# Changes to Grouping in v1.18

## 'New' vs 'Old' groups

Version 1.18 of Squirrel has introduced significant changes to how Groups and their grouping functions operate within the product. With the addition of [Fixed Positioning](https://learn.squirrel365.io/components/layout-and-positioning#alignment), Groups now establish a new origin point (0,0) as soon as components are grouped together.\
\
These new properties, along with the changes to Groups, have been implemented to simplify application development.

<figure><img src="/files/M79MplJyB5lTCwbUEdVd" alt=""><figcaption></figcaption></figure>

### What is an 'Old' or 'New' group?

There are several ways to distinguish between the 'New' and 'Old' groups, but one key method is to look for the new Horizontal and Vertical Alignment properties in the LAYOUT & POSITIONING section of the property panel.

<figure><img src="/files/ym75MnniVLMCSKmBoDGy" alt="" width="281"><figcaption></figcaption></figure>

Any 'Old' group **will not** have these properties.

### How does this affect my old projects?

Any project constructed in version 1.17 and later migrated to version 1.18 will retain the 'Old' grouping. The characteristics of '**Old' groups** are as follows:

1. Components maintain their original X, Y positioning.
2. Components can have their X, Y positions and Height and Width properties bound to the spreadsheet.
3. Groups **do not possess** Horizontal or Vertical Alignment properties.

{% hint style="warning" %}
Any component that has its size (height/width) or position (X/Y) properties bound to the spreadsheet, and becomes a new group, can be affected by issues with the bounding box not drawing correctly. If this issue presents itself, remove **ALL** Size & Position bindings, ungroup the components and regroup them.
{% endhint %}

### Current restrictions of 'New' groups

As at v1.18 'New' groups are not compatible with bound size and position properties on object within the group (child objects). If a component with a size or position binding is placed in a 'New' group, ithe size of the group can become distorted, causing it to shift to unwanted positions.

To avoid these issues, it is highly recommended that:

1. Components within 'New' groups should not have their properties bound to the spreadsheet.
2. For components where there size and position needs to be bound use a [**container**](/components-functions-and-connections/overview/layout-and-containers.md) to group them instead.


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