Okay, this may sound stupid but how do you place stuff inside a house you just built? It seems that if I try to select the object in the workshop, I suddenly pick up the house instead. Only way it seems to work is if I make the object outside the house, so I don't have the crosshair on the house like I do when I'm inside, and then move it in and place it, but it doesn't work in all situations.

If its just random junk or weapons and such you can place stuff by picking it up outside of build mode. Not sure of the key on all systems but on ps4 for example you hover over the item and hold x. it's not very precise but it works somewhat. Might be easier on pc

Yeah -- creating more objects in spaces you made can be tricky because of the soft selection. What I've noticed is that if you give yourself as much distance within a space (stand at the opposite side of the room for example) nothing will be highlighted. It seems like prefab buildings are trickier to build into, so I tend to build things from scratch using walls, roofs, and floors.

This sounds stupid....but is there a way to pick up dropped items and place them like in the previous Bethesda games?

That's what I thought op was saying at first. Answered in my reply.

Yes. It works just like the previous games -and is just as infuriating to get things exactly how you want it.

Hopefully a patch or perhaps bundled with a settlement DLC we will see increased usefulness of the workshop placement.

You're pressing the action button on the item rather than just letting it show up in front of you before placing it down.

I've done it a few times. There's a generator inside a wall at The Castle that I can't scrap because I did this.

X button got it. Thanks!

Hold the action button for a second and it should grab on as before.