"Sort by" does not retain the selection.

Still driving me insane EVERY SINGLE DAY, please fix :’)… 

Hi Figma team,

I’d like Figma to remember my preferred file sorting option.

Every time I open the Figma Desktop App, the file browser resets to Last modified, even though I always use Alphabetical.

For designers working with large projects and design systems, alphabetical sorting is essential. Having to manually switch the sorting back to Alphabetical every time creates unnecessary friction and slows down navigation.

Suggested improvements:

• Remember the selected file sorting option across sessions.
• Sync this preference across devices (optional).
• Or provide a Default file sorting setting in Preferences.

Environment:

• macOS
• Figma Desktop App

This is a small UX improvement, but it would noticeably improve everyday navigation and productivity for users managing many design files.

Thank you!

Hi ​@Burcu_Nergiz and ​@Yutong Feng, thank you for your feedback! 

I’ve moved both of your topics into this similar, existing one in the Community. I completely understand how being able to set your own default sorting preferences could also be helpful for other users. Please know that this was an intentional change made in April of last year. This was implemented after feedback from users who thought their files went missing due to the filters and/or sort orders enabled. Right now, the only page that does not reset preferences is the "Last projects" page.

As a temporary solution, you can use the search feature in the left sidebar under your account name to search for specific files/projects by name. While this isn't the same as setting your own default preferences, hopefully it's a helpful tip.

While I can't guarantee when or if this capability will return, please know that your feedback is highly valued and will be taken into consideration for future updates. You can check out our Releases to stay up to date on all of our major product news.

There are multiple responses above noting why the solution that was implemented has now broken the experience for many other teams (making their files feel missing and inefficient to navigate). A solution to consider is to persist the user’s last sort order but reset filters. This doesn’t require the addition of settings preferences and it works for both alpha AND last modified team workflows.

Please know that this was an intentional change made in April of last year. This was implemented after feedback from users who thought their files went missing due to the filters and/or sort orders enabled. Right now, the only page that does not reset preferences is the "Last projects" page.

And as we’ve been telling you since April of last year, this was a bad design decision that fails to accomplish the thing you are claiming it does and in fact makes it worse for everyone who wasn’t wanting to sort by last modified.

The fact that new people keep pointing out this very basic UX problem should be a strong indication to your team that they’ve missed the mark on this one.

I'm seeing the same behavior. Every time I close and reopen Figma, the sort order resets to Last modified → Newest first instead of remembering what I selected.

I don't remember this happening before—it used to keep my chosen sort option between sessions. Is this a recent change, a bug, or is there a setting I'm missing?

+1, It would be a huge time saver if this didn’t happen! We are a small team and we rely on alpha-coding the projects as our organization within Figma. To have it reset to recently modified every time is painful.