12 Figma tips to work more efficiently

We all know Figma makes regular updates to their features that can be new and awesome, like previewing typography, or it can be a modification that may change an established workflow, like the infamous local variables.

So as someone who uses Figma almost every work day, minus some meeting-heavy days, learning to apply new features or finding existing hidden gems helps me stay up-to-date in the app, but also optimizes my design workflow.

Figma canvas showing three cards with a purple, pink, and teal center and the background color is the same purple

Since some Figma features aren’t as obvious on how to use them (or that they’re even there in the first place), I wanted to share my top Figma tips that have helped me become more organized and make bulk design edits quicker.

Some tips are new; others are old. Some are for designing, while others are for prototyping. New or not, I hope you pick up at least one tip that can help your Figma workflow.

!!! Important: I have a Figma work account with an ‘Enterprise plan’ so some tips may not be available on all plans. To be transparent, each tip includes a ‘Figma plan availability’ comment.

Multi-select matching layers
Multi-edit text
Multi-edit variants
Rename layers in bulk
Use Smart Animate prototype settings
Prototype with sections
Customize your home page’s sidebar
View a component’s playground
Min & max width / height for parent frames
Use ‘big nudge’ to edit auto-layout, padding values, etc.
Use ‘Command’ or ‘Control’ to isolate layer selections in a frame
Use ‘Space’ to free-move an object

1. Multi-select matching layers (New tool!)

This new tool has replaced the ‘Select all # matching layers’ target symbol that appeared when selecting a component instance, shown below.

Figma card component with a heart icon selected and the ‘Select matching layers’ target symbol appearing below the selected heart icon — ‘Select matching layers’ target symbol, associated with component instances

Figma has changed this tool to give the ability to select any matching layer, component instance or not. Though it’s still called ‘Select matching layer’, it now appears in the toolbar when it is applicable to the layer that is actively selected.

Show the top-middle toolbar in Figma, with a highlighted symbol that looks like a grid of four squares with dashed lines and its tooltip that says ‘Select macthing layers’ — ‘Select matching layers’ tool in the top-middle toolbar

In a Figma file, select a layer within a frame
On the top-middle toolbar, click on the symbol that looks like a grid of four squares with dashed lines (or use Option+Command+A)
Make bulk edits across all layers

Shows selecting a purple rectangle in Figma and clicking on the ‘Select matching layers’ tool in the top toolbar to add a stroke and rotate all four rectangles on the screen — Use the ‘Select matching layers’ tool to make bulk edits

!!! Important: This tool is dependent on layer name and position within the frame. If layers have different names or are in a different order in its parent frame, the tool won’t appear on the toolbar or won’t select all intended layers.

2. Multi-edit text (New tool!)

Only having to edit text in one place instead of 20+ times? Yes please. Though new, this tool will be personally saving me loads of time when I get feedback on UX writing.

Show the top-middle toolbar in Figma, with a highlighted symbol that includes a vertical line with two overlapping ‘A’ characters and a tooltip that says ‘Multi-edit text’ — ‘Multi-edit text’ tool in the top-middle toolbar

Select text layers directly from the layers panel, the canvas, or by using the select matching layers tool
On the top-middle toolbar, click on the symbol that includes a vertical line with two overlapping A characters (or press Enter)
Make bulk edits to all text selections

Shows selecting a text layer named ‘Tab 1’ in Figma and clicking on the ‘Multi-edit text’ tool in the top toolbar to make the same edits to all corresponding text layers — Use the ‘Multi-edit text’ tool to make bulk edits

3. Multi-edit variants (New tool!)

A win for Design System designers. This allows bulk-editing to selected variants in a component set and is a life-saver for complex changes.

Show the top-middle toolbar in Figma, with a highlighted symbol that includes two overlapping squares with a cursor and a tooltip that says ‘Multi-edit variants’ — ‘Multi-edit variants’ tool in the top-middle toolbar

Select a variant in a component set
On the top-middle toolbar, click on the symbol that includes two overlapping squares with a cursor (or press Q)
Make bulk edits to all variants

Shows selecting a variant in a component set in Figma will allow you to click on the ‘Multi-edit variants’ tool in the top-middle toolbar to make updates to all variant’s padding and adding an icon to the left-side — Use the ‘Multi-edit variants’ tool to make bulk edits to component sets

!!! Important: At this time, you can’t isolate certain variants in a set using this tool, so the bulk edits must apply to EVERY variant in the component set. Fingers crossed they expand this capability in the future.

4. Rename layers in bulk

As shown in the previous tips, naming layers is important! I can be a ‘Frame 437’ designer, but some of these tips won’t work if you have hundreds of frames named from the default created.

Select all applicable layers in the layers panel or on the canvas
Right-click on the layers panel and click ‘Rename’
Make naming adjustments as needed in the pop-up
Click ‘Rename’

Shows how to select layers in the Figma canvas to right click to pull up the menu to click ‘Rename’, this pulls up the Rename menu to rename the layers that were selected — Rename layers in bulk

5. Use Smart Animate prototype settings

Create smooth transitions between prototype interactions, BUT your layers must have matching names to animate correctly.

In the Prototype tab, create a prototype ‘noodle’ or interaction between frames
In the interaction details menu, make sure ‘Smart animate’ is selected
Check the prototype to ensure layers are smoothly animating

Figma prototype showing a card with a colored rectangle and two tabs, the first tab has a pink rectangle and is titled ‘Pink rectangle’ and the second tab has a teal rectangle and is labelled ‘Teal rectangle’ — Prototype with the Smart animate setting

6. Prototype with sections

Instead of having to create multiple prototypes for user flows or insane connections for every frame in the prototype, a section allows the prototype to remember where the user ‘exited’ when they return.

Organize frames in relation to a user task (I.E., filling out a form)
Create a section around the related frames and name it (or use Command+S)
From the frame that leads into the section, use a ‘Navigate to’ prototype interaction
Test the prototype out

Figma canvas showing four frames with purple buttons and the interactions between the four frames to create a prototype — Prototype with sections

Figma prototype showing a Home screen and navigating to page 1 of 3, then to page 2 of 3, then 3 of 3, to then navigate back to the home page. Then, navigating back to the form and returning to page 3 of 3. — Save the user’s place with sections in the prototype

7. Customize your home page’s sidebar

Create and modify sections to easily find Figma files opened frequently.

On the home page, go to the left sidebar
Click the “Create new section” [+] button next to an existing section
Name the section

Figma home page highlighting where to click to add a new section to the home page sidebar — Add a new section to Figma’s sidebar

Next, add files to the new section.

On the home page, right-click on a file to move to the section
Find the ‘Add to sidebar’ label, and select the new section’s name

On the Figma home page highlighting where to click to add an individual file to a section on the sidebar — Add a file to a sidebar section from the home page

OR from an individual file, click on the dropdown arrow on the right of the file’s name on the top toolbar
Find the ‘Add to sidebar’ label, and select the new section’s name

Displays the Figma toolbar in an individual file and highlights where to click to add that file to a section in the sidebar — Add a file to a sidebar section from the individual file

When needed, modify the sidebar sections.

Rename or delete sections from the ‘More’ icon […]

Highlights where to click on Figma’s home page to rename or delete a section in the sidebar — Rename or delete a sidebar section from the home page

Remove a file from a section by right-clicking on the file name, then clicking ‘Remove from sidebar’

Displays the Figma home page and the menu that appears when you right-click on an individual file within a section that highlights where you can remove the file — Remove an individual file from a sidebar section from the home page

8. View a component’s playground

View a Design System’s component + description, and manipulate its properties and variables before inserting it into the file; if using a library.

On a Figma file, go to the Assets panel
Find a Design System/ Library
Click on a component to pull up the playground
Manipulate the component to match design needs
Click ‘Insert instance’ to import to the file

Displays a design system’s component playground for a button component to change how the component looks before inserting it into your Figma file

9. Min & max width / height for parent frames

Great for creating responsive design, but constraining them. This is a great feature for Design System designers and creating their system’s grids.

Select a parent frame on the canvas
On the design panel, click the dropdown arrow next to the W (for width) or H (for height)
Click ‘Add min width’ or ‘Add max width’ (same for height)
Manually insert the value OR click the dropdown arrow next to the new field that appears to apply a variable
Set the auto-layout on the parent frame accordingly for responsiveness (use auto-fill or have children layers set to fill)

Figma canvas showing three cards and the width constraints in the Design panel on the right hand side — Add min and max values to width and height

Figma canvas showing how to constrain how responsive a frame can be using min and max values for width; the frame can only be stretched to a certain limit as well as shrinking the frame — Constrain responsiveness using min and max values

To remove min and max values:

Select the parent frame containing the min and/or max values
On the design panel, select the W (width) or H (height) dropdown
Click ‘Remove min and max’

10. Use ‘big nudge’ to edit auto-layout, padding values, etc.

Quickly change values within a frame’s auto-layout, padding, margins, or whatever values being used in the design panel. I recommend setting the big nudge to matching your Design System’s grid; for me, it’s 8px.

Set up your ‘big nudge’ by going to the Figma ‘F’ logo in the top-left corner
Hover over ‘Preferences’, then click on ‘Nudge amount’
Set the ‘Big nudge’
Go to a frame that uses auto-layout
Click on a value within the auto-layout, and use Shift+Up/Down key

Figma canvas showing a card with a Header and pink rectangle and when selected, the frame’s auto-layout appears that is changed using the big nudge by using the shift and up or down arrow keys — Use ‘Big nudge’ to update values within the design panel

11. Use ‘Command’ or ‘Control’ to isolate layer selections in a frame

If using click + drag to make a selection, even selecting a tiny portion of a frame will select the ENTIRE frame. What if I don’t want to select the whole frame?

Press Command (Mac) or Control (Windows) and select individual layers in a frame

Shows the difference between making a selection without using Command or Control and with using Command and Control to isolate layer selections — Use ‘Command’ or ‘Control’ to isolate selections in a frame

12. Use ‘Space’ to free-move an object

Want to mock something up quickly without having to go through the pain of blowing up auto-layout and using absolute positioning? Use space key.

After selecting a layer, press the ‘Space’ key and move the layer to the desired location in the parent frame

Three mockups of card components and a grey square with a loader component in the middle; the grey square with the loader is placed on top the cards but is absorbed by the autolayout. By using the space key, the grey square with the loader can be placed on top the left-most card. — Use ‘Space’ to free-move an object above a frame with auto-layout

That’s all I got for now!

Just know that Figma is not a walk in the park with keeping up with these new features or even getting Figma to do what you want it to. A lot of the time, I don’t get it on the first try and have to troubleshoot it myself or go to the nearest Figma forum for help.

The second, third, or maybe the fourth attempt is where you learn how to do it for the next time… until Figma decides to change that feature. *cries*

I hope you got one tip that can help your Figma-ing. Thanks for reading :)

12 Figma tips to work more efficiently was originally published in UX Collective on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

Table of contents