Using Figma Offline (well not totally)
Disclaimer : This post is for users who want to use figma offline like a traditional desktop application or for users who have limited internet resources. Figma doesn’t work fully without an internet connection.
I have been using figma for a few months now, i must say its one of the best design tools out there, i come from a photoshop / illustrator design background and i was looking to go deeper into UI/UX design. I used adobe illustrator in the early stages of doing ui/ux design, it didnt have the flexibilty and rapid prototyping capability, so i started trying out few “free to use” design applicatons before settling to use figma.
Figma was designed to work majorly in the browser and that means you will have to be connected to the internet to use it, i was heartbroken, staying connected to the internet always while working isn’t a luxury i could afford. So i found out that there was a desktop app for windows and mac, downloaded it, fired up the app got a “can’t connect” message,
i was like WTF? Internet access? i thought it was a desktop app , so i tethered my phone’s internet and voila! it opened. After working for a while it was time to close the app, i already read somewhere that it automatically saves the current work in the cloud as long as you are logged in and there might not be a need to save in the traditional way we do with other desktop applications.
As a science student..lool, seeing is believing, i closed the app while still being connected to the internet, restarted figma, clicked open file and it opened to a page containing drafts of project i recently worked on, something like the image below.
all i needed to do was double click any of the files i wanted to work on and continue working. yay!
that’s what figma looks like when you are signed in, see that small me in a circle? yeah i am logged in
2nd option
Or you could use the normal method of saving files from the files menu click on save as.fig you will have a local backup / hard copy , when you want to continue from where you stop, you will need to use the import option,it opens up your local folders then you can navigate to where you saved the .fig file, image below.
Note : You will still need to be connected to the internet at first to import the files.
Lessons learnt
To use figma at first start, you need internet access, then you can disconnect afterwards.
Ensure you don’t mistakenly close the app without connecting back to the internet else you loose all your files because it saves automatically in the cloud.
The other option if you really have limited internet data is to always use save as .fig option and import, then you only need to connect to the internet once, anytime you want to continue from where you previously stopped.This is like killing two birds with one stone, you connect to start figma as well as import all needed files.
Would be posting articles on my designs and experience as i go deeper into using Figma.
If you find my article interesting or its the solution you have been waiting for c’mon give me some claps mehn!
