# Moving Nested Elements In A Component Instance

**URL:** <https://community.penpot.app/t/moving-nested-elements-in-a-component-instance/6625>\
**Category:** Ask the community\
**Tags:** design\
**Created:** [September 21, 2024, 7:09am UTC](https://community.penpot.app/t/moving-nested-elements-in-a-component-instance/6625 "2024-09-21T07:09:30Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 4\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![josel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e9a140/32.png) [@josel](https://community.penpot.app/u/josel)\
**Post date:** [September 21, 2024, 7:09am UTC](https://community.penpot.app/t/moving-nested-elements-in-a-component-instance/6625/1 "2024-09-21T07:09:30Z")

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Hello: Its been mentioned to me that in a component **instance** , nested elements can only be **hidden** or **swapped**. But I’m also able to move nested elements in an instance IF the element’s container in the **main** component has no layout (ie- no Flex nor Grid Layout) as shown below. Is this by design or a bug?

Thanks in advance for any insights.  
/Joselito

 ![image](https://europe1.discourse-cdn.com/flex017/uploads/penpot/original/2X/8/81334539d2b089dffa23eea1c7b25cdf5e45a75c.png)

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**Author:** ![hirunatan](https://dub1.discourse-cdn.com/flex017/user_avatar/community.penpot.app/hirunatan/32/38_2.png) [@hirunatan](https://community.penpot.app/u/hirunatan)\
**Post date:** [September 23, 2024, 1:05pm UTC](https://community.penpot.app/t/moving-nested-elements-in-a-component-instance/6625/2 "2024-09-23T13:05:53Z")

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Yes, it’s by design. What you can’t do is to add or remove layers to a component instance. But you may modify existing ones as you wish, including their position.

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**Author:** ![josel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e9a140/32.png) [@josel](https://community.penpot.app/u/josel)\
**Post date:** [September 24, 2024, 3:46am UTC](https://community.penpot.app/t/moving-nested-elements-in-a-component-instance/6625/3 "2024-09-24T03:46:14Z")

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Thanks, @hirunatan, for responding. Its good to know that moving nested elements are allowed (if the container will allow it) cuz I do it a lot as I grow my still relatively small Penpot workflow. Obviously, I would like the actions I do in this workflow to be by design as opposed to actions that are actually bugs.

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**Author:** ![hirunatan](https://dub1.discourse-cdn.com/flex017/user_avatar/community.penpot.app/hirunatan/32/38_2.png) [@hirunatan](https://community.penpot.app/u/hirunatan)\
**Post date:** [September 24, 2024, 6:45am UTC](https://community.penpot.app/t/moving-nested-elements-in-a-component-instance/6625/4 "2024-09-24T06:45:35Z")

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Glad to read it. Perhaps you find useful the guides in Penpot [Learning Center](https://penpot.app/learning-center). For example the ones about design systems, that may give you clues about how to organize your components.