​@djv It seems we have a misunderstanding here… the problem is with the AND.
No one and no company is going to pay for a seat for PMs, QAs, stakeholders, etc., to read the annotations. It simply makes absolutely no sense!

That is what we need:

Anyone with a Full or a Dev seat OR at least can view access to a file should be able to view measurements and annotations. 

I love the new annotation feature. Few points of interest to flag from my experience with them.
 

• In full screen mode it would be nice if they persisted without having to tap on (y) so they can be used in conjunction with move tool (v).
• Upon copied a component an annotation is connected to, don’t copy annotiation
  • I use annotation when creating not just for dev handover and this becomes annoying very quickly
• It would be great if we also have an annotation tool for flow direction. A line to connect a button click to the next screen.
  • One that it’s as stringy as the prototype lines.  
• Choose if the annotation appears top, bottom, left, right of component it is attached to

Just adding another voice here. Annotations need to be viewed by any user with view access, regardless if it’s a paid seat. I use annotations to mark documentation and interactions that non-developers need to see as well (PMs, marketing, etc.). It’s ridiculous that this is locked behind a paywall. For shame, Figma

Do you have any news on it? We really miss this.

The fix outlined above does not actually fix the issue every person in this thread is highlighting. We want annotations to visible by users without paid seats (full and dev). Any user we give access to our file should be able to see the annotations. 

Indeed this is the exact issue. EVERYONE WITH VIEW access should be able to see the annotations.

Hello Figma team,

2 months passed and nothing new happened, do we need to stop using this feature ?

I mean, we paid or have been paid a licence to create annotations, great, but why asking people to pay for reading them ? the logic is that we will continue with the poorman’s comment sections and that’s all.

Are you still thinking about changing this or the case is closed ? Just to be sure.

Best

+1

Any updates on this? Agree with everyone here - annotations are only useful if they can be seen by the larger team. We just started using them, but if a change isn't made, we will need to stop using them. Thanks for your consideration. 

+1 for annotations viewable to all. We just started using them, and they have quickly become useless. Please allow everyone to see them. 

Also, please let the annotations be downloaded - we provided the figma file to a contractor, who has a full dev seat of their own Figma account and they cannot see the dev annotations either.  We only wanted them to focus on part of it (not have access to our entire project), which is why we downloaded it. But it is useless unless they are added to our project/environment with a full seat (which they already have/pay for elsewhere)?

Just adding to this, this still hasn’t been fixed.

I’m late to the game,  seems like this bug is still a bug

I used it for some time to do some handoff annotations and couldn’t believe when I realized it wasn’t visible to all users. All the annotation work is now disposable since part of the team can’t see it. Please change that. 

Better stick with plugins for now. 

I was thrilled that this feature, which appeared to be separate from Dev mode annotations (and is presented as a type of comment, no less), appeared recently. It solves many problems with marking up content for stakeholders and reviewers who only ever need to view designs.

The fact that annotations are ‘sticky’ and follow design elements around is a game-changer after using DIY and third-party markup tools, which create a confusing mess when used on evolving designs. 

So it’s hugely disappointing to find that this appears to be just a confusing variant of Dev mode annotations – and that they need a paid licence to view. We have hundreds of people who need to view designs on an occasional basis and there’s absolutely no chance (let alone a need) of them getting a paid licence.

If annotations are intended to be a paid-licence-only feature, then they’re useless – but hopefully this is just a bug that will be fixed imminently, as suggested above. 

+1 for allowing annotations to be visible for all 👹

Upvoting this, Annotations are great for anyone involved in a project, not solely internal designers or devs.

Adding here that annotations are not visible when embedding the frame/section either. They just disappear when viewed. Hoping when this is fixed for all those with view access that embeds will be fixed as well.

The labor cost is massive when manually crafting, positioning, and categorizing annotations because the built in annotations are locked to most users.

We can't justify Dev Mode licenses for every person who needs to see the necessary annotations attached to all our designs.

This is the biggest disappointment that Figma has shipped thus far.

+1 to this, this is super frustrating, I thought annotations are the same as comments - visible to anyone with View access…. 

+1 for all to view annotations. I thought the feature would be visible by free viewers too since it seemed like the move from Dev mode to Design mode would become similar to comments.

+♾️ to annotations being viewable. 

Hey Figma fam 👋 

I totally understand why you are trying to feature gate the Annotations, I’m sure it does forecast an opportunity to make Millions of dollars. (I’m having similar situations in my org too 😅)

BUT the real problem you’re actually solving is worth WAYYYYY more than the millions. And that is the “joy of collaboration in the team”. Whilst that sounds cheesy, it does have a direct impact on livelihood both psychologically and professionally.

Please, I urge you to consider NOT to restrict viewing to specific cohorts. It not only makes it hard to have conversations to improve design processes within teams, it also puts designers in a vulnerable position where there is a lot of burnout, and stress. 

TBH I really don’t mind paying extra for it, because heck yeah it’s a fkn amazing feature and kudos to the amazing people who have built that. Idk, maybe increase the overall charge for teams who can afford it? It’s just that when it’s feature gated to a specific kind of seat, the conversations are harder to have and teams lose interest quickly :( 

PS: This is my first post in the community. Nice to be here with y’all 🥳

Λbi 

Annotations are the perfect tool for collaborating between the seats of Figma… not another privledged tool for the few.

As noted by others, annotations are very useful as we’ve been using our own via custom built components previously, but as there are SIGNIFICANTLY more Viewers that need access to these than just designers and DEVS in a SaaS environment….

Naaaauuurrrrrr i just spent 20 minutes adding annotations, proudly share the link to my free-seat viewers. Please make this widely availableeeee

+1 to this request. Our team relies on Dev Mode annotations to capture key implementation details and design rationale, but limiting visibility to paid Dev Mode seats breaks the workflow:

• Designers, PMs and QA can’t see the notes, so context gets lost and we end up duplicating comments elsewhere.

• Review links shared with external stakeholders show “empty” screens, which creates confusion and slows sign-off.

• Switching roles just to read an annotation is friction the product shouldn’t impose.

Please make annotations visible (or at least toggle-able) for all collaborators so they can serve as a single source of truth across disciplines. This change would dramatically boost adoption of Dev Mode in larger product teams.