diff --git a/platform/wab/src/wab/client/components/sidebar-tabs/Sections.tsx b/platform/wab/src/wab/client/components/sidebar-tabs/Sections.tsx
index 142b5a84869..466a4930d2b 100644
--- a/platform/wab/src/wab/client/components/sidebar-tabs/Sections.tsx
+++ b/platform/wab/src/wab/client/components/sidebar-tabs/Sections.tsx
@@ -100,6 +100,7 @@ import {
 import { ValComponent } from "@/wab/shared/core/val-nodes";
 import { DEVFLAGS, DevFlagsType } from "@/wab/shared/devflags";
 import { isGridTag } from "@/wab/shared/grid-utils";
+import { isPositionSet } from "@/wab/shared/layoututils";
 import {
   TplComponent,
   TplNode,
@@ -569,7 +570,7 @@ export function getRenderBySection(
       Section.PositioningPanel,
       () =>
         (isTag || isComponent) &&
-        !isRoot &&
+        (!isRoot || isPositionSet(tpl, viewCtx)) &&
         !isColumn &&
         !isTplTextBlock(tpl.parent) &&
         showSection(Section.PositioningPanel) && (
diff --git a/platform/wab/src/wab/client/components/style-controls/StyleComponent.tsx b/platform/wab/src/wab/client/components/style-controls/StyleComponent.tsx
index 460189852e2..b28f0a1b828 100644
--- a/platform/wab/src/wab/client/components/style-controls/StyleComponent.tsx
+++ b/platform/wab/src/wab/client/components/style-controls/StyleComponent.tsx
@@ -62,8 +62,8 @@ import {
 import {
   computeDefinedIndicator,
   DefinedIndicatorType,
-  isIndicatorExplicitlySet,
   getPropAndValueFromIndicator,
+  isIndicatorExplicitlySet,
 } from "@/wab/shared/defined-indicator";
 import { makeExpProxy, makeMergedExpProxy } from "@/wab/shared/exprs";
 import {
@@ -78,6 +78,7 @@ import {
   ContainerType,
   convertSelfContainerType,
   getRshContainerType,
+  isPositionSet,
   PositionLayoutType,
 } from "@/wab/shared/layoututils";
 import {
@@ -1304,7 +1305,7 @@ export class TplExpsProvider implements ExpsProvider {
 
   showPositioningPanel = () => {
     // Don't show positioning panel for the root node
-    return !!this.tpl.parent;
+    return !!this.tpl.parent || isPositionSet(this.tpl, this.viewCtx);
   };
 
   getTargetDeepLayoutParentRsh = () => {
diff --git a/platform/wab/src/wab/shared/layoututils.ts b/platform/wab/src/wab/shared/layoututils.ts
index 828a16772c8..47a78427c5d 100644
--- a/platform/wab/src/wab/shared/layoututils.ts
+++ b/platform/wab/src/wab/shared/layoututils.ts
@@ -1,17 +1,7 @@
-import { unexpected } from "@/wab/shared/common";
+import type { ViewCtx } from "@/wab/client/studio-ctx/view-ctx";
 import { isMixinPropRef, isTokenRef } from "@/wab/commons/StyleToken";
 import { DeepReadonly } from "@/wab/commons/types";
-import { parseCssNumericNew } from "@/wab/shared/css";
-import { createGridSpec, showGridCss } from "@/wab/shared/Grids";
-import { HORIZ_CONTAINER_CAP, VERT_CONTAINER_CAP } from "@/wab/shared/Labels";
-import {
-  IRuleSetHelpers,
-  IRuleSetHelpersX,
-  RSH,
-  ReadonlyIRuleSetHelpers,
-  ReadonlyIRuleSetHelpersX,
-} from "@/wab/shared/RuleSetHelpers";
-import { ensureBaseVariantSetting } from "@/wab/shared/Variants";
+import { unexpected } from "@/wab/shared/common";
 import {
   CONTENT_LAYOUT,
   FAKE_FLEX_CONTAINER_PROPS,
@@ -19,14 +9,29 @@ import {
   contentLayoutProps,
   gridCssProps,
 } from "@/wab/shared/core/style-props";
+import {
+  getTplTagRoot,
+  isTplComponent,
+  isTplVariantable,
+} from "@/wab/shared/core/tpls";
+import { parseCssNumericNew } from "@/wab/shared/css";
 import { CONTENT_LAYOUT_INITIALS } from "@/wab/shared/default-styles";
+import { createGridSpec, showGridCss } from "@/wab/shared/Grids";
+import { HORIZ_CONTAINER_CAP, VERT_CONTAINER_CAP } from "@/wab/shared/Labels";
 import {
   RuleSet,
   TplNode,
   TplTag,
   VariantSetting,
 } from "@/wab/shared/model/classes";
-import { getTplTagRoot, isTplComponent, isTplVariantable } from "@/wab/shared/core/tpls";
+import {
+  IRuleSetHelpers,
+  IRuleSetHelpersX,
+  RSH,
+  ReadonlyIRuleSetHelpers,
+  ReadonlyIRuleSetHelpersX,
+} from "@/wab/shared/RuleSetHelpers";
+import { ensureBaseVariantSetting } from "@/wab/shared/Variants";
 
 export type ContainerType =
   | "free"
@@ -345,3 +350,14 @@ export function isContentLayoutTpl(tpl: TplNode, opts?: { deep?: boolean }) {
   }
   return false;
 }
+
+export function isPositionSet(tpl: TplNode, viewCtx: ViewCtx) {
+  // Check if the position is available and set to something other than "auto".
+  const vtm = viewCtx.variantTplMgr();
+  const targetVariantCombo = vtm.getTargetVariantComboForNode(tpl);
+  const effectiveExp = vtm
+    .effectiveVariantSetting(tpl, targetVariantCombo)
+    .rsh();
+  const curPosType = getRshPositionType(effectiveExp);
+  return curPosType && curPosType !== PositionLayoutType.auto;
+}