Factorio Forums

It can be challenging to arrange inserters because they grab from one side and drop on the opposite side. If they were able to drop at any one of three angles (90, 180, 270) instead of just 180, that would make layout so much easier and less tedious. This could be accomplished by asking the player which of the three possible sides should be the drop location when placing an inserter, or by rotating the arm angle while rotating with the 'R' key, making 12 positions instead of 4.

Will not be implemented as it takes away a lot of the puzzle.

There is mods for that if you really need it.

mod side inserter
viewtopic.php?f=93&t=13525&hilit=side+inserter

Everything already said. Moved to won't implement, cause it already is implemented, but will not come into vanilla.

Near and side inserters are avoidable with clever planing and building.
It's part of the puzzle game.