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SLT-UX
Active Member
April 3, 2021

Temporarily hiding selection outlines

  • April 3, 2021
  • 75 replies
  • 9403 views

In other design tools you can simply press a key, and any selection outlines, grab handles, etc. get hidden while the key is down, so you can preview and evaluate how things look, without having to de-select everything and lose your selection.

Apparently there is no way to do this in Figma =(

This is important while experimenting with different colors, fonts, etc., and in Figma it could be used to see how different sizes, variants, and states, look in your design, without those selection handles and outlines getting in the way of you previewing things.

75 replies

Filipe_Ligabue
August 19, 2024

+1 for this one please

Ian8
September 11, 2024

Really? Doesn’t this famous Figma have this function?
I started using it an hour ago and have already found a couple of missing features that already make me want to go back to Illustrator.

How comfortable should one be searching for the right font for a logo (e.g.) with the constant distraction of selection outline?

Romanr
New Participant
October 13, 2024

+1 for the tenth time since 2019.
Such a simple, must-have productivity feature request has been ignored for five years, and considering the rate at which other features are added, it is unlikely to be implemented at all. Because Figma is not created by designers, it is not created for designers. It is made by business people for investors.

Jeremias_Santos
New Member
October 21, 2024

I need this urgently to get work done. C’mon, guys, it shouldn’t take you more than a few minutes! Please 🥹

niran182
New Member
February 24, 2025

A Must!

nathan9
New Participant
April 8, 2025

I cannot believe they still haven't implemented this, it’s a little frustrating to be honest.

Currently, I'm changing the blending mode of an image fill, but I can't see anything because I can't hide the tile resizer. So seeing if I like a blending mode is a 5-step process. Forget A/B’ing.

 

nathan9
New Participant
April 9, 2025

Interestingly, I just noted that if you nudge an element using the arrow keys, the selection border goes away for a short period of time. So maybe that’s a workaround? Nudge left then nudge right? Meh…

Even if you do that, any red object alignment guides still appear. So if your text is centered or otherwise aligned with something, there will be a giant red line through it, even if you're nudging it around. Granted, this doesn't happen as often as it sounds.

That said, if we can’t have this feature, I would still appreciate a preference that lets us change how many seconds it takes for the selection guides to come back. And then, if you mouseover the selection, the selection guides can come back immediately. (Usually I’m making fine adjustments or A/B’ing with the keyboard — if I move the mouse I’m ready to interact with the selection outline, which you can’t do with the keyboard.)

George Kent
New Member
May 8, 2025

+1

yes please Figma peeps, this would be incredibly useful.

some guy
New Member
May 15, 2025

pwetty pwease can we have dis figma

nathan9
New Participant
May 24, 2025

I’d love for someone on the team to chip in here, but they’re probably working on one of the new projects. 
 

but what’s the point of having a forum if no one from the team reads it…