Seating basics overview
This article covers core seating-chart actions in Grouper's Seating view:
Open Seating and switch between class views.
Build and adjust your seat layout.
Place students in seats using attributes or random shuffle.
Edit student attribute values on the seating chart.
Move students between seats with drag and drop.
Use the seat toolbar to mark attendance, set Do not group with, and lock seats.
Save, open, and manage seating charts.
Seating is a PRO feature. It is available to PRO subscribers and PRO trial users. See grouper.school/pricing for plan details.
This article covers core Seating operations only.
For general grouping actions (formation, shuffle, rotate, saved groupings), see the Grouping basics support article.
For Do not group with, Study buddies, and Seating preference, see the Preset attributes support article.
For sharing and export options, see the Share and export groupings and seatings support article.
For presentation tools, see the Live mode support article.
Helpful links:
The Seating view
The Seating view is the best place to design a seating chart and place students into specific seats.
To open Seating view:
Open a class.
Use View as near the top of the class page.
Select Seating.
The right-hand control panel in Seating view has two sections:
Seating — open and manage saved seatings, and shuffle student seat placements.
Attributes — apply attributes to automatically shape where students sit.
Below them, Edit layout opens the Layout panel, where you build and change your seat layout.
Note:
On mobile, open the seating controls by clicking the three-dot menu in the top-right corner and selecting Show controls. Close the panel by clicking the x in the top-right corner of the panel.
Editing the seat layout
To use the Seating view, start by creating your seat layout - the arrangement of seats in your room. Once the layout is set, you can place students in those seats.
Click Edit layout at the bottom of the right-hand control panel to open the Layout panel. The seating canvas switches to layout mode, where you edit the layout instead of placing students.
There are two ways to build a layout: click tiles to add and remove seats, or apply a recently used or sample layout. You also can combine the two — select a layout that is similar to your room, then add and remove seats manually.
The zoom buttons stay available while you work, so you can zoom out to see a large layout or click Reset zoom to fit every seat on screen. You can also pinch or Control+scroll to zoom, and Shift+drag to pan — see the Zoom controls section below.
Click Back at the top of the control panel when you're done to leave layout mode and return to placing students.
Adding and removing seats manually
Click a tile to toggle between inactive tile (white) and active seat (green).
Click and drag to quickly add or remove many seats.
Notes:
A green tile is an active seat and can hold a student.
An empty (white) tile is inactive and cannot hold students.
Click Clear to clear all seats and start from scratch.
The layout must include enough active seats for all of your students. If you don't have enough, the panel shows a message saying how many more seats you need to add (for example, "Add 3 more seats") before you can click Back and return to placing students.
Recent and sample layouts
The layout selection dropdown menu in the Layout panel offers layouts you can apply in one click. Each one shows a thumbnail of the layout, so you can recognize an arrangement without reading a name.
The menu has two groups:
Recent — layouts you have already used, most recently used first. The layout currently on screen is listed first.
Sample layouts — arrangements built into Grouper: Rows with a center aisle, Columns, Pairs, Pods of six, Horseshoe, U-shaped tables, and L-shaped tables.
To apply one:
Open the layout selection dropdown menu.
Hover over a layout to preview it on the seating canvas.
Click the layout to apply it.
Note:
Applying a layout is a starting point, not a commitment. You stay in layout mode afterward, so you can click tiles to add or remove seats until the layout matches your classroom.
Copying layouts from existing classes
Recent spans every class you teach, so a layout you built once can be reused instead of rebuilt.
Open the class you want the layout in.
Click Edit layout, then open the layout selection dropdown menu.
Under Recent, find the layout you built for another class and select it.
Grid style
Use the Grid style buttons in the Layout panel to switch the shape of the tiles in the seating canvas. Hover over an option to preview it. The available options are:
Square (default)
Hex
Seating names and saved seatings
Each seating chart has a name — the same name that identifies it in the saved seatings dropdown. It is viewable and editable directly on the chart: click the name to edit it, and the saved seating is renamed.
Your seating is auto-saved as you work, so you don't need to save it manually. It is not necessary to name a seating for it to be saved — unnamed seatings are saved as "Untitled".
Important:
Custom seating names will be visible to students in Live mode.
Default seating names ("Untitled") will not be visible in Live mode.
To open a saved seating:
Open the dropdown at the top of the Seating section in the right-hand control panel.
Hover over a saved seating to preview it on screen.
Click the saved seating to open it.
The dropdown shows the seating that's currently open at the top, followed by your six most recently updated seatings. If you have more, click View all saved seatings at the bottom of the dropdown to open the Saved seatings panel, where you can search and sort all of your saved seatings.
Next to the dropdown are two buttons:
The + button creates a new saved seating.
The three-dot menu contains Rename, Duplicate, History, and Delete for the seating that is currently open. Rename jumps to the seating name on the seating chart so you can edit it.
Seating history
Select History from the three-dot menu to see the history of the currently open saved seating. Hover over a history entry to preview it, and click the entry to restore the seating to that point in time.
Placing students in seats
Shuffle students
Use Shuffle in the Seating section to randomly place students in seats.
Note:
Shuffle only places students into active seats (green tiles).
Do not group with, Study buddies, and Seating preference rules are also applied in the background during Shuffle. In other words, the placement will be mostly random but will still follow those rules.
If attributes are applied, Shuffle will still apply the attributes when reshuffling students.
Students are not removed from or added to locked seats by Shuffle — see the Locking seats section below.
Apply attributes
You can apply attributes to shape which students are placed near each other or spread out across the seating chart.
Cluster (button with arrows pointing in) places students with similar selected attribute values closer together.
Spread (button with arrows pointing out) spreads out students with similar selected attribute values.
Hover over an attribute name in the right-hand control panel to see color-coded overlays on student avatars showing their attribute values.
Notes:
To keep the overlays visible so you don't have to hover while you make adjustments, click the eye icon at the right of the attribute's row in the control panel. Click it again to go back to overlays that appear only on hover.
Do not group with, Study buddies, and Seating preference show an Auto badge instead of the Cluster and Spread buttons. There is nothing to choose: Grouper always applies those rules when it arranges seats.
Attributes are not visible to students in Live mode, even when the overlays are turned on in the control panel. The exception is the Role attribute, which can be made visible in Live mode — see the Preset attributes support article.
Seating students by their current grouping is not available. If you want group members seated together, use an attribute they share, or drag students into place.
For deeper attribute strategy (Spread/Cluster and grouping goals), see the Making groupings and seatings with student data support article.
Editing attribute values on the seating chart
You can fill in or fix attribute values without leaving the Seating view:
Click an attribute's name in the Attributes section of the right-hand control panel. Its properties take over the control panel, and every student on the seating chart shows that attribute's value.
Click a student to set their value. Pick from the list, or type to search or add a new value.
To set the same value for several students, select them first — Shift-click or Command-click (Control-click on Windows) each one, or drag a selection box around them — then click any student in that selection. See Selecting multiple students or seats below.
Click Back at the top of the control panel when you're done.
For the full editing behavior, including attributes that hold numbers, see the Making groupings and seatings with student data support article.
Manual movement
You can drag and drop students to fine-tune seat assignments.
Students dragged into empty seats (green tiles) will be placed in those seats.
Students dragged into a seat occupied by another student will swap places with that student.
Tip:
Try using Shuffle or attributes first, then use drag and drop for final adjustments.
Expected behavior:
Grouper separates Do not group with pairs automatically.
Grouper almost always places each student next to at least one selected study buddy.
In highly constrained seating setups, perfect Do not group with separation or study buddies pairing may not always be possible.
If Do not group with and Study buddies are listed in the Attributes section of the right-hand control panel, they carry an Auto badge rather than Cluster and Spread buttons.
Don't worry — those rules will still be followed, whether or not the attributes are listed.
Do not group with alerts
If a Do not group with pair ends up too close together in Seating, you may see yellow or red boxes/lines around the two seats and between them.
Yellow means the two students are getting close together.
Red means the two students are very close together.
Note:
You are most likely to see these alerts while manually dragging students.
The seat toolbar
Hover over or click on a student or unoccupied seat to open a quick-action toolbar above the student or seat. Toolbar actions include:
Mark absent / Mark present — toggle the student's attendance status.
Do not group with — set or remove do not group with pairings for the student.
Lock seat / Unlock seat — see the Locking seats section below.
Three-dot menu — more actions, including Set seating preference and Edit student.
Selecting multiple students or seats
Click and drag on an empty area of the canvas to draw a selection box around multiple students. This only works with students, not unoccupied seats.
Command+click (Mac) or Control+click (Windows) to select multiple students or multiple unoccupied seats one at a time.
Shift+click adds students to the selection one at a time as well.
Tip:
Start the drag on an empty spot. A drag that starts on a student moves that student instead of drawing a selection box.
When more than one student or seat is selected, the toolbar shows bulk actions, including:
Mark all absent / Mark all present
Do not group with each other — sets do not group with pairings between all selected students.
Lock / Unlock for all selected seats.
Moving multiple students
You can also drag and drop multiple students to new seats. Drag any student in the selection and the whole cluster moves together, keeping the students' positions relative to each other. As you drag, outlines show the seat where each selected student will land.
Notes:
Drop only works if there is an active seat available for every student in the cluster. If any student would land on an inactive tile or outside the layout, nothing moves — adjust the drop position or the students selected and try again.
If a target seat is already occupied, the seated student swaps out: they move to a seat vacated by the dragged students.
Locking seats
Lock specific students to their current seats so they are not moved during automatic arrangements like Shuffle and attribute-based placement.
Hover over a seat or student and click the lock icon in the seat toolbar.
Locking an occupied seat locks the student to that seat.
Locking an empty seat prevents it from being filled - the seat becomes blocked.
Locked seats show a lock icon and a striped background.
Zoom controls
Use the zoom buttons in the corner of the seating canvas:
Zoom in and Zoom out adjust the zoom level.
Reset zoom centers the seating chart and fits all seats on screen.
Important notes
Absent students are included in the seating arrangement. This differs from the Grouping view, where students can be removed from the groups altogether.
You can click Go live from Seating view to open the Seating display in Live mode. This is useful for projecting the current seating chart for your class.
You can click Share from the Seating view to create a print-friendly PDF of the seating chart or paste an image of the seating chart into other tools.
Undo and redo
Use Undo when a recent change - like Shuffle, applying a layout, or drag and drop - is not what you wanted:
Click Undo to step back one change.
Click Undo again to continue stepping back through recent changes.
If needed, click Redo to re-apply a change you just undid.
Keyboard shortcuts:
Undo — Command+Z (Mac) or Control+Z (Windows).
Redo — Command+Shift+Z (Mac) or Control+Shift+Z (Windows).
Important:
Undo is best for immediate corrections right after a change.
Applying a recent or sample layout is a single change, so one Undo returns your previous layout.
The shortcuts do not apply while your cursor is in a text field, such as a seating name.
For older versions of a seating, use History to restore an earlier state.
Frequently asked questions
Q: I don't see my students in Seating view. A: You might still be in layout mode, where you add and remove seats in your classroom layout, and students are hidden while you do. Click Back in the Layout panel to leave layout mode and return to placing students.
If Back is disabled, or your students are still missing:
The layout does not have enough seats. Grouper stays in layout mode until there is a seat for every student, and the panel shows how many more you need to add (for example, "Add 3 more seats"). You will also see this right after clicking Clear, which removes every seat.
The class does not have any students yet. Add or import your students first — see the Importing student data support article.
Q: Why aren't my students moving to new seats when I click Shuffle? A: Those seats might be locked. Shuffle does not move students in or out of a locked seat. Locked seats show a lock icon and a striped background — hover over one and click the lock icon in the seat toolbar to unlock it, or select several seats and click Unlock. See the Locking seats section for details.