# Moving multiple elements at the same time in the layout editor

**URL:** <https://discourse.nodered.org/t/moving-multiple-elements-at-the-same-time-in-the-layout-editor/71303>\
**Category:** Dashboard\
**Created:** [26 November 2022 21:44 UTC](https://discourse.nodered.org/t/moving-multiple-elements-at-the-same-time-in-the-layout-editor/71303 "2022-11-26T21:44:49Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 2\
**Page:** 1

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![sonntam](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex026/user_avatar/discourse.nodered.org/sonntam/32/19423_2.png) [@sonntam](https://discourse.nodered.org/u/sonntam)\
**Post date:** [26 November 2022 21:44 UTC](https://discourse.nodered.org/t/moving-multiple-elements-at-the-same-time-in-the-layout-editor/71303/1 "2022-11-26T21:44:49Z")

</div>

I don't know if anybody has made the same observation as me. At least I couldn't find an existing thread:

I have several layouts in node-red-dashboard that consist of \> 30 Elements. Every time I want to insert elements between existing elements or create new elements within the layout I have to manually grab each element and move it to its new designated position. This is taking me up to 30 minutes each time I want to do something like this.

Can anybody relate?

A workaround that came to mind would be to write a script that edits the flow.json file directly to set the desired 'location' properties of the ui elements. This however probably isn't a good idea...

Can someone imagine how to improve the user-experience in that case? I don't want anybody to implement something, I just want to know what a good way to do things would look like.

My proposal: CTRL+click on an element marks it red allowing you to select multiple elements. If you then drag a marked element all the marked elements get dragged along with it, keeping the relative distances between the marked elements constant.

Thank you for your time!

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![system](https://us1.discourse-cdn.com/flex026/uploads/nodered/original/1X/d073cd938eafa2e558d7c2cd59003b3ef4963033.png) [@system](https://discourse.nodered.org/u/system)\
**Post date:** [26 December 2022 21:45 UTC](https://discourse.nodered.org/t/moving-multiple-elements-at-the-same-time-in-the-layout-editor/71303/2 "2022-12-26T21:45:45Z")

</div>

This topic was automatically closed 30 days after the last reply. New replies are no longer allowed.