Skip to main content
GrandPM
New Member
June 8, 2023

Change default canvas stacking in auto layout

  • June 8, 2023
  • 70 replies
  • 7011 views

I am using auto layout a lot in my projects and think it is awesome. However, there is one small issue that annoys me a lot. The default setting for canvas stacking is always “Last on top”, which is usually not what I want. For instance when switching state of a dropdown in a layout, the dropdown list will appear below the content that is underneath it (at least in my case where the list is using absolute position). With lots of nested auto layouts, things quickly become a mess if you forgot to change this when you created the auto layout. I would suggest either of these solutions:

  • Change default to “First on top”.
  • Make the default setting optional
  • Remember the last used setting (like the animation properties work)

70 replies

Timothy_Gailey1
December 28, 2023

Really hoping to see this happen: I have to manually toggle “first on top” for any frame that I prototype with. It’s not the kind of thing that is easy to catch without testing every single frame/component either 😕

January 19, 2024

I need this feature as well! Biggest painpoint in my workflow today

mattaningram
New Participant
January 22, 2024

But in web dev it IS last on top by default unless you change the stacking order manually with positioning, transforms, z-index, etc. Figma is closer to web default.

mattaningram
New Participant
January 22, 2024

I think this should remain by default last-on-top and Figma instead should give us actual z-index functionality.

The way the real web works is last on top, I think it would be more confusing for developer handoff if Figma was the opposite of what they will see in HTML.

KennLucas
February 20, 2024

Over a year an a gazillion people voting this up. Figma continues to ignore good user experience and ignore its users’ needs.

Colin5
New Member
February 23, 2024

This is definitely a minor, but time consuming pain point that I hope Figma will fix. Easy to create a setting for the default.

Andy33
New Participant
February 26, 2024

I agree here as well, would save a lot of issues

Oleh_Shydlovskyi
New Participant
February 27, 2024

+1 on this, super annoying

Darius_Vitkunas
New Member
March 7, 2024

+1, very annoying also. While working in Figma it seems all good up until the point you’re previewing the prototype - open a dropdown component somewhere - and then remember that you need to go back and set canvas stacking to first on top. This would save so much time daily.

Amy_Jennings
March 14, 2024

As someone who is just learning to use Figma, the fact that the default isnt first on top has been a significant hinderance to learning to use Figma, and caused a lot of frustration for me over the last week or so. At a minimum, we need some kind of way to change the setting for everything, or all of the parts of a whole.