What’s in my Toolbox?
Useful Sketch Plugins
Sketch is already pretty awesome, but these plugins can make it even better. Be sure to download Sketch Toolbox to manage installation. While you can install plugins manually by downloading them from GitHub, that’s at least a 5-click process. Sketch Toolbox reduces that to 1.
Sketch Measure by utom
Annotate your designs with distance between elements, margin/padding, width/height, font size, color, and absolute coordinates. Like Specctr but better, faster, and easier.
Sketch Notebook by marcosvidal
Sometimes you want to write long notes on a doc and export that to a PDF.
How to use it: Select a layer, then go to Plugins > Notebook > Add Comment and type a title and comment. Be sure your element is inside an artboard first.
Content Generator by timuric
Creates dummy user data, including names, photos, geo data, phone, email, and placeholder text and imagery.
How to use it: Select a rectangle or text layer, then go to Plugins > Content Generator and choose the type of data you want.
SketchSquares by abynim
Fills elements with Instagram photos from your feed or popular photos. I really like how you can choose any of your friend’s photos or your own. Plus, you can choose to fill the layer with an image, which gives you the flexibility to hide/show and layer with other fills.
How to use it: With an element selected, go to Plugins > SketchSquares > Load Instagram Photos. The first time, you’ll need to authenticate your Instagram account.
Bluth Ipsum by LigCreative
Lines from Arrested Development instead of Lorem Ipsum. You can specify number of sentences or words, so you never end up with a paragraph that’s too long. Plus, these are actual lines from the show, so the sentences make sense!
How to use it: Create a new text layer. With the layer selected but not actively editing, go to Plugins > Bluth Ipsum.
Cat Ipsum by mamuso
Cat words. No frills. One size fits all.
Sketch Guides by petehouston
Allows you to create new guides with precision by entering pixels in a dialog box.
Select Layers By Color by getflourish
When you have too many layers without layer styles, this tool can help you clean them up.
How to use it: Select a layer with the fill color you want to isolate. Go to Plugins > Select Layers By Color. If you want to add a common layer style to all of them at once, you can easily do so from the Inspector on the right hand side.
Sketch Style Inventory by getflourish
After you’ve finished a design, this plugin is super useful for sharing specs and font styles with others. You can generate for the entire page or for a selection of specific elements. I prefer the entire page, since it’ll grab all the styles you’re using.
How to use it: First, make sure all of your text layers have a Text Style applied. This plugin will not generate styles for those with “No Text Style” when you select them. To generate the Style Guide, click outside of an artboard and go to Plugins > Sketch Style Inventory > Inventory > Generate.
Swatches by jodyheavener
This plugin generates color swatches based on hex codes inputted into this dialog. It creates a new page for your colors, with editable names, hex codes, and RGB values that can easily be exported to PDF.
Plugin Troubleshooting
If any of your plugins stop working, simply open up Sketch Toolbox, uninstall them, and re-install them.
Did I miss an awesome plugin?
Let me know! Email me at design@megumi.co with suggestions.
