Figma Design files have four distinct interactive areas: a toolbar, two panels, 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 Navigation panel (left panel) which gives you access to layers and pages in your file. You can also use the left panel to view components created in the current file and access components from any libraries added to the file.

Open the Navigation panel

There are a two tabs in the Navigation panel: File and Assets. You can click to switch between each view in the panel, or use keyboard shortcuts:

Mac

• File tab: ⌥ Option 1
• Assets tab: ⌥ Option 2

Windows

• File tab: Alt 1
• Assets tab: Alt 2

Minimize or expand panels

To Minimize or Expand the left and right panels, click in the left panel, or using the keyboard shortcut Shift \.

If you select an object while the panels are minimized, the left panel remains minimized while the right panel expands so you can update the properties of the selected object. Once all objects are deselected, the right panel minimizes again.

Hide or show UI

Toggle visibility of the entire Figma UI to make more space to view designs. Find Hide/Show UI from Actions, or use the keyboard shortcut:

• Mac: ⌘ Command \
• Windows: Ctrl \

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 →

View layers

Any frames, groups, or objects you add to the canvas will be visible in the Layers section of the File tab. New layers are added to the top of the list, or to the top of the group, frame, or section it is contained within. Or, just above the layer you currently have selected.

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.

To collapse all expanded layers, click Collapse layers in the top right corner of the Layers panel. If you've already selected a layer when you collapse layers, all expanded layers collapse except for your selection.

There are many other ways to interact with layers:

• 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 tab

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.

You can find all of your components in the Assets tab. You can drag any component from the assets view onto the canvas to create an instance of the component.

To open the assets view, click the Assets tab in the left sidebar, or use the keyboard shortcut:

• Mac: ⌥ Option 2
• Windows: Alt 2

Once you've opened the assets view, you can:

• Open the Libraries modal.
• 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.
• Open Libraries and settings to filter through available libraries, and to switch between Grid and List views.
• Browse through All libraries that have been added to the file.

Learn how to insert components from the assets tab →

Libraries

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

To access your libraries from the assets view panel, click Libraries to open the libraries modal.