Figma has two products: Figma design and FigJam. Everyone on a paid plan (Professional, Organization, or Enterprise) will have a role on each product.
A person's role determines their billing status; if they’re included in your billing. It also controls what activities they can do in design or FigJam files. There are three roles: viewer, viewer-restricted, and editor.
On an organization plan (Organization and Enterprise), a person’s team, project, and file permissions also affect their access.
Who can manage roles
Only admins can manage roles for other members and guests.
Professional plan: team admins can manage roles and permissions.
Organization plan: only organization admins can manage roles. Team admins manage team-level permissions.
Enterprise plan: organization admins can manage roles for anyone in the organization. Workspace admins manage roles for people in workspaces they manage. Team admins manage team-level permissions.
Note: On the Enterprise plan, organization admins can choose the default role for each product. Otherwise, anyone new to a team on the Professional plan or an organization, has an introductory viewer role.
Types of roles
Viewer
Viewer is an introductory role that removes barriers to collaboration for new members and guests. Figma doesn't include viewers in the organization's billing.
Viewers can upgrade themselves to a paid editor role by performing an upgrade action. Admins don't need to approve these upgrades.
This allows people to get the access they need without requiring approval. Figma only includes them in the organization’s billing when they signal their intent and take an explicit edit action.
Note: To restrict a member or guest's access, organization or license admins can downgrade them to a viewer-restricted role. They can do this at any time in the billing process, including during the true-up period.
Viewer-restricted
Viewer-restricted members and guests can only take some actions within an organization. Figma doesn't include anyone with a viewer-restricted role in the organization's billing.
Admins have explicit control over if and when they get an editor seat. People with viewer-restricted roles can’t upgrade themselves to an editor role.
Caution: Downgrading a member or guest to viewer-restricted won't remove their edit permissions on teams, files, or projects. While they won't be able to edit files, they can still perform other file and project-level actions. Team permissions →
Editor
Editors are billable members and guests that have edit access to at least one team, file, or project. Despite their billing status, editors don't have edit access to the entire organization, just the resources they have can edit permissions on.
Figma includes anyone with an editor role in the organization's billing. Both members and guests can have editor roles.
Admins can review and manage roles of any editors. They can also downgrade roles before confirming or finalizing billing.
Viewer versus viewer-restricted?
When you add people to a team or organization, Figma gives them an introductory viewer role. Viewers can upgrade themselves to an editor role by performing an upgrade action.
People with a Viewer-restricted role have explicitly restricted access. Viewer-restricted users need to request an upgrade, which can be approved by an admin.
Activities
Some activities are restricted to specific roles. We’ve broken these down into general activities, and activities in Figma design and FigJam files.
Note: Editors can choose whether to allow viewers to copy, share, or export from a file. This is set for each file individually. If you're a viewer or viewer-restricted member and can't copy from a file, it usually means this setting has been disabled.
Only people with explicit edit access to the file can add or reset a password. This includes the file owner and anyone in the share modal with can edit access.
Every FigJam file, Figma design file, and prototype has a unique link. You can use these links to share your files and prototypes with collaborators.
There are some situations where you want to share a file publicly, but only want specific people to be able to access it.
Share sensitive or private information within a team or organization
Share client work in a simple and secure way
Give external collaborators a safe way to access resources
Password protection makes sure only people with the password can access the file. Password don't apply to people with existing permissions on the file, project, or team.
You can add a password using the file’s link sharing settings. Link sharing controls what access people without existing permissions get when they open a file.
Things to note
For design files, the password applies to both the file and any prototypes in that file.
For files with branches, the password only applies to the main file. This is because only people with access to the main file can access branches. If you add a password to the main file, the link sharing setting for any branches is set to Only people invited to branch. Share a branch →
You can’t set a password on a file that’s shared in the Figma Community. Anyone with the link and password won’t be available as a setting in published files.
On the Enterprise plan, organization admins can require passwords for all public links. Manage public link sharing →
Open the file and click Share in the toolbar.
Update the audience setting to Anyone with a link and password.
Enter a password in the Choose password field. There are no requirements for password length or character types.
Click Save to apply. Figma will show when the password was set and who it was set by.
You can then update the file permissions for anyone who accesses it using the link and password. Choose from can edit, can view, or can view prototypes only.
Figma will update the file access and reload the file. To access the file again, people will now need to enter the password.
Select Copy link from the share modal to copy the file link to your clipboard.
Figma will show a generic thumbnail and icon for password-protected files. This applies to files in the file browser, as well as link previews in other tools, like Slack.
FigJam files: FigJam’s dot background
Figma design files: Default background gray
Prototypes: Black background
Open password-protected files
When someone opens a password-protected file, Figma checks to see if they already have access to the file.
If the have a role on the file, or access via the team or project, they won't need to enter the password. They can access the file based on their existing permissions.
If they don’t already have access, Figma will show the Password required screen. They won’t be able to see the file’s contents until they enter the password.
Select to toggle password visibility.
Enter the password in the field provided and select Continue.
If the password is correct, Figma will load the file or prototype. If the password is incorrect, you’ll see an error message.
You can now access the file based on the link sharing settings.
The file will stay unlocked for the next day or so. Figma will prompt you to re-enter the password:
After 22 hours has passed
If the password is reset
You access the file from another browser
You clear your cookies
You access the file in a private or incognito window
View password
It’s not possible to view a password once it has been set. We recommend reaching out to the person who set the password to confirm. You can see who last set the password on the file’s share modal.
Forgotten the password, or want to change it to something else? You can reset the password for each file. You need an edit role on the file to reset the password.
If you change the file’s password, Figma will reload the file for anyone without an explicit role on the file. Anyone with the file open will need to enter the new password to access the file.
From the file, select Share in the toolbar.
Under Anyone with the link and password, you’ll see when the password was last set. Select Reset to change the password.
Figma reloads the file for anyone without an explicit role on the file. To continue to view or edit the file, anyone without a role will need to enter the new password.
Remove password
To remove password protection, you need to update the file’s link sharing settings. You can do this from the Share modal.
If you’re in the file browser, you can right-click on the file and select Share. Otherwise, you can select Share from the toolbar in the file.
Update the audience to another setting:
To make the file public, select Anyone with the link.
To restrict access to your organization only, choose from Anyone in organization, or Anyone in the organization with the link. (Organization and Enterprise plan only)
To remove access for everyone, except those invited to the file, select Only people invited to the file.
Figma will update the file access and reload the file for anyone with it open.
You can invite someone to an organization, team, project, file, or prototype. You'll need to know the person's email address to invite them to the resource.
Figma will notify them of the invitation via email, and in their Figma notifications, if they already have a Figma account. They will need to accept that invitation to get access to any related resources.
Organization
Organization admins will define what domains are associated with their business as part of the set up process. Organizations can have more than one domain, including subdomains.
If domain capture is off, you can invite people to the entire organization:
If they have a company email, Figma considers them a member. This gives them access to the open and closed teams in the organization, as well as other organization-wide resources.
If they have an external email to an organization, Figma considers them a guest. They can only view and access the teams, projects, or files to which you invite them.
If domain capture is on, you can only invite members and guests to teams, projects, or files in the organization. Members can join and access the rest of the organization by accepting one of those invitations.
When you invite someone to a team, you give them access to the files and projects in that team. You can choose what permissions they have when you invite them, or adjust their access as needed. People inherit access to the team's files and projects based on their team permissions.
When you invite someone to a project you're giving them explicit access to that project. If they aren't a member of that team, they'll only be able to access the files in that specific project.
Files and prototypes
Files and prototypes use the same share modal and settings. When you invite someone to a specific file, they also get access to any prototypes (Figma design files only).
On Figma's paid plans, you can access extra settings:
Invite someone to a prototype without giving them access to the file itself.
Choose whether anyone with can view access can copy, share, or export assets from files.
The fastest way to share resources with others is to send them the link.
Team
Team join links let existing team members invite other collaborators to your team via a dedicated link. Like team invites, you can invite collaborators with can view and can edit permissions.
Once someone clicks the link, Figma will add them to the team. People who are logged into Figma under multiple accounts can choose which account they want to join the team on.
Team admins can reset invite links or turn off invite links to expire existing links that haven't been redeemed.
Project
You can only access the project via link if you are a member of the team or if you have been invited to the project itself.
Copy the link to a team project to quickly share it with a team member. To share projects with an external collaborator, you'll need to invite them to the project instead.
Files
Share a Figjam or Figma design file link with someone. If they have access to the team, project, or file already, they can interact with the file based on those permissions. If they don't, the file’s link sharing settings will determine what level of access they can get.
A file's link sharing settings control what access anyone who joins the file via a link has. Your team or plan type will determine what options are available.
If you are on the Professional, Organization, or Enterprise plan people with view only access can request to edit the file. Anyone with can edit and owner access to files can approve requests. Request to edit files →
Prototypes
A Figma design file and prototype use the same share modal and settings.
On paid plans, you can set link sharing setting to Can view prototypes only to allow anyone opening the prototype link to access the prototype only and not the file.
Embed a resource outside of Figma
Caution: It’s not possible to add embeds within desktop applications, you can only add embeds in browser-based applications.
Embed a file or prototype in a website or external application to bring your designs and prototypes to your team.
Add style and component libraries in your design system documentation
Include detailed feature designs and explorations in a PRD, spec document, or user story
You can control access to Figma resources with account types, roles, and permissions.
It's possible for a person to have different permissions at a team, project, and file level. This can make it hard to tell what someone's access to an individual resource is.
As a general rule, Figma honors explicit permissions over inherited permissions.
If you invite someone to a team, their permissions on team projects and files are inherited from their team permissions.
If you invite someone to a specific resource — like a file or project — you are giving them explicit permissions on that resource.
For example: Vanessa invites James to the Product design team with can view permissions. Vanessa wants James to edit a specific file in a team project, so she invites James to that file with can edit access.
Normally, James' access to team files would be inherited from his can view team permissions. Now that James has explicit edit access to that file, Figma ignores his inherited team permissions.
James can edit that specific file, but no other team files.
Your permissions will depend on the team or organization plan you're on. Select the tab for your plan below to explore available permissions.
In teams on the Starter plan, a person’s team permissions determine their access to team files and projects. All teams have the same permissions: can view, can edit, admin, and one owner. Team permissions →
Projects
Every project has a “team access” setting. In Starter and Education teams, team access is Can edit. Team members can then access team projects based on their team permissions.
Files and prototypes
Team members inherit access to a team’s FigJam and Figma design files based on their team permissions. You can also invite external collaborators (or team members) to individual.
There are two permissions when inviting to a team file: can view and can edit.
Outside of team or explicit access to a file, file’s also have link sharing settings. Share links to files and set default permissions for anyone who accesses a file this way.
There are two aspects of link sharing: access and permissions.
Access
Can edit
Can view
Can view prototypes only
Anyone with the link
✓
✓
✕
Only people invited to the file
Access based on user's permissions
Drafts
If someone only has teams on the Starter plan, they can only invite collaborators to drafts with Can view access.
If someone only has access to at least one team on the Education or Professional plan, they can invite people to drafts with either can view or can edit permissions.
For teams on the Education plan, a person’s team permissions determine their access to team files and projects. All teams have the same permissions: can view, can edit, admin, and one team owner.
Note: In teams on the Education plan, admins (and owners) have edit access to the team. It's not possible to give admins view only access.
Projects
Every project has a team access setting. In teams on the Education plan, team access is always set to Can edit. Team members can then access projects based on their team permissions.
Files and prototypes
Team members inherit access to a team’s FigJam and Figma design files based on their team permissions. You can also invite external collaborators (or team members) to individual.
There are two permissions when inviting to a team file: can view and can edit.
Outside of team or explicit access to a file, file’s also have link sharing settings. Share links to files and set default permissions for anyone who accesses a file this way.
There are two aspects of link sharing: access and permissions.
Access
Can edit
Can view
Can view prototypes only
Anyone with the link
✕
✓
✕
Only people invited to the file
Access based on user's permissions
Drafts
On the Education plan, people can invite collaborators to their drafts with either can view or can edit permissions.
In a Professional team, team permissions determine what team-level actions a member can take. All teams have the same team permissions: can view, can edit, admin, and one team owner.
Whether someone can edit a FigJam or Figma design files depends on their role on that product. Roles are set at a team-level, there are three roles in a Professional team: viewer, viewer-restricted, and editor.
Projects
Every project has a team access setting. Professional teams can adjust a project's team access setting. This allows you to create both view-only or invite-only projects.
Team admins or members with can edit permissions can update a project’s team access:
Can view: Only the project creator or owner can edit a view-only project. Team members can only view files in this project, even if they have can edit permissions on the team. The project owner can allow team members and external collaborators to edit the project by inviting them to the project with can edit permissions.
Can edit: The default permission for team projects. Members can access projects based on their team-level permissions and their FigJam or Figma design role.
Invite-only: team members don't have access to private projects. Team members can only access invite-only projects if they are invited to them. This is perfect for projects which need a smaller group of collaborators, or for confidential products or features. For example: a subset of team members that build and maintain the team's design system.
Files
Team members inherit access to a team’s FigJam and Figma design files based on their team permissions. You can also invite external collaborators (or team members) to individual.
There are three permissions when inviting to a team file:
Can view
Can edit
Can view prototypes only
Whether someone can edit a FigJam or Figma design files depends on their role on that product. Outside of team or explicit access to a file, file’s also have link sharing settings.
Link sharing is a great way to get your designs in front of other collaborators. You can set default permissions for anyone who accesses a file this way.
There are two aspects of link sharing: access and permissions. In a Professional team, you have the following link sharing settings:
Access
Can edit
Can view
Can view prototypes
Anyone with the link
✕
✓
✓
Only people invited to the file
Access based on user's permissions
Prototypes
In teams on the Professional plan, you can invite someone to just the prototype. A Figma design file and its prototype use the same share modal.
When you open the share modal from presentation view, Figma will default the invitation to Can view prototypes only. This allows anyone with that link to view all prototypes on that page.
Drafts
If someone only has access to at least one team on the Education or Professional plan, they can invite people to their drafts with either can view or can edit permissions.
There are multiple levels of roles and permissions in an organization.
Organization
Account types are specific to the Organization plan. A person’s account type determines what organization resources and settings they can access. There are three account types: member, guest, and admin.
Figma has two products: Figma design and FigJam. They are priced separately, but billed together on the organization’s subscription. Every person in the organization will have a FigJam role and Figma design role.
Their role determines whether they can edit that file type or not. There are three roles on the Organization plan: viewer, viewer-restricted, and editor.
Organization members can join multiple teams in the organization. To control what access each member has to the team, there are also team permissions. Team permissions are the same across all team types: can view, can edit, admin, and one owner.
Team permissions only determine what team-level actions a member can take. Whether someone can edit a FigJam or Figma design files depends on their role on that product, which is set at the organization-level.
Teams in an organization have an Org access setting. This controls how members of the organization can find and join the team. There are three access levels:
Open: members join open teams with can view permissions. Members can also be invited to any time with either can view or can edit access.
Closed: members can request to join closed teams with either can view or can edit access. A team admin can accept or reject their request.
Secret: members can only be invited to secret teams. Members and guests can be invited with either can view or can edit access.
Every project has a team access setting. Teams in an organization can set permissions at a project level to create both view-only or invite-only projects.
Team admins or members with can edit permissions can update a project’s team access:
Can view: Only the project creator or owner can edit a view-only project. Team members can only view files in this project, even if they have can edit permissions on the team. The project owner can allow team members and external collaborators to edit the project by inviting them to the project with can edit permissions.
Can edit: The default permission for team projects. Members can access projects based on their team-level permissions and their FigJam or Figma design role.
Invite-only: team members don't have access to private projects. Team members can only access invite-only projects if they are invited to them. This is perfect for projects which need a smaller group of collaborators, or for confidential products or features. For example: a subset of team members that build and maintain the team's design system.
Files
Team members inherit access to a team’s FigJam and Figma design files based on their team permissions. You can also invite external collaborators (or team and organization members) to individual files.
There are three permissions when inviting to files:
Can view
Can edit
Can view prototypes only
Outside of team or explicit access to a file, file’s also have link sharing settings. This allows you to quickly share links to files and set default permissions for anyone who accesses a file this way.
There are two aspects of link sharing: access and permissions. Files in an organization have extra link sharing options, to make it easier to find and access organization resources.
Whether someone can edit a FigJam or Figma design files depends on their role on that product.
Access
Can edit
Can view
Can view prototypes only
Anyone with the link
✕
✓
✓
Anyone at organization with the link
✓
✓
✓
Anyone at organization
✓
✓
✓
Only people invited to the file
Access based on user's permissions
There is also a dedicated setting for prototypes on the share modal, which you can view from the Figma design file and the prototype(s):
Can view prototypes only
Cannot access
Link sharing is a great way to get your designs in front of other collaborators. By default, anyone with can view access to the file will be able to copy and share the file and its contents.
In an Organization, you can decide if anyone with can view access can copy, share, or export from the file. This includes people who were added to the file via link sharing.
If you choose to restrict this access, people with can view access will no longer be able to:
Copy frames, layers, or text from the canvas
Duplicate the file to their account
Export any assets from the file
Save a local copy of the file (as a .fig or .jam file)
Prototypes
A Figma design file and its prototype use the same share modal. In an organization, you can invite someone to just the prototype.
When you open the share modal from presentation view, Figma will default the invitation to Can view prototypes only. This allows anyone with that link to view all prototypes on that page.
There is also a dedicated setting for prototypes on the share modal, which you can view from the Figma design file and the prototype(s):
Can view prototypes only
Cannot access
Drafts
A member's role will determine whether they can share or invite people to their drafts. Sharing a file from your drafts is considered an upgrade action in an organization. Organization members can invite people to drafts with can view or can edit permissions.
Note: Drafts are owned by the organization. When a member leaves, the organization will claim ownership of any drafts.
Every member of a team has permissions that control their default access to the team. A person’s permissions on individual files and projects are then inherited from their team permissions.
You set a person’s permissions when you first invite them to the team. Team admins can make changes to a person’s team permissions at any time. Manage permissions in teams →
Can view
People with view access can still access everything in the team. They can explore projects and view any FigJam or design files.
While they can’t make changes to team files or projects, people with view access can still experience collaboration in Figma.
Explore design files and pages with read-only access
Select layers, inspect and copy properties, and export assets from design files
Join FigJam boards and express themselves with emotes
Use cursor chat to talk to collaborators
Add and reply to comments
Follow collaborators
Join audio calls
View and interact with prototypes in presentation view
Present slides and presentations
Anyone with view access can invite others to the team, or individual files and projects within the team. They can invite others, but only with can view access.
Note: If you don’t want people to copy anything from the file, there is a setting for that! Prevent anyone with can view permissions from being able to copy, save, or export assets within a file. Restrict sharing →
Can edit
Members with edit access can view and edit files and projects within that team. This allows them to perform file-level actions, as well as make changes to a file’s contents.
Invite other people to the team with either can edit or can view access. They can even invite people to individual files and projects within the team.
Adjust the access of other members and external collaborators.
Publish styles and components to the team's libraries.
Edit access doesn't allow members to manage team-wide settings, like default libraries. Or billing-related tasks for teams on the Professional plan. Only team admins can do these tasks.
Team admins
Admins are team members that have extra administrative right within the team. This allows them to manage any team settings, including any shared libraries. Guide to team management →
Note: On the Professional plan, team admins also manage the team's subscription. They are the only people in the team that can manage the Figma design and FigJam roles for people that interact with the team
Owners
Every team, project, or file has an owner. There is only one owner for every resource. Usually, the owner is the person that created the resource.
Existing owners can transfer ownership of a team (or resource in a team) to another team member or collaborator. When transferring the team, the new owner must be a member of the team.
Permissions
The impact of team permissions on a person's overall access depends on your plan. Select your plan to explore what each permission allows you to do.
On the Starter and Education plans, a person’s team permissions determine their access to design and FigJam files. They also control what team tasks they can perform outside of files.
General
Permissions table with a list of general team tasks. Icons indicate if someone with that permission can ✓ or can't ✕ perform that task.
On Figma’s paid plans, a person’s design and FigJam roles and not their team permissions—determine if they can edit FigJam or design files. This applies on Professional, Organization, and Enterprise plans.
A person's team permissions only apply to tasks in teams that take place outside of FigJam and design files.
Note: Removing a collaborator's can edit permissions on teams, files, or projects doesn’t change their role. Team admins need to downgrade a collaborators role to viewer-restricted to remove them from the team's billing.
On paid plans, it’s possible to create private or view-only projects. This means that a person’s team permissions don’t always reflect what they can access.
A person can have different permissions at a team, project, and file level.
Let’s explore this with an example: Vanessa creates a view-only project in the Growth team for a new project. Praveer has can edit access to the team, but can only view the files in this project. Vanessa wants Praveer to be able to join their group brainstorm, so she gives him explicit can edit access to the FigJam file for the brainstorm. Praveer can join and edit the FigJam file as long as he has an editor role.
Generally, Figma honors explicit permissions over inherited permissions. We can see this play out in our example above. The explicit project permissions (can view) override Praveer’s team permissions (can edit). Then Praveer’s explicit permissions on the file (can edit) override the permisisons inherited from the project (can view).
Permissions table with a list of common actions and tasks in Figma. Icons indicate if someone with that permission can ✓ or can't ✕ perform that task.
Everyone in an organization has an account type. A person's account type determines what they can access within the organization.
This includes organization-wide resources, like teams, libraries, plugins, and widgets. It also includes features and functionality, like branching, library analytics, and shared fonts.
There are two main account types we’ll explore in this article: members and guests.
Note: Another type of account in Figma is an admin. Admins are members with extra administrative rights within the team or organization. Admins in Figma →
Members
Members are people in the organization that have an email address that matches any of the organization's domains.
Twigma has the twigma.com and dev.twigma.com domains registered to their organization. Anyone that joins the organization with a Twigma email address, for example: name@twigma.com or name@dev.twigma.com, is a member.
Members can access teams, libraries, and other resources shared within the organization.
View and explore open and closed organization teams
Join open teams or request to join closed teams
View activity for other members and guests
Access styles and components from organization-wide libraries
View library analytics (for libraries they can access)
Guest refers to anyone in the organization that doesn't have a company email. They are external users with email addresses that don't match any of the organization's domains. They could be contractors, agencies, clients, or external collaborators.
Twigma has the twigma.com domain registered to their organization. They work with an agency called DsgnSystm who they invite to a specific team in the organization. Collaborators from the agency have dsgnsystm.com emails, not twigma.com emails, so they are guests. They can't access any teams or resources outside the team they’re invited to.
Guests have limited access to the organization. They can only access the resources you invite them to. They can't browse organization teams or access shared resources like fonts, plugins, or library analytics.
Admins on the Professional plan: By default, admins have can edit access to team files and projects. This means they're included in your team's billing. If you want to give someone admin access to the team, without being able to edit files and projects, you can change their role to viewer-restricted.
Workspace admins
Supported on: Enterprise plan only
Workspaces are groups of teams, people, and resources within an organization. They add another layer of structure within large organizations.
Organization admins are members of an organization with extra administrative rights. They view and manage a whole host of administrative aspects of an organization.
This includes login and provisioning, access and security; libraries, fonts, and other resources; billing and more.
Organization teams support team permissions. This allows you to control how people in the organization can find and interact with individual teams.
While organization admins can manage organization-wide settings, they don’t have admin privileges on individual teams. Only team admins can manage resources in individual teams.
Manage organization domains
Adjust login and provisioning settings, including SAML SSO and SCIM
Manage Figma design and FigJam roles for members and guests
Remove people from the organization
View all open, closed, and secret teams
View and export organization activity
Control access to products and features
Control guest access and default roles (Enterprise plan only)
Manage organization-wide resources, including libraries, fonts, plugins, and widgets
