I think this annotation feature is great, but the documentation isn’t well written. It gives the impression that users with view-only access can see annotations, which is not the case. It would also be very useful to extend this feature to viewers such as PMs or clients, so I can easily show them how a button or function is supposed to work.
Show annotations to users with view access
Hi guys
The reason it catches teams out is that annotations *feel* like they should behave the way comments do, so nobody checks until review day.
I build Annotations Manager, a Figma plugin which adds annotations as real layers on the canvas so anyone can view them, you can also export the annotations if you need add them to a document or ticket.
It's a workaround, not a substitute native visibility would still be the better outcome and I'd like to see it ship. Happy to answer questions if useful.
Here’s an image of how the annotations looks on the canvas (ps. you can customise the colour based on the type of annotation you add) and yes it does move when you drag frames around the canvas :)
Here’s the link: https://www.figma.com/community/plugin/1588019164844957413
Totally, it’s a disappointment that Figma is hiding this feature behind the pay wall...
We just discovered this. Our design team had been using this feature to mark-up interactions etc using annotations - unaware that any user without a seat is unable to even see them.
This is yet another incredibly frustrating and frankly aggravating example of Figma's move towards using dark patterns in their account and payment structure.
This is compounded by their insistence on locking in seats until the EOFY, which means they introduced a useful feature, but then arbitrarily put it behind a paywall - without explicitly saying that.
To reiterate, the points above - it would be amazingly helpful if the visibility of annotations was given wholistically (even if this was limited somehow) and in the meantime be very specific about what can and can’t be seen by view only users.
This has actually affected a project timeline for my team. We have been using annotations for ages and for the first time we decided to do a design review in Figma - only to realise on the day the feedback was due that people with view access can not see annotations!
Why would you hide information on Figma designs files like that?! It’s so frustrating and it’s now costing us money to move the timeline. There’s no heads up that this is the case, we had to go searching for this information.
Very disappointing Figma, you need to fix this.
Hi guys
The reason it catches teams out is that annotations *feel* like they should behave the way comments do, so nobody checks until review day.
I build Annotations Manager, a Figma plugin which adds annotations as real layers on the canvas so anyone can view them, you can also export the annotations if you need add them to a document or ticket.
It's a workaround, not a substitute native visibility would still be the better outcome and I'd like to see it ship. Happy to answer questions if useful.
Here’s an image of how the annotations looks on the canvas (ps. you can customise the colour based on the type of annotation you add) and yes it does move when you drag frames around the canvas :)
Here’s the link: https://www.figma.com/community/plugin/1588019164844957413
This is great
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