Pages overview refreshes and expands all Pages & Groups. There has already been at least 1 request to change this behaviour, and there seem to be some technical issues in solving this.
> 
> Again, I would like to say that this is extremely annoying behaviour. We have Dashboards with 10+ pages, and several groups within each page. So scrolling to find a page or group is very time-consuming and .. well.. annoying. And not exactly contributing to ease of use.
> If a technical solution for remembering the last state of that overview is difficult for some reason, please, please, please make a button to collapse all pages and groups. That should make it much easier to quickly find the page\\group you're looking for.
> 
> Thanks! DenW
> 
> \### Expected Behavior
> 
> \_No response\_
> 
> \### Steps To Reproduce
> 
> \_No response\_
> 
> \### Environment
> 
> 
> 
> 
> \### Have you provided an initial effort estimate for this issue?
> 
> I have provided an initial effort estimate

> <https://github.com/FlowFuse/node-red-dashboard/issues/682>
>
> \### Description
> 
> Would be nice, if in the editor on the sidebar for the dashboar…d, it could remember the collapse/extended state of pages and groups, as in Dashboard 1.0.
> 
> At the moment the default behaviour is always expanding, even if we just edit a widget (text box for example) after pressing \`Done\` it will expand all the Pages/Groups. Obviously, it should remain in the same place after editing a widget or group properties. 
> 
> In case we have an elevated number of pages/group/widgets is cumbersome to always being scrolling to the where we were last time.
> 
> \### Have you provided an initial effort estimate for this issue?
> 
> I am no FlowFuse team member

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![bigMoose](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex026/user_avatar/discourse.nodered.org/bigmoose/32/107793_2.png) [@bigMoose](https://discourse.nodered.org/u/bigMoose)\
**Post date:** [14 July 2026 14:32 UTC](https://discourse.nodered.org/t/flow-programming-ui-how-to-keep-groups-collapsed/101471/5 "2026-07-14T14:32:36Z")

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Thank you Colin! Will press forward! Thanks for reassuring me that I did not miss an obscure command in the documentation.  
Cheers, Dave