Before you Start

Who can use this feature

Available on all plans

Anyone with can edit access can enter recovery mode and reduce memory usage in a design file.

If you're working with large files or libraries in Figma, you may run into memory limitations. In this article, we'll outline some of the ways you can adapt your files so they work within these limitations.

• What is memory
• Explore memory usage alerts
• Reduce memory usage in files
• Access locked or crashed files

What is memory?

We use the general term “memory” throughout this article to explain and address the memory alerts you’ll see in Figma.

In this article, we’re referring to a specific type of memory: WASM memory (WebAssembly Memory). Figma uses WASM memory to render layers and objects on the canvas and deliver a collaborative multiplayer experience.

Every browser has its own active memory limit. This can differ across devices, but the general understanding is there's an active memory limit of 2GB per browser tab.

As Figma is built on browser-based technologies, these limitations apply even when you’re using Figma’s desktop applications.

Figma employs a few methods to try to ensure you do not run out of memory while working. For example, Figma loads pages and layers in a file only as needed to help keep memory usage as low as possible. However, as we explain later in the article, some situations can still lead to a file running out of memory.

Manage memory

Figma measures your memory usage as a percentage of available memory in your browser or device. Memory usage is only tracked for pages that have loaded in a file.

To view memory usage indicators for the contents of your file:

1. Select the Main menu and hover over View.
2. Select Memory usage. The memory usage will appear as a meter in your left sidebar.
3. Click Manage memory.
4. From the Manage memory modal, toggle Show memory in layers panel. This allows you to view how much memory your layers and components are using.

Memory usage alerts

To keep you informed of your memory usage, and any potential issues that may arise, Figma displays banners and alerts at certain thresholds:

Recovery mode

Recovery mode allows you to reduce memory usage and return your file to an editable state without losing your work.

Upon entering recovery mode, all pages of the file will load and the manage memory modal will open. Memory usage must be reduced to below 90% to exit recovery mode. 

Tips for reducing memory

There are a number of factors that contribute to memory. Unfortunately, there isn’t a specific number of layers, data, or resources you can look out for. This means we can’t give you a one-size-fits-all approach to reducing memory. If you’re experiencing high memory usage, use the following solutions to help troubleshoot the issue.

Hidden layers

Hidden layers are a big contributor to memory usage. This is because Figma needs to store and render information about those layers even when they're not visible.

Solutions

Large component or variant libraries

The number of components and variants can contribute to memory usage. You may still run into memory limits if you have only a few component sets, but they have thousands of variants.

Solutions

Large files with multiple images and pages

If you have a large file with a significant number of pages, or lots of high resolution images, you may experience performance or memory issues.

If this causes browser-level crashes, Figma won't display the memory usage banners. This is something to think about when working in files with a large number of high-resolution images.

Solutions

Large assets

Importing large amounts of text, images, or complex vectors with many points can also impact your memory usage. You may need to reduce the number or quality of assets you import, or reduce the size of the files you're importing:

• Break large files into smaller files.
• Compress high resolution images.
• Import complex SVGs in smaller parts.

Learn how to import files into Figma →

Access locked files

If your file reaches 100% of your memory limit, Figma will lock the file and inform you that there's no available memory. There are two things you can try:

• Restore the file to a version that uses less memory. If you aren’t able to access version history from the file, you can still perform this action in the file browser.
• If you see a white screen, your file may have crashed due to image memory. In this state, you won’t be able to access the file or the file’s version history. You can try open the file with images in thumbnail mode ↓.

Restore previous version

1. Open the project where the file is located.
2. Hold down the modifier keys and click on the file:
   • Mac: ⇧ Shift ⌃ Control ⌥ Option
   • Windows: Alt Shift
3. Select Restore from version.
4. Click Restore next to the appropriate version.

Open file in thumbnail only mode

You may be able to access the file again using thumbnail-only mode. This loads the file with low-resolution images.

To access thumbnail-only mode, add a ?thumbnails-only=1 query parameter (also known as a query string) to the end of the file URL.

• If the link doesn’t include existing parameters, the link ends with the file name. You can add a new ?thumbnails-only=1 query string to the end of the link. The final URL will look like this:

  https://figma.com/file/Xhi0lg09reehpFWk4f9NQh/file-name?thumbnails-only=1

• If the link already has parameters, like a ?node-id parameter, you need to add &thumbnails-only=1 instead. Use an & delimiter when adding more parameters to a query string. The final URL will look like this:

  http://figma.com/file/Xhi0lg09reehpFWk4f9NQh/file-name?node-id=211-2665&t=D5QnxlouJ9sKF1dM-0&thumbnails-only=1

You can now try any approaches to reduce memory usage ↑.