Layers panel of the left sidebar should open at default

TImes I have been working in a file and want the assets panel to show: 0
Times I have been frustrated that the assets panel is showing by default as it is a library but I want to access the layers panel: 1,923,328

OK OK, that is an exaggeration, but since I find the Assets panel confusing, poorly designed and not very useful, I never use it. I am always either copy/pasting components, or using things like ‘insert’. I NEVER want to see the Assets panel and I am constantly being annoyed I have to manually switch to the assets panel, many times a day.

I find it weird it defaults to that as well, cos when I am in a library I am working on the assets, not needing to pull them into the canvas. I also turn all my files that consume design system libraries into libraries themselves, cos I often make entire artboards into components so they can be duplicated elsewhere in the file and automatically update with changes to them, or place them into other files.

I also never use it and never had this issue. Try clearing your app cache or reinstalling it. I didn’t even know it could open assets as default.

Is the file you are working with a library? Cos it doesn’t do that unless you publish the file you are working on. I assume Figma decided this as they assumed a library needs that panel open by default? Which is a narrow minded view of how I use them.

Not a library. It seems like it’s more about the way it remembers the previous state is buggy.

I’ve cleared the cache, maybe that will fix it, thanks for the tip!

Often when I have restarted the app, or opened the file it would default to the assets panel for a library, I haven’t tested out if it always happens, just noticed it quite a lot. I’ve noticed it for years over multiple version upgrades/installs. Hopefully your tip fixes it! I didn’t know that feature existed.

Hmm, still showing the Assets panel all the time, despite me not once ever selecting it. Similar issue: Layers panel of the left sidebar should open at default

Heya, I have a similar issue, in files that are libraries the assets panel keeps being selected and shown by default despite me not ever once manually opening it. I never use it, and always want the layers panel to be shown. Is this expected behaviour?

Hey @Joe_Garlick ,
Thanks for reaching out to us! Can you share in details the steps you have done so we can try to replicate your issue?

The engineers confirm that the expected behavior is:

• when opening a brand new file, opens the assets panel by default
• on subsequent opens of any existing file, respect the users last Left panel state (either pages or assets depending on what they were last using)

(I’ve removed the previous message to avoid any confusion)

Thanks! The way I think about app UI in general and what happens on most other apps I use is that I expect the layers panel to be open by default on ALL Figma files I use once I have selected that panel. I also think the layers panel should be the default to open on all files, not the assets panel. It seems weird to me that UI has it ‘first’ as a tab, so that’s been decided to be a priority by the product designers, but that the second ‘assets’ tab is set to default to be open.

I expect this to be set at a global level, and that preference to apply to, at the very least, all files open inside one ‘window’ and ideally applied to all open files of the desktop app. I don’t expect this to be set at the file level. I am setting preferences for the app UI, not for a single file UI.

Not sure if this is what your engineers worked on but thank you very much for looking into it! Will report back if this is still an issue for me.

Hey @Joe_Garlick, thank you for confirming this! I’ve just forwarded your reply to the team internally. Please do report back, if you should still experience this issue!

Still doing it unfortunately. Just went to a file and faced the assets panel which I never use.

Hey @Joe_Garlick, thanks for getting back to us. I’ve just forwarded this internally to the teams. I’ll give you an update once I hear back from them.

Appreciate your patience in the meantime!

Hey @Joe_Garlick, the team needs more information.

Are you able to share the localstorage value for last-used-left-panel-tab immediately after you’re getting this unexpected behavior?

Also, can you let us know if this is happening in certain files or teams, and what % of the time it happens?

Apologies, I missed this. Can you please describe the steps to find this:

localstorage value for last-used-left-panel-tab

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The first thing Figma forces me and my whole team to do, when opening a design file (wether a published one for use as a library or a “simple” design file), is switching from the assets panel to the file panel to get to the right page in the file. It would be great, if the file panel would open per default or if there was a global setting for it so everybody could choose for themselves.

Hello, same here. Did you manage to fix this?

That’s a smart suggestion — having a global setting to show the Layers panel by default would save a ton of time, especially for people who constantly work with complex designs no found with that Party bus. It would prevent having to manually enable it every time, improving workflow consistency. For teams collaborating on large projects, this change could reduce confusion and streamline handoffs. Overall, it’s a small tweak that could make a big impact on productivity.