# Place and arrange widgets on the stage

At the end, text, images, app widgets, and shapes sit in their place, at the right size, and stacked in the right order.

> **Type:** guide
> **For:** Anyone who designs a scene.
> **Prerequisite:** the permission to edit this scene. For app widgets, the app must be installed. For images and videos, the media item must have the status **Ready** in the library.
> **Where in the portal:** **Scenes** › open a scene › **Insert and settings** bar

## Steps

### Insert a widget

1. In the bar, open the matching area: **Text** for text boxes, **Media** for images, videos, and documents (PDF), **Apps** for the widgets of installed apps, **Elements** for **Shapes** and **Graphics**.
2. Drag the building block you want to the spot on the stage where it should appear. For app widgets, a click on the tile also works, and for text, **Add text box**.
3. Dropping is position-aware: while you drag, the free slot of the layout template under the pointer is highlighted, and the widget lands exactly there. Otherwise it sits freely where you drop it. A click on an app tile fills the first free slot, and without a free slot the widget sits in the center of the stage.
4. App widgets come with a template: starting size and content fit together, a weather widget for example as “With hours” at 600 × 300. In a slot, the widget takes the template whose shape fits the slot. The arrow at the right of the tile opens **Insert Weather** (or the name of the respective app) with all templates as a preview. A click on a template inserts exactly that one.
5. The placed widget is selected immediately. The floating toolbar appears on the object. The gear icon **Settings** in it opens the widget's settings window — the preview on the left, the fields on the right, and **Apply** writes them into the scene.

You choose an image or video through **Choose from library**. The **Select media** dialog filters by **Images**, **Videos**, **Documents**, and folder. A PDF becomes the **Document** widget and shows its pages, see [Place a document (PDF) in a scene](/docs/content/place-document). **Replace** swaps the content of an existing widget: The **Replace object** dialog has the tabs **Media**, **Apps**, and **Building blocks**, and “Position, size and stacking order are preserved.”

![The open Apps area next to the stage: the Apps heading of the flyout (1), the Search widgets field (2), and the Time & countdown category with its widget tiles (3)](/docs/content/bilder/0f458483-editor-insert-widget.png)

*The **Recently used** section appears only once an app widget has been inserted in your organization.*

### Move, resize, align

1. Click a widget and drag it. It shows a selection frame.
2. You resize it at the eight handles of the frame, at the corners and the middle of the sides. While you drag, its shape and size appear below the frame, such as “Tall · 440 × 780”. App widgets rearrange themselves according to this shape.
3. If you hold **Shift** while dragging, the aspect ratio is kept. Position and size snap to an 8-pixel grid, and the edges you drag additionally snap to the stage edge, the stage center, and the edges of other widgets. A widget cannot be dragged beyond the stage edge. It is held at the edge. A widget does not get smaller than the minimum size of its app.
4. For more precision, use **Placement** › **Position**: **Size and position** with **Width**, **Height**, **X**, and **Y**, plus **Keep aspect ratio**. **Align to page** puts the widget on the **Left**, **Center**, **Right**, **Top**, **Middle**, or **Bottom**.

If the widget sits in a slot, size and position come from the slot and are locked. Release the binding for that, see [Configure a scene](/docs/content/configure-scene).

### Select several, copy, stack

1. Hold **Shift** or **Ctrl** and click further widgets. A click on an already selected widget removes it from the selection.
2. **Copy** and **Paste** place the copies offset by 16 pixels so they do not sit exactly on top of the original. **Duplicate** does the same in one step.
3. If widgets overlap, the stacking order decides. In the **Layers** panel, drag an entry up or down by the **Move** handle, or use the entries **Bring forward**, **Send backward**, **Bring to front**, and **Send to back** under **Arrange**.

### Format text

1. Select a text box and type directly on the stage. Under **Text styles** you find **Heading**, **Subheading**, and **Body text**.
2. The toolbar of the selection carries **Font**, **Font size**, **Font weight**, **Text color**, **Background color**, **Alignment**, **Line spacing**, and **Letter case**. [The scene editor at a glance](/docs/content/scene-editor) lists the values in them in full.

## Options

The following keys act on the stage, not while you are typing in an input field.

| Key | Effect |
|---|---|
| Arrow keys | Move the selection by 1 pixel |
| Shift + arrow key | Move the selection by one grid cell, that is, 8 pixels |
| Del / Backspace | Delete the selection |
| Escape | Clear the selection |
| Ctrl/Cmd + Z, Ctrl/Cmd + Shift + Z | Undo, redo |
| Ctrl/Cmd + C, V, D | Copy, paste, duplicate |
| Ctrl/Cmd + ], Ctrl/Cmd + [ | Move forward, move backward in the stack |
| Ctrl/Cmd + S | Save |

Undo works gesture by gesture: an entire movement, resize, or bulk deletion counts as one step, not pixel by pixel. Up to 50 steps are kept.

## Check the result

- The widget sits in the **Layers** panel at the expected place in the stack.
- The status line shows **Unsaved changes**, shortly afterward **All changes saved**.
- Under **Placement**, the check reports **✓ No issues**. Otherwise it says **Outside the canvas**, **Slot does not exist in the layout**, or **Slot bound more than once**.

## If something goes wrong

| Symptom | Meaning | Solution |
|---|---|---|
| An app's widget is missing in the **Apps** area | The app is not installed, is waiting for consent to new permissions, or is blocked because of a package change | Install or enable the app and reopen the editor, see [When an app does not run](/docs/apps/troubleshooting). |
| The widget cannot be moved | It sits in a slot and takes its size and position from the slot | Under **Placement**, use **Release binding**. |
| An image is missing under **Choose from library** | It has not finished processing yet | Wait until its status in the library is **Ready**, see [The media library](/docs/content/media-library). |
| The widget lies behind another one | The stacking order | Choose **Bring forward** or drag the entry up in the **Layers** panel. |
| Nothing can be moved | You lack the permission to edit this scene | Check the role or direct permission, see [Permissions by role and by area](/docs/organization/permissions-by-role). |

## Related

- [Configure widgets: template, preview, and fields](/docs/content/configure-widgets)
- [The scene editor at a glance](/docs/content/scene-editor)
- [Which format does a scene need for which display?](/docs/content/about-scene-formats)