When working with complex nested layouts, especially auto layouts, I routinely need to move things around, add children to frames, or rearrange elements on the page.
As such, I may end up copying elements (components, frames, etc.) onto my clipboard. When it comes time to paste the element, I can traverse the layers panel to find the parent container where my pasted element should appear.
Once I select that parent node in the layer panel, when I paste, the element will appear in a predictable place - as the last child of the node I selected.
However, I often need to add a component from a library. I usually do this through the resources toolbar (Shift + i). My expectation is that the inserted component would follow the same logic - inserted as the last child of the node I selected in the layers panel. However, the placement of the inserted component seems random. Sometimes it appears as a child of the element selected in the layers panel, other times it’s inserted into seemingly random layers in the page.
If inserted to a random node, and you are working with complex nested auto layout structures, the inserted element can cause the whole page layout to break. In order to fix, I need to cut the inserted element, then scroll through and traverse several hierarchies of layers in order to place the element where intended. It seems like this could easily be avoided if the inserted element followed the sample placement pattern as pasted elements from the clipboard.
I realize this problem won’t affect everyone, but for power users who work almost exclusive in auto layout mode, it makes for a frustrating experience which would appear to have a simple fix.
Hello @Matt_Rea1, Thank you for sharing your thoughts on this. I appreciate you providing the details and use cases and I understand your frustration.
I tested it on my end and noticed the difference between pasting object and Quick insert an instance, as you described. I understand it would be helpful if inserting a component followed the same logic as copying and pasting.
I’m unsure if this is the intended behavior, so I’ll inquire internally to see if we have any information on this. I’ll provide an update once we receive more information.
If any members of our community support this idea, please feel free to vote or comment to show your support.
This is one of those small issues that is incredibly irking to me on a daily basis, and as @Matt_Rea1 said, the placement can be random at times, making it even more frustrating. I just encountered an issue where I had multiple frames selected across parents, went to insert a component (intending I’d be inserting it into all of my selections, like how pasting works), only for it to land inside of a different parent frame to anything I had selected. I very much hope this is behavior that can be changed, as to me it currently doesn’t seem to follow any consistent logic of how components are inserted.
Hi there, Just want to let you know that our team is aware of this issue but has not yet prioritized a fix for it. We will continue to investigate, but it may take some time to resolve.
Thank you for reporting this and for your patience as we look into this!
Thanks for the update @Junko3. While this behavior is annoying, I can live with it, but there are other bugs/enhancements that are much more needed. For example, I think True Aspect Ratio Lock is much more important, but it’s been crickets from Figma moderation. Do you know if there is any update that can be provided? Thanks!
I have reviewed the mentioned post, and it has been included in our internal report. Unfortunately, there are no updates to share at the moment. If there are any updates in the future, we will make sure to update that post.
In the meantime, please refer to our release notes at and our blog for any updates.