Switch to read-only mode

+1 – I’ve sent a “view” link to myself, but even that required having a separate email account. I just accidentally changed something in a file and landed here

Yes happened to me as well. Told the client many time to give only view access but don’t know why client trust me so much.

I can not believe that this issue is open for years and Figma does not intend to provide such a simple but vital feature!

Just bumping this thread, I have also been looking for this for a long while now.

Yes, a bit frustrating to not have specific areas or an entire file locked down (view only). As another user posted, sharing the View Only with a different email could work, but I did not want to manage another email address in Figma. As a hack, I changed the Share permissions to Anyone (might not be able to keep this setting though for security reasons) and then access the View Only link via a separate browser in Incognito (InPrivate) mode.

I need this.

I often change text label into “h” for get into hand mode.

and I also found only “c” on stickies (maybe someone wanted copy something).

view only mode will save us!

Since most of the people say they’re developers, why not use the dev mode so you don’t accidentally do anything? It’s just a toggle away.

But yes, I also feel there need to be more types of seats: view, content only, etc.

Oh, it hit me, can you guys get to the share sheet and set yourself as a viewer for the file?

How is this feature suggestion 3-4 years old? It would be great for opening files for reference without any accidental style updates. Branching is a workaround. but view-only would be a specific feature I’d love to have

As a designer I'd love to be able to do that so I can make tutorials and guides for my co-workers that have a "view-only" permission.