Explore auto layout properties

 

Before you start

Who can use this feature

Available on all plans

Anyone with can edit access to a file can add auto layout to frames

Already familiar with auto layout properties? Learn how use auto layout.

Auto layout lets you create designs that automatically adjust as you make changes, saving you time and making your designs responsive and adaptable.

You can apply auto layout to frames to turn them into flexible containers that allow you to organize design elements, adjust the spacing between them, and quickly insert new content into existing designs. Once applied, you can use the properties in the Auto layout section of the right sidebar to determine how the frame and its child layers interact with one another.

Try it out

New to auto layout? Play around with the different auto layout properties in the interactive sandbox below to see how they work. Just keep in mind that this demo is a simplified version and doesn’t fully replicate how auto layout works in Figma Design.

What did you think of this demo? Let us know by rating this article at the bottom of the page.

More ways to learn:

• Figma tutorial playlist: Learn to create flexible designs and components
  This playlist includes video tutorials that cover the basics of auto layout, how to apply auto layout to designs, and hands-on tutorials for more practice.
• Community file: Auto layout playground
  Grab a copy of the auto layout playground file to practice while you learn.

Layout flow

Direction

Direction describes the way the auto layout frame will flow.

• Vertical: Add, remove, and reorder objects along the y-axis. For example: objects within a list, or posts within a newsfeed or timeline.
• Horizontal: Add, remove, and reorder objects along the x-axis. For example: a row of buttons, or icons in a mobile navigation menu.
• Wrap: Arrange objects in multiple rows and columns in a frame. Objects will flow horizontally and wrap to the next line. For example: photo galleries or a set of tags.

Canvas stacking order

When multiple layers have negative spacing creating a stack, the last object (either the right-most or bottom-most object) in the stack will be on top by default.

You can change the visual order of the stack as seen on the canvas.

With the auto layout frame selected, click from the right panel to open auto layout settings. Next to canvas stacking, select:

• First on top: the first layer in the stack will be on top
• Last on top: the last layer in the stack will be on top

Ignore auto layout

An object with Ignore auto layout enabled is excluded from an auto layout flow while keeping it in the auto layout frame. The object and its surrounding siblings ignore each other, even as they resize and move.

Much like absolute position in CSS, an object that ignores auto layout can be placed precisely where you want relative to its parent container.

Objects with ignore auto layout enabled are treated as objects in a regular frame. This means you can apply constraints to determine how they respond when its parent auto layout frame resizes. Other auto layout settings, such as resizing and layout options, aren’t available to these objects.

You can have an object ignore the auto layout flow by doing one of the following:

• Select a child of an auto layout frame, and click in the right panel
• Drag an object into an auto layout frame while pressing ⌃ Control .

Spacing

Gap between items

Use gap between items to set the distance, or distribution, between objects in an auto layout frame.

Gap between items has two different settings:

• Auto: Set the gap between objects to be the largest distance possible. Type Auto in the field or select it from the dropdown menu.
• A specified gap: Specify how far apart you want objects to be. Enter a value into the field, nudge the values using your arrow keys, or scrub the field using your cursor.

To quickly toggle between these two settings, click the alignment box and press X.

If the auto layout frame's direction is set to vertical or horizontal, you'll be able to set gap between items vertically or horizontally, respectively. If you have the frame's direction set to wrap, then you'll be able to set both horizontal and vertical gap between items.

Padding

Padding controls the empty or white space between the boundary of an auto layout frame and the frame’s child objects. You can set padding uniformly, vertically and horizontally, or have different values for top, right, bottom, and left padding.

Adjust the padding using canvas controls or spacing fields in the right panel.

To access canvas controls, select an auto layout frame and hover over it. Pink handles will appear, similar to those in smart selection.

• Click handles to open input fields and enter a numeric value
• Or, click and drag the handle to change the spacing

Padding controls in the right panel are separated into vertical (top and bottom) and horizontal (left and right) padding by default.

• To set individual padding, click to use top, right, bottom, and left padding fields.
• To set uniform padding or to use CSS shorthand, hold ⌘ Command or Control and click into any padding field. You can also type CSS shorthand. For example, entering 1,2,3,4 sets the top, right, bottom, and left to 1, 2, 3, and 4 respectively. Entering 1,2 sets the values to top/bottom: 1 and left/right: 2.

Strokes in layout

By default, strokes aren’t accounted for when calculating the size of objects, and thus don’t affect their parent frame or surrounding siblings.

This may not be ideal during developer handoff, as it doesn’t accurately represent how CSS renders borders.

Choose whether strokes will take up space in an auto layout frame by going to the auto layout settings, and using the dropdown next to stroke to select included in layout or excluded from layout.

Alignment

Set alignment on child objects

Choose how to align child objects within an auto layout frame. Both the direction of the auto layout frame and the distribution, or gap between items, will determine what alignment options you have available.

Unlike objects in a regular frame, you can't control the alignment of the objects individually. For that reason, you set the alignment of the child objects on the parent auto layout frame.

Use the alignment box in the right panel to select from nine layout options for the children in a frame.

• Select the box and use arrow keys to switch between the different alignment settings. 
• Select the box and press W/A/S/D to set alignment to the edge of the frame.

If gap between items is set to Auto, you have three options for each direction:

• Vertical auto layout: Left, Center, Right
• Horizontal auto layout: Top, Center, Bottom

If gap between items is set to a specific number, you have the same nine options for each direction:

• Top left
• Top center
• Top right
• Left
• Center
• Right
• Bottom left
• Bottom center
• Bottom right

Text baseline alignment

A baseline is the invisible line in which text or a layer sits. In typography, descenders will extend beneath this line.

In some cases, aligning the baselines of layers can create more balance—such as when aligning baselines of text layers with varying font sizes, or when aligning an icon with a text layer.

To align layers by their baselines, select the layers you want to align, and click from the right panel to open auto layout settings. Next to text baseline alignment, click to enable baseline alignment.

Resizing

One of the most powerful functions of auto layout is its ability to control the dimensions of the objects in an Auto layout frame.

Set resizing behavior for parent auto layout frames to adapt to any changes made to their children objects. Resizing settings can be applied for objects on both the X and Y axes individually using the dropdown menus in the right panel.

When you hover over a resizing option from the dropdown, lines appear on the canvas to indicate how the bounding box of the design will resize and change.

Fixed width or height

When an auto layout frame is set to Fixed width or height, the values of the frame's dimensions remain the same regardless of the content within them. The size of the frame doesn't respond to changes in the objects within them, like a string of text that changes in length.

Minimum and maximum dimensions

You can set minimum or maximum width and height to any auto layout frame and its children.

• Open the Width dropdown to find Add min width and Add max width
• Open the Height dropdown to find Add min height and Add max height

Select an option from the Width or Height dropdown menu. From the new field that appears, enter a value or use the dropdown to apply a number variable.

If an object contains a min or max setting, its respective width or height icon will gain two lines, one on each side. You can hover over these icons to preview the dimension limits on canvas.

When you deselect and reselect an object, its min and max dimension fields will be hidden from the right panel. To access them again, click on the width or height icon.

To remove a min or max setting, open the Width or Height dropdown and choose Remove min and max.

Hug content

Set an auto layout frame to Hug content to resize itself according to its child objects. The frame will keep the smallest possible dimensions to surround the objects within it, while respecting the padding value.

Fill container

Objects in an auto layout frame set to Fill container stretch to the width and/or height of their parent frame.

Child objects of an auto layout frame will also be set to Fill container if they are manually resized to the full width of the parent frame.

A note on constraints

You can't apply constraints to child objects in an auto layout frame, unless the object ignores the auto layout flow. Instead, you can use the resizing property to define how objects respond as the frame, or the objects in the frame, resize.

You can still apply constraints to the auto layout frame itself if it's nested within a regular frame. The Constraints section and resizing options will appear, allowing you to set both the constraints for the Auto layout frame and the resizing behavior for any objects within it.

For example: If you created a set of tags using auto layout, you may want it to adjust to different screen sizes. You can use constraints to make sure the navigation bar responds correctly when its parent frame is resized, and resizing to control how the objects within the navigation bar respond to those changes.

Learn more about constraints →

Keyboard shortcut guide

Basic shortcuts

Action	Mac	Windows
Add auto layout	⇧ Shift A	⇧ Shift A
Suggest auto layout	Ctrl ⇧ Shift A	Ctrl Alt ⇧ Shift A
Remove auto layout	⌥ Option ⇧ Shift A	Alt ⇧ Shift A
Edit padding on all sides (from right panel)	⌘ Command + Click padding input field	Ctrl + Click padding input field

From the alignment box

Click the alignment box in the right panel and press the following keys to:

Action	Mac and Windows
Set alignment	↓ / → / ← / ↑
Set alignment to edge	W / A / S / D
Toggle baseline alignment	B
Toggle gap between	X

From the canvas

Use these keyboard shortcuts while dragging on-canvas handles to:

Action	Mac	Windows
Set padding on opposite sides	⌥ Option	Alt
Set padding on all sides	⌥ Option⇧ Shift	Alt⇧ Shift
Set padding or spacing with big nudge	⇧ Shift	⇧ Shift

Use these keyboard shortcuts and click specific areas in an auto layout frame to: 

Action	Mac	Windows
Input padding value on opposite sides	⌥ Option + Click padding area	Alt + Click padding area
Input padding value on all sides	⌥ Option⇧ Shift + Click padding area	Alt⇧ Shift + Click padding area
Set hug contents	Double-click vertical or horizontal edge	Double-click vertical or horizontal edge
Set fill container	⌥ Option + Double-click vertical or horizontal edge	Alt + Double-click vertical or horizontal edge