Is there any way to take an existing group and add new members to it without creating a new group that contains the original group? Doing so creates a nested or hierarchical arrangement of groups. It’s obvious that to avoid the nesting condition I just mentioned you could explode the original and then create a new group that includes all the members that you want. But, what I’m wondering about is if there is some sort of ‘additive’ functionality where you can merely add new members to an already defined group without 1) exploding the original group and starting over OR 2) having to make a new group, which includes the existing group + new members that were previous ungrouped (creating a nesting condition). I guess what I’m looking for is a streamline way to ‘redefine’ an existing group without having to explode and start over. thx, jonR
You can just copy, or cut an object, then go into the groups edit mode, and paste in the results.
For a precise way to do this try the ‘Paste in Place’ command (> Edit Menu), and SU will paste the object into the exact position it held prior the the copy/cut function.
Whether or not this results in a nested group will depend on what state it was in prior to the copy/paste move.
copied raw geometry just gets included into the groups geometry. and of course copied grouped geometry will be seen as nested after pasting.
There’s always the option of exploding a nested subgroup from within it’s parent group—and that’s yet another nice way of backing out of a nested group status on occasion.
another way to “move” groups into another is to simply drag and drop within the outliner tree structure, however this works if the groups are named, so that you know what you are doing
Perhaps @jonr does not realize that you can open a group’s context and edit what is in the group? Either double-click on an entity within the group to enter the group’s context, or right-click on an entity in the group and choose “Edit Group” from the pop-up menu. Same goes for editing components - just open them and edit as desired.
When you have opened the group (or component) for editing, you can then use @JimD’s suggestions of pasting (especially Paste in Place) to add objects to the group.
Actually, my ignorance isn’t quite that deep… 
I did know about group editing and generally how to do it, but I’m new to it. The specifics of my question was addressed by the method of using copy/paste. That workflow is what is needed to do what I wanted and had no idea that was available. Particularly interesting and handy is the ‘paste in place’ version of pasting. Much thanks for the links to those tutorials and your help!
Thanks everyone for your tips; much appreciated!
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