What’s New with Sketch — Latest Updates and Features (Page 6)

Artboard Templates

You can now turn any Artboard — and its content — into a template. Artboard Templates behave like any other Component, so you can share them as part of Libraries and reuse them across documents. When you select an Artboard, you’ll see the option to use it as a template in the Inspector. We’ve replaced the default Artboard Presets with a new Default Artboard Templates Library, and included a new Artboard Template Inspiration Library to show you what else they can do. Any custom Artboard Presets you created will migrate to Artboard Templates and appear as their own Library, too.

Improvements (9)

We’ve added a presence popover to the grid view in the Workspace window. We always had this in the list view, but now it appears in the grid view, too. Hovering over the Editor’s name below the document’s name will show you everyone currently editing or viewing, or who last updated it.
You can now lock and unlock the proportions of an Artboard using the control between the Width and Height inputs in the Inspector, just like regular Layers.
You can now use all types of Layers (including images) as Alpha Masks. When you set a Layer to act as a Mask, Sketch will apply the most appropriate type of mask to use based on the Layer type and its fills.
We’ve added a Reset Ruler Origins option to the contextual menu when you Control-Click on the rulers. This option always existed in the View menu, but now it appears in the contextual menu, too.
When you create or duplicate an Artboard, we now place it below the current or original Artboard in the Layer List. This means Artboards will be arranged top-to-bottom, as you create them.
We’ve improved the appearance of read-only input fields in the Inspector to distinguish them from disabled fields.
Using Command-D to duplicate an Option-dragged Artboard will use the same offset for the duplicates. This was always the case for Layers, now it works for Artboards as well.
You can now access the Convert Symbol to Artboard option from the contextual menus when you have selected a Symbol source.
You can now use the keyboard to input double-digits to more accurately adjust the relative position of gradient stops for any Gradient fill in the Inspector.

Fixes (22)

Fixes a bug that caused Text on Path to render incorrectly.
Fixes a bug that stopped us from remembering the position of the Prototype Preview window.
Fixes an issue where copied layers could be pasted in the wrong order.
Fixes a bug where Symbol instances would not update correctly when a Layer was moved from one Symbol to another in a Library.
Fixes an issue with Prototypes not showing Hotspots correctly for Layers within scrollable Artboards that have a fixed position.
Fixes a bug that caused multiple layers of text to appear when you edited text that had transformations applied within a Symbol instance.
Fixes a bug that caused the incorrect label to show for the initial Pixel Snapping mode in the Inspector.
Fixes a bug where resetting overrides for scaled Symbol instances would produce unexpected results.
Fixes a bug that stopped Library preview thumbnails from updating in the Libraries Preferences pane.
Fixes an issue where the width or height of nested Symbol instances couldn’t be resized to less than 1 pixel.
Fixes a bug that caused the Remove Unused Styles menu item to appear unavailable when you had selected a Group or Symbol instance.
Fixes a bug that caused Symbols you dragged from the Insert window onto an Artboard or Canvas to appear blank.
Fixes a bug that caused the Size instance to fit content control in the Inspector to appear unpredictably.
Fixes a bug where a blank Artboard would not have its Expand/Collapse toggle control visible in the Layer List until content was added to it.
Fixes a bug that stopped the shortcuts for switching between the Canvas (Control-1) and Components (Control-2) views from working or appearing in the View menu.
Fixes a bug that stopped you from double-clicking on the Canvas to leave vector editing mode.
Fixes a bug where invalid characters in a Workspace document name could cause saving issues, now we show an error if you try to save a document that contains unsupported characters to a Workspace.
Fixes a bug that caused columns in the Export Slice window to populate incorrectly if your scroll bars are set to always be visible.
Fixes a bug where, pasting a fill across multiple Layers and editing the fill in one Layer, could cause the fill of a different Layer to update incorrectly.
Fixes an issue that caused Color Variables to appear incorrectly in the color popover if you were using using a large collection of Color Variables.
Fixes a bug that ignored the Pixel Fitting preference for Text Layers using Auto Width and horizontally centered text. We now adjust the width of the Text layer to only place it on full pixels.
Fixes a bug that caused the WEBP option in the Format field of the Export panel to appear truncated.

Download Sketch 89

Requires macOS Big Sur (11.0.0) or newer

It’s time to meet a brand new building block for your designs — Artboard Templates. With them, you can turn any Artboard — and its content — into a template and reuse it across your documents.

Read the blog post

Along with all the great features below, this release fixes a number of bugs, crashes and performance issues.

Fixes (9)

Fixes a crash that could occur when you worked with Symbols.
Fixes a bug that stopped you from being able to double-click on a nested Symbol instance to view its source.
Fixes a bug that caused slow performance.
Fixes a bug that caused the Hotspot override option in the Inspector to disappear when you set it to None.
Fixes a bug that caused layers or Artboards you copied from Sketch and pasted into another app to appear as a blank image.
Fixes a bug that stopped some Workspace document updates from processing or appearing in the web app.
Fixes a bug that caused Artboards to appear at a low resolution in the prototype player.
Fixes a crash that could occur as we determined whether to highlight an item you selected in the Layer List.
Fixes a bug that caused performance issues when you used Sketch Mirror to view documents.

Download Sketch 88.1

Requires macOS Big Sur (11.0.0) or newer

New prototype player

We’ve been hard at work on some big improvements to Prototyping and it starts with this — a completely rewritten prototype player. With it, playing your prototypes should feel smoother, faster and more reliable. It also lays the groundwork for some great new features and improvements — look out for those in an upcoming update.

Improvements (7)

You can now choose Auto Link to Right Artboard from the Prototype menu and create a link from your current Artboard, to the one immediately to the right of it. Better still, it will update dynamically and automatically if you switch the order of your Artboards. To link to the left Artboard instead, simply change the Artboard Export option under Preferences > Layers.
You can now use Command-Shift-D to duplicate a layer below the original. You can also hold Shift to access this option from the Edit menu. To move a layer you have selected from behind another layer, hold Option and Command then drag anywhere on the canvas.
We’ve added a new option to snap to quarter pixels when you’re working in vector editing mode. We also revamped its Inspector control — the new segmented control makes it easier to set a pixel snapping option and see which one you have selected.
When you export a single item, we now show its filename in the notification at the bottom of the window.
In the Save dialog, Command-Shift-D and Command-D now will set your Mac’s Desktop as the save location.
We’ve tweaked the heading styles and dividers in the Inspector to make each section’s hierarchy easier to understand.
You can now paste an image from another app directly onto a shape in Sketch to use it as an Image fill. You’ll find the Paste Image as Fill option by control-clicking on the Fills panel under Styles in the Inspector.

Changes (2)

We’ve updated the shortcut for Refresh Data. You will now need to use Control-Shift-D to refresh the Data on a selected layer.
We’ve updated the copy and changed a few things in the Libraries preferences panel. Now, to enable a Library, you can simply check the checkbox next to its name.

Fixes (10)

Fixes a bug where trying to change a Symbol override from ”No Symbol” would not change anything on the Canvas.
Fixes a bug where a Symbol with Smart layout properties, nested within a parent Symbol with same Smart Layout properties, would be positioned unexpectedly when overridden on the Instance level.
Fixes a crash that could occur when you opened a document from your Workspace and chose to keep local changes you made to an older version of that document while you were disconnected from the internet.
Fixes an issue where hidden Layers wouldn’t show the eye icon in the Layer List.
When you resize a Layer so that its bounds no longer sit within an Artboard, we now move it outside the Artboard in the Layer List, this means it becomes visible on the Canvas and can be selected.
When you use the tab key to navigate through the save dialog fields, the order should feel more logical now.
Fixes a bug where the resize handles could appear blurry at some zoom levels.
Fixes an issue with the rendering of background blurs, when they are masked by shapes other than rectangles, so you won’t unexpectedly see translucent areas.
Fixes an issue where the Layer › Layout menu would be available for all Artboards and not just Symbol sources.
Fixes a bug that stopped the Inspector showing a mixed state for the Export group contents only option.

Download Sketch 88

Requires macOS Big Sur (11.0.0) or newer

This release includes a few important bug fixes and tweaks to make sure everything runs smoothly. If you sent feedback about any of these — thank you!

Fixes (2)

Fixes an issue that could cause some documents to get stuck while they were processing.
Fixes a bug that could corrupt a document if you opened it after editing the document offline.

Download Sketch 87.1

Requires macOS Big Sur (11.0.0) or newer

This update brings a whole host of small improvements to make your days more enjoyable and productive — from positioning layers relative to an Artboard’s edge with Inspector operators, to better icons for locked and hidden layers.

Improvements (11)

We’ve made it easier to create a prototyping link to the previous Artboard or any specific Artboard when you have multiple layers and Artboards selected. Now, with multiple selections, you can choose any of the back or go to Artboard indicators.
We’ll now show a prompt when you try and enable a plugin that’s incompatible with the Mac app.
We now remember the position of the Preferences window, so it always opens where you last left it.
When you hover over a long Artboard name on the Canvas, we’ll show you a tooltip with its full name.
You can now add blurs to alpha masks and we’ll include them as part of the mask itself.
You can now use the Sides slider in the Inspector to set a polygon‘s minimum number of sides (three) — handy if you want to quickly create an equilateral triangle!
If you have a page selected, you can now rename a page via Edit > Rename or pressing ⌘R.
You can now precisely position a layer relative to an Artboard’s edge using the l, r, t, b, and c / m operators in the Inspector. For example, to place a layer 10 pixels from the right edge of its Artboard, you can set its X value to 10r. You can use these in both the X and Y fields to get things looking just right.
We’ll now show you if a Library is using a starred version and when it was last modified in the Libraries preferences panel.
Did you know you can copy layers or Artboards and paste them in any other app as an image? Now, if you have a high-density display, we‘ll export these images in 2x resolution, so they look sharp.
We’ve added states to the layer visibility and lock icons in the Layer List, so it’s easier than ever to know whether a layer is hidden, visible, locked or unlocked. Hovering over a visible layer shows a Hide Layer icon reflecting the layer’s visibility and holding ⌥ shows a Lock Layer icon reflecting the lock state.

Changes (2)

We’ve made things more predictable when you insert a Symbol instance that contains a nested Symbol with Smart Layout properties that you have resized in the Symbol source. Now, the nested Symbol will keep its resized dimensions in both the Symbol source and instance.
We’ve made things more predictable when you resize a Symbol or Group that contains text layers with resizing constraints and auto width alignment properties. Previously, if the resizing constraints and alignment properties conflicted, resizing would change the alignment property to auto height or cause the text to flow outside of layer’s bounds. Now we block conflicting resizing restrictions and alignment properties to avoid these results.

Fixes (3)

Fixes a bug where the background blur wouldn‘t appear in translucent layers with an opaque fill.
Fixes a bug where the Mac app would continue using system memory after you closed a document.
Fixes a bug where editing a Symbol Source’s content would not update any overrides in deeply nested instances until you reopened the document.

Download Sketch 87

Requires macOS Big Sur (11.0.0) or newer

This release is all about fixing bugs and making small, quality-of-life improvements that add up to a better overall experience in Sketch. We’re working hard on new features and we can’t wait to share them with you soon.

Improvements (3)

We’ve improved the way we handle variable fonts if you embed them in your document and now clearly identify them as being variable, rather than a specific weight.
When you right-click on a layer and open its contextual menu, holding down ⌥ turns the Move Forward and Move Backward options into Move to Front and Move to Back, respectively. If you have the items for Move Forward and Move Backward in your toolbar, we’ll update their icons to reflect this change in command when you hold ⌥ there too.
We now memorize the position of the Document Settings window, so it always opens where you last left it.

Changes (3)

The Move to Library plugin (version 2.2.9) is incompatible with Sketch.
We’ve given the Canvas icon in Preferences a refresh — it now reflects the one you see in the toolbar.
We renamed the Rename Layer menu item to Rename.

Fixes (11)

Fixes a bug where the Mac app would continue using system memory after you closed a document.
Fixes a bug that would insert image data randomly even if you had unchecked the Insert Data at Random option. Now, Data you insert will follow the order in its source file.
Fixes a bug that could make scrolling the Canvas very slow if you were using a mouse with a physical scroll wheel.
Fixes a bug that could cause blocky artefacts to appear in shadows that contained a combination of different shadows and other elements.
Fixes a bug that caused Smart Distribute spacing handles to appear blurry or distorted.
Fixes a bug where rotated background blurs wouldn‘t render as expected in some cases.
Fixes a bug where the Mac app wouldn’t detect corrupted data in some parts of a document, which could lead to a crash later while editing the document. Now, we detect this right when you open the document and give you the opportunity to fix it.
Fixes a bug where editing a Symbol Source’s content would not update any overrides in deeply nested instances until you reopened the document.
Fixes a bug where applying border end decorations to a line or open path with multiple borders would only show one of the borders.
Fixes a bug where the search field in the Layer List wouldn’t show a focus ring when you selected it.
Fixes a bug that mean any custom shortcuts you added via System Preferences would require you to select their parent menu before they would work.

Download Sketch 86

Requires macOS Big Sur (11.0.0) or newer

This release fixes a bug that caused empty Symbols to appear broken. We’re sorry for any impact this had on your workflow.

Download Sketch 85.1

Requires macOS Big Sur (11.0.0) or newer

New project permissions

You can now choose whether a project is visible to your whole Workspace, or just the members you invite. You’ll find this option in a project’s share settings in the web app. In the Mac app, look for the lock icon in the Workspace window to quickly identify projects with restricted access. And don’t forget, you can still move documents, rename a project, copy its link or open it in the web app, right from the Workspace window.

Changes (2)

Invision Panels version 1.0.145 is no longer compatible with Sketch. Please make sure you update this plugin to the latest version to avoid any issues.
Say hello to some new faces! We‘ve updated our Faces data source to include a new set of images.

Fixes (9)

Fixes a bug that could cause the color picker to not pick the correct color from a text layer.
Fixes a bug with SVG import where style attributes could be ignored for certain paths.
Fixes a bug where the Preview window for prototypes would hide the share button at smaller widths.
Fixes a bug where the keyboard shortcut to pick a fill color within the Bitmap editor would not use the color you picked.
Fixes a bug that caused Text on Path to move unexpectedly if you converted it to outlines.
Fixes a crash that could occur if you pasted malformed SVG code into a document.
Fixes a crash that could occur when selecting a font in the Inspector.
Fixes a bug where keyboard shortcuts for various View > Zoom To options would stop working.
Fixes an issue where icons in the Insert window could end up with the wrong size after switching screen resolutions.

Download Sketch 85

Requires macOS Big Sur (11.0.0) or newer

With Color Tokens you can export, integrate and sync Color Variables from your designs to your development projects. If you’ve got a document or Library with Color Variables, you can now use the web app to download Color Tokens in CSS or JSON formats, or generate a URL that stays up to date with any changes you make.

Find out more on our blog

We’re giving you even more control over when and where you share your work. Now you can choose whether a project is visible to your whole Workspace, or just the members you invite to it. It’s ideal when you’re working under NDAs, or just want to keep noise around new ideas to a minimum.

Read the documentation

This release focuses on smaller fixes and updates that make Sketch better to use every day. We’ve also included a small round of Prototyping improvements (with plenty more on the way).

Improvements (7)

When you grab and drag prototyping interactions on the Canvas, you’ll now only select interactions with the same destination Artboard, even if you have selected multiple layers.
We’ve added an extra option for Hotspot layers to the View menu. Now you can choose to either show or hide Hotspots.
We’ve made it easier to create prototypes. You no longer need to select a layer first to start creating a prototype!
You can now override any prototype interaction in a Symbol instance. Previously this was only possible with Hotspots, but we’ve opened that up for Links as well.
We’ve improved shadow rendering for groups, making them faster and visible even when deeply zoomed in.
We’ve improved the visibility of prototype links. Now, you can either choose to see all links for a prototype or only those related to the selected layer(s) from the View menu.
When exporting blurs, we now match the scale of the export. This way, you can export at high scales and blurs won‘t appear pixelated when you zoom in.

Changes (2)

The Runner plugin version 1.1.9 is incompatible with Sketch 84. You can still enable it manually in Sketch Preferences > Plugins if you want, but it could cause some instability.
A friendly reminder that we’ve changed the minimum system requirements to Big Sur (11.0) from version 84 onward. You can download previous versions of the Mac app (with support for older operating systems) from our updates page.

Fixes (11)

Fixes a crash that could occur when closing a document.
Fixes a bug where part of the Prototyping section of the Inspector would disappear when adding a new Link or Hotspot.
Fixes a bug that could hide the Artboard’s title in the prototype’s Preview window if the name was too long or the window too small.
Fixes a crash that could occur when setting a negative spread value for a Component’s inner shadow.
Fixes a bug that could create a gap in a prototype link if you added an Artboard over the link and then moved it.
We’ve fixed a bug that stopped you from selecting layers in a combined shape when double-clicking on it.
We’ve reduced the amount of system memory used when inserting large Symbols at higher zoom levels.
Fixes a bug where highly saturated blurred layers would sometimes not render correctly.
Fixes a bug that could cause rounded ends in masked paths to appear clipped when exporting them to SVG.
Fixes a crash that could occur when saving or opening a document placed in a location that wasn‘t writable.
Fixes a bug that could cause nested Symbols with Smart Layout to behave unexpectedly.

Download Sketch 84

Requires macOS Big Sur (11.0.0) or newer

This release includes a handful of bug fixes. If you sent in feedback about any of these — thank you!

Fixes (2)

Fixes a bug that wouldn‘t respect your previous document‘s window size when creating a new document or opening your document again.
Fixes a bug that could cause masked layers to display incorrectly if you were using a layer with opaque outside borders as a mask.

Download Sketch 83.2

Requires macOS Catalina (10.15.0) or newer

This release focuses on fixing a number of crashes and bugs. Thanks for all your reports and feedback!

Fixes (2)

Fixes a bug where custom Artboard size presets wouldn‘t appear.
We’ve fixed a bug that could cause the Mac app to crash when clicking on a filtered layer type in the Layer’s List search bar.

Download Sketch 83.1

Requires macOS Catalina (10.15.0) or newer

Corner Controls and Styles

You can now adjust the corner radius of rectangles on the Canvas: drag a corner handle to control all corners with the same size, hold ⌘ to control a single corner, or ⌥ to control all corners at once. We’ve also added four individual input fields in the Inspector for each corner in the rectangle. Finally, we’ve introduced new Corner Styles: in addition to Rounded and Smooth, you can now use the Angled, Inside Square, and Inside Arc styles.

Improvements (5)

You can now style corners on triangles, stars, polygons and closed paths directly from the Corners panel in the Inspector. These shapes support our brand new Corner Styles too — try them out!
We’ve given the segmented controls in the Inspector a makeover. They’re no longer colored and instead match the appearance of buttons, making them less distracting.
You can now set Artboards as click targets in a prototype. This way, you don‘t have to add hotspot layers anymore when you just want to show a simple flow or presentation.
When creating exportable layers or slices with prefixes, we now give you more control over the prefix’s placement in the file name if the layer name contains a slash (/). With the new Primary Prefix option, the prefix will appear in front of the full path instead of the last path component only.
In the Recent documents view in the Workspace window you can now search a document by the author of the latest version. Of course, you can still search a document by its title.

Changes (1)

Version 83 is the final Mac app release to support macOS Catalina (10.15.0). When we release version 84, the minimum system requirements will change to 11.0 (Big Sur). You can download previous versions of the Mac app (with support for older operating systems) from our updates page.

Fixes (19)

Fixes a crash that could occur when leaving vector editing mode after unhiding the Inspector.
Fixes a bug where we would remind you to embed fonts when saving a local document in some cases.
Fixes a bug where you wouldn‘t be able to perform a Union operation on adjacent, but not intersecting, shapes.
When adding a prototype link on the Canvas, we‘ll now show you target icons next to your Artboard so it‘s easier to link to the previous Artboard or to another page.
Fixes an issue where we wouldn‘t give you the option to embed fonts when saving a Workspace document via the Collaboration toolbar item.
Fixes a bug where saving a Workspace document you had opened for the first time would prompt you to embed fonts even if all fonts were already embedded.
Fixes a bug that could ignore Text on Path when performing boolean operations.
Fixes a bug where you couldn‘t Command-click to select masked layers.
Fixes a bug where the appearance of shadows with non-zero spread values on lines wouldn’t match the line’s end cap type.
Fixes a bug that could cause a rotated layer using a background blur to render the blur in a washed out way.
Fixes a bug that could display the Style section in the Inspector incorrectly if editing a vector with the Inspector hidden.
We’ve matched the miter limit for outside and inside borders to that which center borders use. This way you’ll see more predictable results when working with shapes or text with pointy edges.
Fixes a bug that wouldn‘t respect the Fix Size setting when using Smart Layout.
When opening or creating a document, we’ll now place the Mac app window in the center of your screen.
Fixes a bug where angular gradient fills wouldn‘t be included when exporting to SVG.
We’ve improved rendering accuracy for shape layers used as a mask with center or inside borders so that you always see the right opacity.
Fixes a bug where we would not show the distance value for the spacing between selected layers in the Inspector if the selection included a line with another layer that was positioned along the same axis as the line.
Fixes a bug that could cause the tabs in Preferences to show unexpected window sizes.
Fixes a bug that wouldn‘t let you delete Components in the Components View when filtered by a search term.

Download Sketch 83

Requires macOS Catalina (10.15.0) or newer

You now have full control of the size and style of corners in your rectangles. It’s faster than ever to adjust multiple corners at once — or focus on just a single corner — using on-Canvas and Inspector controls in our updated Sketch Mac app. Plus, we’ve added a bunch of new Corner Styles that will take your illustrations to the next level. It even works with triangles, stars, polygons and closed paths directly from the Corners panel in the Inspector!

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