Manually moving layers in QGIS legend in print composer

Question

I have a legend in my QGIS print composer and would like to manually move a layer to position them where I want them to be. In the following example I would like to move the layer "area" down to the same postition as "Messtationen". Is there a way to do that? Ideally, a drag & drop function but other ways are also fine.

Answer 1

Not a real solution, but a nice workaround I often use:

Create a new temporary layer in your project and assign a complete white symbology (or transparent / or the color of your background in print composer) to it. Then add this layer to your legend and remove its label. Now you can use it as "dummy placeholder" to create gaps and e.g. move it right on top of area, so area moves down.

1) the original layout

2) creating a new temporary layer (without adding actual geometry to it) and assigning transparent/white/background color

3) adding this new temporary layer to print composer legend

4) removing its label and moving it into its placeholder position

Then again, this would be a nice feature request.

Answer 2

I'm offering you a solution that isn't elegant, but it works. You can add 2 legends in your print composer:

1. one with the layers gonsbach and landbedeckung with 2 columns.
2. a second one with the layers Messtationen and area with 2 columns too.

Answer 3

In the print composer > legend properties > column

1. Select the number of the column
2. Unclick the option of split layer
3. The item order can be changed using the and or with ‘drag-and-drop’ functionality. The order can not be changed for WMS legend graphics.

https://docs.qgis.org/3.4/en/docs/user_manual/print_composer/composer_items/composer_legend.html#legend-items

Done!