Snippet of a figma workplace ( source: https://unsplash.com )

Some supercool figma tools I wish I knew earlier 💪

Gayathri Kasilingam
Bootcamp
Published in
4 min readDec 8, 2021

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For today’s UX or UI Designers, Figma is a blessing. My UI design tool progression started from Photoshop, through Adobe XD and now I find Figma super comfortable that I use it not just for UI Designs — but any other deliverables I need to work on. Yet there were a few stuff that was nail-biting in the beginning, but I later on realized, Figma has super cool tools to overcome those.

Here I’ll share a few Figma features that made me go “ Damn If I knew this earlier I wouldn’t have wasted all that time!”

( source: https://unsplash.com )

#1 Resizing text using scaling (K)

In usual adobe products, when you expand the arrow near the text selected, the text inside also shrinks/expands and fits the space. But in Figma, the text size won’t alter.

To make the text size also expand with the text box — Try clicking ‘K’ ( Scaling mode On ) and voila!

Adjusting text before clicking ‘K’
Adjusting text after pressing ‘K’ to switch on scaling mode.

#2 Copy as text, PNG, SVG, etc

Figma allows you to take a step ahead of the conventional ‘Ctrl + C’ button. You can copy a group/frame/component directly using right-click. Comes in handy when you want to quickly have an image of a particular frame without exporting it at all.

Menu option for Copy as text, PNG, SVG, etc

It also has a quick ‘ Copy as text’ while clicking on text elements.

#3 Resize Frames without altering elements

One annoying thing while resizing frames is how they are responsive and hence alter the internal elements. When this happens, locate the layers that undergo these alterations ( Not all layers would stretch and expand ), and set their constraints from ‘ scale’ to ‘ top/left’ (As shown below)

GIF showing the resizing artboard without disturbing the inner elements

#4 Re-ordering has never been easier. Thanks, Auto-Layout.

Auto-layout is such a time saver. especially when you are handling elements whose orders tend to change — it is highly recommended to keep them in auto layout mode so that any swap can be done swiftly without much effort.

GIF showing the Ctrl + A to create Auto Layout

#5 Zoom to Selection (Shift + 2)

Each page of your Figma file can sometimes have so many various frames & elements. Zooming in to one particular frame can be so hard to be done using conventional “ Ctrl +/-”.

So the next time you want to zoom into one certain frame/group, select the frame and click “Shift +2” to focus on that particular frame.

GIF showing the Shift +1/2 to Zoom selection/ Zoom to fit

To go back to seeing all frames in birds-eye view — use “ Shift +1”

#6 Renaming Layers/Frames in a jiffy (Ctrl +R)

Sometimes while reusing layers or frames, you might find yourself amidst a pile of elements with the same names. Use ‘Ctrl +R’ to customize the name in order.

GIF showing the Ctrl + R to rename layers

Before using any of these, Do yourself a favor and click on “ Ctrl + Shift + ? ” to see all the keyboard shortcuts Figma provides.

If you are not a motion designer, sometimes creating good flowy animations in Figma prototypes can look like a not-so-easy task. But with the ‘Smart Animate’ animation feature, you can create seamless integrations and flows in your prototypes making people go ‘Wowza’.

( smart animate feature )

Let me show a video animated with nothing but Smart animate tool:

video made using just ‘Smart Animate’

Any tips you want to share with the rest of us? Comment below!

And now,

Clap 👏 if you enjoyed this article, so others can find it and enjoy it.
Comment 💬 if you have something to say. Constructive criticism is always welcome.

Thanks for reading.

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Bootcamp
Bootcamp

Published in Bootcamp

From idea to product, one lesson at a time. Bootcamp is a collection of resources and opinion pieces about UX, UI, and Product. To submit your story: https://tinyurl.com/bootspub1

Gayathri Kasilingam
Gayathri Kasilingam

Written by Gayathri Kasilingam

MHCI+D at Univeristy of Washington.Move people > Move pixels. https://gayakasi.com

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