If I have two files and I can’t decide which file an object/frame/pageg should live in, I’d love to be able to embed a live/syncing view of the frame into another Figma file. I imagine it working like a PS Smart Object where you can double click or something similar to jump to the original to edit it if needed.
Right now, my best option is adding a button widget or link to the frame. You could almost do something similar with components, but I feel like it’d end up clogging up the component libraries if used for this purpose.
Thoughts?
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Components are like smart objects but much better. What’s your concern about using them?
Don’t I have to publish a component to a library to use it in another file? I’d end up having a huge amount of components/libraries that are pretty unnecessary. I don’t want to have to publish a new library each time I want a frame to “live” in two files.
Isn’t it the same as huge number of files on your disk containing smart objects to re-use?
No, not quite, because I can place a PSD/smart object directly into another PSD as a Smart Object without having to make a library or anything like that. Don’t get me wrong, I love components and use them often, but they just don’t quite fit for this use case, for me.
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The only reason you make a library is to make shared assets accessible. When you work on a file system PS knows where the source is. In cloud environment there is no file system per se, so you have to publish stuff. I could imagine Figma being regular desktop app working with files on a drive with the same capabilities as PS/AI
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Fair, I get that. But you’d think Figma has to have some backend IDs for files they’d be able to use to achieve something like this. I might actually see if there is a way I can use ChatGPT, etc. to help me make a plugin or widget to show a live view of a frame from another file.