In a method and a magnetic resonance system for positioning a patient support device of the magnetic resonance system, wherein the magnetic resonance system also has a coil device and the patient support device that has a mounting for accommodation of the coil device at a predetermined position, a detector unit is provided for detection of information describing the coil device and a control device controls a drive unit of the support device to move the support device to a determined position in the magnetic resonance apparatus using only information detected by the detector unit.