Prevent object from being added to Auto Layout group while dragging by holding down modifier key

Kind of works! But space bar does not work when it’s already over the group. It does not snap out it. I have to drag the object far away from the group and then hold down space and go back. But, better than nothing!

Yes, their implementation is very strange.

Thank you Gleb!

Piling on here. I’d be surprised if people want this to happen (dragging into a frame) often enough to make it default behavior.

The spacebar trick is finicky at best. Please allow us to disable this feature. Or, conversely, only activate dragging into a frame when the space bar is pressed. This actually slows me down on a regular basis.

Figma is awesome and thanks for all the hard work you’ve put in it!!! It’s awesome that this is one of my only struggles with the product so far 😃 as it is pretty minor!

Still, it’s been a while now since I started using Figma and this detail does not match my expectation for dragging, I’m always clicking around buttons on the keyboard sort of hoping for one to change the dragged element’s interaction without success.

Thanks again!

Completely agree! In fact, this feature should’ve been implemented in reverse. If you hold the spacebar and drag, only then should Figma enable you the ability to drop a layer into an Auto Layout group, not the other way around. Any chance this adjustment can get integrated very soon??? Thanks for the amazing product Figma!!! Just changed from Sketch 2 months ago and it was the BEST decision I ever made, an even better decision than the day I chose to switch from Photoshop to Sketch!!! 😄

Please help, if I press spacebar and try to drag an element, it doesn’t move! At all…

+1. This should be an opt-in feature. I hardly ever try to drop something inside another component. Holding spacebar all the time is a poor UX. @Figma_Support – Please fix this.

+1 to making this opt-in. This decision has boggled my mind. When dragging you should hold a modifier key to place it into the frame not the other way around. figma such a frustrating application at times. Very counter-intuitive coming from any other tool, uniqueness to a fault.

Same. Have you figured it out?

Start dragging first, then hold space. This behavior is very poorly implemented in Figma.

Gets worse. It just comes to halt

If it’s already inside of an auto layout frame, it wouldn’t move because it is not being moved to a different group and within the auto layout you can’t move objects: auto layout controls their position.

I ensured the object isn’t in auto layout. Still the object isn’t moving when the space bar is pressed

Is it moving when the space bar is not pressed? Send a video

This implementation is not very well done in my opinion.
To get this to work you have to:

• Click and hold the item you want to move
• Press and hold space bar
• Drag to the position you want

If you try any other order, this does not work. The main issue for me is when you already dragged it inside an auto layout by accident and then press space, it does not jump back to the original layer.

Duplicating (option+drag) works in any order you want. You can press option before or after dragging to duplicate. And when you release option while dragging it stops duplicating. I would expect this interaction (prevent nesting) to work in the same way.

The other way mentioned that could solve the problem as well is to opt in instead of opting out while holding space.

Also, it is not possible to duplicate an object and ignore Auto Layout groups while dragging (e.g. option-spacebar-drag is not allowed).

+1 please make it something that you allow to happen not something by default (adding objects to auto layout group)

Huge issue, makes Figma very annoying to work with.

If space would work when already inside and snap back out, it would be OK

Just want to join those in favor of reversing this behavior. The current implementation really detracts from an otherwise solid tool.

I mean I’m ok with holding a shortcut key… but spacebar is already used for panning in the screen, so the ordered in which we need to do this action is weird and prone to errors. I would be glad even if I have to hold three buttons, just make it a key combination that is not used for something else 😕

How is this still an issue?