View layers and pages in the left sidebar

Who can use this feature

Supported on any team or plan.

Anyone with can edit access can view and interact with all panels in the left sidebar.

Anyone with only can view access can view layers or navigate between pages in the file.

Figma design files have four distinct interactive areas: a toolbar, two sidebars, and a scrollable canvas. These areas allow you to access, create and adjust elements of your design.

In this article, we're going to cover the left sidebar which gives you access to layers and pages in your file. You can also use the left sidebar to view local components and access components from other libraries.

Open the left sidebar

There are three headings in the left sidebar: Layers, Assets, and Pages. Use these headings to switch between each panel in the sidebar. You can also use keyboard shortcuts:

Mac

• Layers panel and Pages: ⌥ Option 1
• Assets panel: ⌥ Option 2

Windows

• Layers panel and Pages: Alt 1
• Assets panel: Alt 2

Toggle layers panel

Toggle visibility of the left sidebar using the keyboard shortcut:

• Mac: ⌘ Command Shift \
• Windows: Ctrl Shift \

You can also toggle the visibility of the entire Figma UI by using the Show/Hide UI keyboard shortcut:

• Mac: ⌘ Command \
• Windows: Ctrl \

This allows you to view your designs in the canvas, without the Figma UI.

View layers

Any Frames, Groups or Objects you add to the canvas will be visible in the Layers panel. You can determine if a Layer is a Frame, Group or a specific type of Object by the icon next to it:

• Frame
• Group
• Component
• Instance
• Text
• Shape—Icon varies depending on the shape. Learn more → 
• Image
• Auto layout—Icon varies depending on the auto layout configuration. Learn more → 
• Section
• Animated GIF or video

Figma nests any child objects within their parent group or frame. This allows you to collapse and expand layers within a group or Frame.

New layers will be added to the top of the list, or the top of the group or frame it is contained within. Or, just above the layer you currently have selected.

If your layers are inside a section, the section will always be the parent-level layer.

There are lots of interactions you can have

• Select layers, groups and frames
• Adjust the z-index with layer order
• Rename layers individually or in bulk
• Toggle layer visibility
• Lock and unlock layers

View components in the assets panel

Components are aspects of your designs that you can reuse. These could be buttons or icons, or more complex UI elements like navigation menus or status bars.

The Assets panel is where you can find all of your Components. You can drag any Component from the Assets panel into the canvas to create an Instance.

To open the Assets panel, click on the Assets heading in the Layers panel.

Or, use the keyboard shortcut:

• Mac: ⌥ Option 2
• Windows: Alt 2

Once you've opened the Assets panel, you can:

1. 1 Use the Search field to find a specific component. Figma looks for components in the current file, as well as any libraries you can access.

2. 2 Open the Library modal

3. 3 Switch between a Grid and List view of components

4. 4 Use the dropdown to filter between libraries

5. 5 View Local components that were created in the current file

6. 6 Explore any enabled libraries

Learn how to insert components from the assets panel →

Libraries

Libraries allow you to publish styles and components from your files as a library. You can then apply styles or create instances of your components across files. Get started with libraries →

To access your libraries from the Assets panel, click to open the Library modal.

Pages

Within a file, you can create as many pages as you need. Each page has its own canvas, where you can explore and iterate on your designs. You can even create separate prototypes on each page. Create and manage pages →