Add prototype connections from main components
Before you Start
Who can use this feature
Available on any plan
Anyone with can edit
access to a file or prototype can add prototype connections.
New to Prototyping? Check out our Getting Started with Prototyping guide.
When a design reuses a component across multiple screens, you can prototype at the speed of light.
If you add a prototype connection from a main component, and use instances of that component in your designs, the prototyping connections of the instances will be inherited from the main component.
Use inherited prototype connections to connect:
- A mobile app tab bar placed at the bottom of multiple screens
- An arrow button to navigate back to the previous screen
- A website footer or navigation menu
- Any component used for navigation that appears frequently throughout your design
Add connections from main components
To prototype with main components:
- Check that the main component is on the same page as the designs that contain the instances. Components from team libraries can't be prototyped this way.
- Use instance(s) of the component in your designs.
- Click the Prototype tab at the top of the right sidebar.
- Click and drag from the to create at least one connection from the main component.
In the example below, the mobile app design has a persistent navigation bar at the bottom of each screen. We can connect a tab in the main component to its destination screen, and all instances of the navigation bar inherit the same interaction. Without a main component, we would need to connect each tab of every navigation bar individually.
Note: Figma won't display the inherited connections on the canvas by default. Select the instance to view its inherited connections.