# Placement of labels for bounding boxes
**URL:** https://support.prodi.gy/t/placement-of-labels-for-bounding-boxes/7644
**Category:** Uncategorized
**Tags:** image, usage
**Created:** [January 23, 2026, 6:59am UTC](https://support.prodi.gy/t/placement-of-labels-for-bounding-boxes/7644 "2026-01-23T06:59:02Z")
**Posts on this page:** 4
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@tuomo\_h](https://support.prodi.gy/u/tuomo_h)
#### Post date: [January 23, 2026, 6:59am UTC](https://support.prodi.gy/t/placement-of-labels-for-bounding-boxes/7644/1 "2026-01-23T06:59:02Z")
Hi!
We’re using Prodigy to annotate visually rich document layouts and occasionally encounter problems with bounding boxes that are drawn on the edge of the image.
Because bounding boxes are selected using the labels, some bounding boxes cannot be selected at all, because their label is not visible.
This is simply a bad design decision: I understand that labels are useful for overlapping bounding boxes, but there should be a separate select tool in addition to polygons, rectangles and freehand drawing. (As a sidenote, a point dropper tool would be equally great!).
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### Author:  [@magdaaniol](https://support.prodi.gy/u/magdaaniol)
#### Post date: [January 23, 2026, 10:52am UTC](https://support.prodi.gy/t/placement-of-labels-for-bounding-boxes/7644/2 "2026-01-23T10:52:48Z")
Hi @tuomo_h!
Are the bounding box labels not visible because they're outside the image, or because they overlap with other labels, making them hard to click? In theory, the labels should always render within the image (just like bounding boxes), and the labels themselves shouldn't overlap. Could you share a screenshot of the problematic layout? Thanks!
In any case, you should be able to select a bounding box by clicking on any area of that bounding box with the `SHIFT` key held down. In other words, `SHIFT` enables selection mode so that your cursor acts as a sort of point dropper tool.
See [here](https://prodi.gy/docs/api-interfaces#image_manual) for more details.
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### Author:  [@tuomo\_h](https://support.prodi.gy/u/tuomo_h)
#### Post date: [February 6, 2026, 6:55am UTC](https://support.prodi.gy/t/placement-of-labels-for-bounding-boxes/7644/3 "2026-02-06T06:55:31Z")
Hi @magdaaniol, thanks for the `SHIFT` tip – this should be in the Prodigy documentation, would have saved us a lot of time trying to crack this problem!
I cannot share you an image of our data due to privacy concerns, but there are cases in which the labels end up outside the image (or viewport?). This is especially problematic, since we are working with documents that typically have elements in the margins: these are the ones that tend to have their labels outside the image.
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### Author:  [@magdaaniol](https://support.prodi.gy/u/magdaaniol)
#### Post date: [February 6, 2026, 11:18am UTC](https://support.prodi.gy/t/placement-of-labels-for-bounding-boxes/7644/4 "2026-02-06T11:18:49Z")
Hi @tuomo_h!
Thanks for the details - hopefully we can reproduce it anyway!
Sorry to hear you missed the bounding box SHIFT selection method. It is documented in the infobox section of `image_manual` [doc](https://prodi.gy/docs/api-interfaces#image_manual) I linked in my previous message.