Label placement priority in QGIS

Question

I would like to be able to specify an order of label placement priorty in QGIS. Rather than just saying 'label in the top left', I would like to be able to say 'prefer to label top left, but if not then label bottom left'.

There is already an option to be able to do this in ArcMap.

I cannot see a way to replicate this in QGIS. My current workaround is to use the offset placement from point, but with some exceptions using data defined placement coordinates. This starts to get very time consuming after a few large datasets!

Any suggestions or best practices would be welcomed here.

Answer 1

I was wondering the same with 3.18 and it turns out the cartographic placement option is already prioritized as it follows:

1. top right
2. top left
3. bottom right
4. bottom left
5. middle right
6. middle left
7. top, slightly right
8. bottom, slightly left.

So, if you want labels to show at a distance from the points but not equally placed, use the cartographic option and set a distance. I used callouts to make it easier to see

If you want to change the position priority order, you have to use an expression, for example I'll use 'T,B' to make it go top then bottom

Hope this was helpful because it took me a while to realize it could be so simple, since I´m new in QGIS.