What’s New with Sketch — Latest Updates and Features (Page 5)

You can now open Figma files in Sketch! Simply head to File > Open Local document (⇧⌘O) and choose your .fig file, or drag it over the Sketch icon in the Dock, and we’ll handle the rest.

Find out more

We’re hard at work on improving Smart Layout and, in this update, you’ll find that right-to-left and bottom-to-top directions now behave exactly like their reverse counterparts (left-to-right and top-to-bottom).

Learn more

When you hide nested Symbol instances, we now preserve and remove spacing in a way that’s more reliable and predictable. Stay tuned for more updates!

Read the blog post

Commenting

This release brings commenting to the Mac app. Now you can pin a comment to any point on the Canvas and strike up a conversation, right where it matters. Whether you’re working in the web app or the Mac app, all of your comments and conversations will stay in sync. Want to hide comments and focus on your designs? Just hit ⌃N.

Import your Figma files

We’re excited to introduce this long-requested feature: you can now open .fig files in Sketch! This feature is available in beta so you may run into the odd issue (our text rendering engine treats things differently to Figma, for example). If you do, let us know and we’ll make it right — your feedback will help make the importer even better.

Workspace templates

You can now turn any document into a template that anyone in your Workspace can use — ideal for repeatable projects and keeping consistent document structures. We’ve also added a selection of beautiful, free templates to help kickstart your next project. You’ll find them all in the Workspace window (⌘O).

Document Libraries

You can now enable Libraries for a specific document instead of having them enabled for every document you’re working on, even when you may not need them. When you open a document, we’ll automatically install any Libraries enabled for it. To manage Document Libraries, go to File > Document Settings… > Libraries from any document.

Smart Layout improvements

We’re hard at work on improving Smart Layout! In this update, you’ll find that right-to-left and bottom-to-top directions now behave exactly like their reverse counterparts (left-to-right and top-to-bottom). When you hide nested Symbol instances, we now preserve and remove spacing in a way that’s more reliable and predictable. Finally, we’ve made a few tweaks that make working with Smart Layout in nested layouts smoother. Look out for further updates soon!

Changes (4)

Update to the latest version of Sketch Runner (1.2.2). Version 1.2.1 has been marked as incompatible with Sketch 95.
Sympli plugin version 1.3.24 has been marked as incompatible with Sketch 95.1
To keep things consistent with macOS Ventura, we’ve renamed the app’s Preferences window and menu item — it’s now called ‘Settings’. You can still access Settings by pressing ⌘,.
We’re phasing out the old Mirror app in early 2023 — but you’ll still be able to mirror via our new iPhone app. Running Mirror will now show an alert about the phase-out, along with a link to more details.

Improvements (11)

If your search for a document yields no results, you’ll now see a ‘No documents found’ message.
We’ve improved rendering performance in prototype flows.
If you have Pixel Fitting disabled, Canvas tooltips will now always show two decimal places. If Pixel Fitting is enabled while you adjust lines, the tooltip’s line length value will no longer jitter as it alternates between whole numbers and those with decimals.
We’ve improved our rendering performance by switching our architecture to one scene graph per document, updated for each frame of rendering.
In text layers, Width and Height fields in the Inspector now reflect whether your text layer is Auto Width, Auto Height or Fixed Size. Their values are placeholders, so you can still enter your own fixed values.
Did you know that when you use the Text tool (T), you can click on other text layers to edit them? We’ve made this easier to spot — now, when the Text tool is active, you’ll see an underlined hover state as you move your cursor over other text layers.
Selection boxes for hidden objects are now dashed, so it’s easier to distinguish them from a visible layer in the same spot.
You can now manage sharing settings for documents and projects in your Workspace: invite others, make documents public, or change download, inspect and commenting permissions. In the Workspace window, right-click a document or project and choose Share…. While you’re editing a document, go to File > Share… — or click on the overflow menu ⋯ above Collaboration and select Share Document….
We’ve increased the hit area for corner resize handles from 6 x 6 to 12 x 12 pixels on high-density displays, making them easier to grab. The handles’ visible size is unchanged.
We’ve tweaked the visibility of on-Canvas handles when you select an object inside a tidy group, giving you better feedback on your actions. When you hover any Smart Distribute handle, the corner radius handles disappear. When you grab a Smart Distribute handle, all other handles disappear. When you hover a corner radius handle, all Smart Distribute handles disappear.
You can now define what Sketch should do every time you distribute layers but it’s impossible to do it evenly on full pixels. Instead of being asked every time, tick the Don’t ask me again checkbox in the alert, which you can change again via Sketch > Settings… > Layers in the ‘When Distributing‘ setting. This only applies if Pixel Fitting is enabled.

Fixes (44)

Fixes a bug where the Text Underline and Strikethrough Override controls would not show the same state between the Canvas, Inspector and the Text Style property.
Fixes a bug where emoji with a shadow might not display correctly in a text layer.
Fixes a bug where in some cases the Reset Overrides control would permanently appear, even when no overrides were applied. Resetting the states should now resolve this.
Fixes an issue in overridden text on the Canvas where swapping a Symbol to a different size wouldn’t update correctly. This now works as expected, but you may need to reset any overrides that were previously in the wrong state.
Fixes a bug where cropping an image with a P3 color profile attached would lose the profile after being cropped.
Fixes a bug where text inside a Symbol wouldn’t scale if you used Command-click or double-clicked to select that layer.
Fixes a bug where color overrides wouldn’t show in the Inspector after overriding a Layer Style.
Fixes a bug in the Inspector where changing a color in Overrides would not refresh immediately.
Fixes a bug where text used as a mask could cause the text color to bleed around the edges of mask content.
Fixes an issue where activating the Text tool and hovering a text layer inside a group would place the hover highlight in the wrong position.
Fixes an issue where selecting text layers inside Symbol instances wouldn’t show their width and/or height values in the Inspector.
Fixes a bug where repositioning text on path could leave drawing artifacts on the Canvas.
Fixes a bug where reducing the size of a file would cause some images to stretch and lose their aspect ratio.
When exporting a single alpha masked layer, the mask’s effect is now included in the result, rather than exporting nothing at all.
When entering new width or height values for an Auto Width text layer, the bounding box around the layer’s current dimensions now stays visible.
Fixes an issue where some of the resize handles in the Scale tool looked darker than they should be.
Fixes an issue where arrow keys wouldn’t work if your cursor was over the alignment buttons in the Inspector’s Design tab.
Fixes a bug where editing a layer behind a background blur could cause visual inconsistencies on the Canvas.
Fixes an issue where the hit area for on-Canvas corner radius handles could be incorrect.
The Canvas no longer changes position when you hide the sidebar or the Toolbar.
Fixes an issue where X corner markings wouldn’t adapt to the system accent color for selected objects inside Symbol instances.
Fixes an issue when resizing a layer that caused the tooltip showing the layer’s dimensions to momentarily disappear when you clicked.
We’ve fixed a visual imperfection in the rotate shape cursor.
The app will now display an error when you attempt to export a WebP image that exceeds the format’s supported maximum pixel dimensions (16383 x 16383).
Fixes a bug where drag-and-dropping a layer from the Layer List produced unexpected results. Now, a simple drag on the Canvas will always generate an accurate copy of the layer, and a PNG when dropped into Finder or another app. Using Option-drag will create a bitmap when dropping a layer on the Canvas and a PDF when dropped into Finder or another app, such as Keynote or Illustrator.
Fixes an issue where fixed layers in prototypes would scale up on non-Retina screens.
Fixes an issue where, while rearranging an object with Smart Distribute in a multi-selection, the selection box around the multi-selection would adjust to the object you’re rearranging.
Fixes an issue where the Inspector wouldn’t show every Overlay setting after copy-pasting an Overlay Artboard.
Fixes an issue where prototyping handles on the Canvas would remain visible after switching to the Design tab in the Inspector.
Fixes an issue where hovering on an object in a multi-selection wouldn’t show a highlight to make it the alignment reference object.
Fixes an issue where selecting an element inside a tidy group caused the center rearrange handles to temporarily disappear, creating a flashing effect.
Fixes an issue where corner radius handles would sometimes not appear for rotated rectangles.
Fixes an issue where a prototype wouldn’t update links after changing the interaction target.
Fixes an issue where combined shapes containing a single Line layer wouldn’t show a selection box and couldn’t be rotated.
Fixes an issue where, if a Symbol Source contains a symbol that had been resized, replacing that nested Symbol in instances wouldn’t respect that size.
Fixes an issue where using the Transform tool on grouped shapes could transform and move the shape unexpectedly when using the corner handles.
Fixes an issue when using the Artboard tool where the list of Artboard Templates wouldn’t show if the Inspector was hidden.
Fixes a bug where dashed borders would rotate position when converted to outlines.
When using justified text, the alignment of the last line in a paragraph will now follow your language’s writing direction (left to right or right to left). To change writing direction, select Text > Reverse Writing Direction in the menu bar.
Showing or hiding the interface in part (sidebar, Inspector, rulers and toolbar) or in its entirety now only affects the current window, not any other windows.
Fixes a bug that would let you edit the hex value for fills using a Color Variable.
Fixes an issue where inserting Symbols could fail to place them on full pixels, even when Pixel Fitting was enabled.
Fixes a bug that wouldn’t let you manage overrides belonging to a nested Symbol unless their parent was specifically selected. From now on, you’ll see every single override from the start in the ‘Manage Overrides’ section.
Drag-and-dropping a layer from the Layer List will now always generate a clean and accurate duplicate of the original layer and ignore any export settings, including the prefix/suffix, size or bitmap type.

Download Sketch 95.1

Requires macOS Big Sur (11.0.0) or newer

When you work with lots of Libraries, places like the Insert window can get a little crowded. So now, you can just enable the Libraries you need for specific documents—keeping only the Components you need. Best of all? Anyone who opens the document will have these libraries automatically installed and available.

Read the blog post

This year we’ve been busy working on new features to give designers and the people around them better and faster ways to create their best work. But unless you’re using Sketch every day, you might’ve missed some of our big releases. So here’s a quick recap of some of the coolest improvements we’ve added to Sketch in the last 12 months.

Read the blog post

macOS Ventura

This release includes fixes for some possible crashes in macOS 13, and addresses issues with Abstract and Anima plugins.

Improvements (1)

You can now override the type size of text layers in Symbol instances.

Changes (1)

Version 4.4.5 of Anima’s AutoLayout plugin is incompatible with Sketch 94.1 as it was causing a crash.

Fixes (6)

Fixes an issue preventing you from overriding a text layer nested within a combined shape in a Symbol instance.
Fixes an issue that meant some plugins (including Abstract and Kitchen) couldn’t load their libraries or some other assets via API.
Fixes a bug that caused the Opacity and Hue sliders in the Color Picker to overlap when editing Color Variables on macOS Ventura.
Fixes a bug that prevented the component menu from showing for text color overrides.
Fixes a bug that clipped the badges in toolbar buttons on macOS Ventura if your toolbar is set to display text labels.
Fixes an issue that prevented people using the iPhone app after resetting their password or changing 2FA settings.

Download Sketch 94.1

Requires macOS Big Sur (11.0.0) or newer

Say hello to better Symbol overrides in the latest Sketch update. We’ve redesigned the Inspector panel to group overrides by type, so it’s faster to view and change things like colors, text values, Styles and nested Symbols — as well as font properties. To make things even easier, you can now double-click to dive down into Symbol instances and select individual layers within.

Supercharging your Symbols workflow

We’ve redesigned the overrides panel in the Inspector to make it faster and easier than ever to work with Symbol instances. The new panel groups overrides by type, making it simple to view and change colors, images, Text and Layer Styles in your Symbol instance — all at once. We’ve also improved how we show nested Symbols in an instance — it should all feel neater now.

Powerful text property overrides

You can now override font properties like weight, alignment, color and more within Symbol instances — which means you don’t need to create a new Text Style for every font variation in your project.

Color Overrides

Override all the colors! You can now override the color of any layer inside a Symbol with another color or a Color Variable.

Selecting layers in Symbol instances

Use Command-click to quickly select overridable layers inside Symbol instances, like text, colors or nested Symbols. Then, use the Overrides panel in the Inspector to override any of them. Paired with our new updates to Symbol overrides in the Inspector, we hope this powerful new toolset really supercharges your Symbols workflow.

Easier layer resizing

We’ve made it easier to resize layers. Firstly, you can now resize horizontally or vertically by just dragging at any point along the edge of the selection box. Secondly, if a selection is too small to resize comfortably, the selection box will appear slightly larger to make it easier to drag its edges. The selection width and height will now appear as soon as you hover over its edges or resize handles. We’ve also removed the resize handles along the edges of a selection, leaving them only on the four corners.

Improvements (10)

When converting a shape to outline we’ll respect any non-border elements, like fills or shadows.
You can now rotate lines by holding ⌘ and dragging the resize handles, just like you can with other layers.
You can now edit a text layer in a Symbol directly on the Canvas. Hover over the text layer, press T, click on it and type away.
You can now hide and show nested Symbols as you would with any other layer — hitting backspace will hide the nested Symbol instead of deleting it.
You can now copy any layer inside a Symbol instance and paste it elsewhere. This means we’ll also copy its overrides, making things faster — no need to detach or head to the Source Symbol.
If you type new values for colors in the color popover, the values are now applied when you click elsewhere to dismiss the popover.
We’ve updated the design of our selection box. It now uses the app’s accent color, making it easier to see selected layers (particularly when selecting multiple shapes and Artboards). Selected layers inside Symbol instances now display X markings on their corners and a thicker border to differentiate them from normal layers.
Press ⌘⌃ to select any layer inside a Symbol.
When diving into a Symbol, you’ll find your selection and a tailored list of its overrides in the Inspector.
The Layer List now shows every layer in a Symbol (rather than just those that have styles applied) — go ahead and change the properties of layers that aren’t Symbols or don’t have any Style applied.

Changes (1)

We’ve changed how double-clicking on Symbols works. Instead of taking you to its Source, you’ll dive deeper into a Symbol. To go to the Symbol Source, press ⌘↵ or click Edit Source in the Inspector.

Fixes (16)

Fixes a bug where a group with a shadow applied and a single shape might not export the shadow.
Fixes an issue when using the Mac app on macOS Ventura Beta where the labels of pop-up buttons in the Inspector wouldn’t appear.
Fixes a crash that could happen when adding a prototype link to a really large group.
Fixes a crash that could occur when picking a Tint or adjusting Color Variables.
Fixes a bug where converting a shape to outlines could sometimes move it slightly on the Canvas or remove its rotation or flip.
When you hover or drag the resize handles of a line layer, you’ll now see a tooltip with its length. If you hold the ⌘ key as you hover over the handle, you’ll see the angle of the line.
We’ve fixed a memory leak that would occur when closing documents after having inserted or copy-pasted bitmaps.
Fixes an issue where you were unable to move selected shapes with borders but no fills by dragging on the non-filled area.
Fixes an issue where interactions within Symbols could not have their override set to ‘none‘.
Fixes an issue where the label of pop-up buttons inside the Color popover would not appear in macOS Ventura Beta.
Fixes an issue where dropping an image onto the Canvas with a selected Artboard would ignore the position where you dropped it.
Fixes an issue where overlay previews weren‘t being displayed correctly if the overlay was an Auto Link target.
Fixes a bug that wouldn‘t let you move overlays around the Canvas if the interaction was on a text layer.
Fixes an issue where overlays with shadows or blurs that expanded outside of the Artboard weren‘t rendering correctly.
Fixes a bug where detaching a Symbol containing nested instances with scaled text would reset the text to its original size.
Fixes a Smart Layout issue where, when using an instance of a Symbol which contained another Symbol with overrides set to “No Symbol”, changing those overrides back to a Symbol would not respect their position in the source of the contained Symbol.

Download Sketch 94

Requires macOS Big Sur (11.0.0) or newer

Share ideas, discuss details and ideate together with comments in our updated Sketch web app. Now, you can pin a comment directly to a point on the Canvas and strike up a conversation, right where it matters. And once you’ve left your comments, you can add more detail as a reply and discuss with others right inside that same comment. We’ll be bringing comments support to the Mac app soon, too.

Check out the blog post

This release is all about small, quality-of-life improvements that add up to a better overall experience in Sketch — from setting any Artboard as your document thumbnail to an improved Smart Grid experience.

Improvements (3)

We’ve added the option to use an Artboard as your document’s thumbnail. Control-click on an Artboard’s name and select Set As Thumbnail.
You’ll now see how many rows and columns a selection has when you hover over the Smart Grid handle — not just as you use it.
We’ve improved how the Inspector tabs behave when adding an interaction to a layer while having the DESIGN tab active. We now only switch to the PROTOTYPE tab after you finish setting up the interaction.

Changes (1)

When you add a border to a text layer, its position will now be Outside by default (instead of Center).

Fixes (18)

Fixes an issue where, after updating a Text Style, the bounds of groups containing layers with that Text Style didn’t update.
Fixes an issue where text layers with Auto Height could move when entering and leaving edit mode if previously they were set to Fixed Size.
Fixes a bug where the Symbol’s menu in the Inspector would not expand if the ‘Show Same Size Symbols Only’ option was enabled in the Overrides section of the Inspector.
Fixes a bug that would cause a crash when switching between Canvas and Components mode after deleting a previously selected Component.
Fixes a bug where background blurs were appearing on the Canvas with a slight grey tint.
Fixes an issue where corner radius handles on a rectangle would appear if your cursor was over its parent group.
Fixes a regression that could affect performance if multiple Editors were working on a complex document.
Fixes a bug that would snap Overlay previews incorrectly when pressing ⌘.
Fixes a bug where making a Symbol local or detaching it would reset or lose any applied overrides.
Fixes a bug where background blurs could show a black background in document previews.
Fixes a bug where, when using multiple opaque fills on top of each other on a layer, the occluded fills would still be visible at the layer edges.
Fixes an issue where Artboards with names ending with a number would have the number incremented, rather than appended to, when duplicating the Artboard.
Fixes a bug where copying the CSS attributes of a non-square layer that used a linear gradient would show the wrong gradient angle.
Fixes a bug where some plugins would not work in macOS Ventura beta.
Fixes a bug where overriding text directly on the Canvas could enlarge its font size.
Fixes an issue where icons for selected layers on the Layer List would not have the right color while performing a multi-selection.
Fixes an issue where swapping a Symbol instance inside a group would not correctly update the group’s bounds.
Fixes an issue where applying a Text Style to a layer in a group would not correctly update the group’s bounds.

Download Sketch 93

Requires macOS Big Sur (11.0.0) or newer

With all the big feature releases in recent months, it’s sometimes easy to miss some of the smaller (but still sweet) improvements we’ve made to Sketch along the way. So grab a coffee and take a seat as we run you through 38(!) of these little gems in less than four minutes.

Improvements (4)

When you hover over the Smart Distribute rearrange handle of a layer inside a tidy group, we now hide all the other visible handles, allowing you a clear view of your design.
When you select a layer which is part of a group with even spacing, you can now reorder it with Smart Distribute and adjust the spacing. Previously this was only possible if you selected the group itself first.
When you copy layers between Artboards, via the copy and paste commands or by dragging layers in the Layer List, we now preserve a layer’s original position more accurately.
In a multi-layer selection or group with uneven spacing between layers, you can now enter horizontal and/or vertical spacing values immediately, without having to press the Tidy button first.

Changes (3)

When using Smart Distribute, you’ll now see the spacing value immediately when you hover over the Smart Distribute spacing handle — not only after you click it.
We’ve made our context menus match the main menus, they now both use Bring Forward, Bring to Front, Send Backward and Send to Back.
When you rearrange layers within a Smart Distribute selection, the selections and placeholders that appear now use Sketch’s tint color, rather than the default blue.

Fixes (13)

Fixes a regression in the setOverrideValue method of the plugins API.
Fixes a bug where the Mac app would be slow to acknowledge updates to Workspace Libraries.
Fixes an issue with the Library API for Plugins where a refactor to improve compatibility with our iOS app had caused a regression.
Fixes a bug where a Symbol instance could accidentally have a blur applied to it, causing Sketch to crash.
Fixes a bug where switching from the Canvas to Components View and back again would clear a selected Component’s details from the Inspector.
Fixes a bug where Artboards that had a background color and the “Include in export” option unchecked would display incorrectly on the Canvas in the web app.
Fixes a bug that stopped layers that moved from one Artboard to another via alignment actions from appearing on their new Artboard.
Fixes a bug where using Paste Here or Paste Over would not place the pasted layer in front of the selected layers.
Fixes a bug that stopped you from selecting a layer with no fill by clicking on the outer part of its border.
Fixes a bug that stopped an Overlay’s preview from updating correctly when you duplicated the trigger layer or Hotspot and changed its target.
Fixes a bug that caused Hotspots within a Symbol instance to become smaller than their original size.
Fixes a bug that caused Overlay previews to resize unexpectedly while zooming on the Canvas.
Fixes a bug that caused an image with a non-normal blend mode to cause shadows and alpha masks to have the wrong opacity on the Canvas.

Download Sketch 92

Requires macOS Big Sur (11.0.0) or newer