Make Exported .PDF Files With Editable Text For Accessibility Purposes

Currently exported .PDFs out of Figma are not accessible, because the text is flattened as images.

I would like to request an option for exported .PDFs to have editable text.

This would be a game changer for our team to move off of Sketch! :smiley: (Sketch allows for .PDFs to export with editable text, but Figma does not)

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+1! PDF export in Figma is not great as of now.

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Yeah, Iā€™m really hoping it improves. It works the way Iā€™d like it to in their competitor Sketch, but not Figma. Would be a game changer for them to consider updating it. Finger crossed!

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Just exported my resume as PDF in desktop Figma on Mac. All text seem to be regular selectable text. Also hypertext links open as expected.

Iā€™m very interested in hearing how PDFs from Sketch work and how itā€™s different from an accessibility point of view. Iā€™m no PDF expert, so I canā€™t really tell the difference between my PDF and a great accessibility approved PDF.

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It may appear text is selectable/accessibileā€¦ however when you look closer/click edit youā€™ll see itā€™s one big image - all vector and canā€™t be made accessible. :confused: I wrote to Figma about this, they explained to post about it in the forms and continue to look at their release notes if itā€™s updated. Iā€™m surprised itā€™s not solved yet.

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Hi Hampus hereā€™s for context: -

Also - If you can vote for this idea that would be greatly appreciated. :slight_smile: They recommended I post here for visibility.

"Hi Diana,

Unfortunately, per our Guide to exports in Figma

  • Figma does not currently support exporting editable text. You will not be able to edit any text in a PDF exported from Figma. You can still select and copy text when viewing the PDF in the browser, or other compatible software."
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+1 for this feature request. Our team LOVES building documents in Figma. However, due to the PDF output not being accessible by a screen reader, we have to shift back into building docs in InDesign so theyā€™re compliant. It is a painful step backward for our design process ā€“ once you start making stuff in Figma, it is REALLY hard to go back to using clunky Creative Cloud apps.

Figma Team: please consider building screen reader accessibility into your PDF export feature! We would love you for it!

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Couldnā€™t agree more. We have a huge team that would get great value from this feature.

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YESSSSS PLEASEEEE, Figma make this update! My team and I create in Figma all the time and love it, but have had to recently re-create designs in InDesign for the reason of accessibility.

If you could build in screen reader accessibility into the PDF export, it will make a lot of your users, who are want to also share with the accessible community, very happy!

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YES I also request this feature!

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What Tami said!! I much prefer using Figma to create documents over InDesign, itā€™s such a smoother process.

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My organization also would greatly benefit from a better export to PDF via Figma!

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Iā€™m currently using the ā€œPitchdeck Presentation Studioā€ plugin to export frames that contain pure text to PDF. The free version allows only the export to PDF function. The rest is paid. But the PDF file size with pure text on 3 pages, will be around 4-5 MB. I have no idea why.
If I export the same text document from Google Docs, the PDF file size is around 900kb.

Perfect plugin. I was looking for a plugin for pdf exports with selectable text, I came across copy doc text kit but it allows only 15 trial exports. Thanks for the plugin

On a similar topic, a tweet from Rob has generated a lot of interested in the lack of supporting editable text when exporting PDF on Figma.

Yes, this feature is very important and IDK why Figma still canā€™t implement it until today.

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You can use our new plugin MKitFPdf.
It allows PDF export with selectable and copyable text.
to plugin

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Figma, please add this feature, we really need it for our email campaigns.

Please implement this!
Sometimes opening Figma-exported PDFs lags in Adobe Acrobat. And I canā€™t make a simple text edit without re-exporting the entire PDF in Figma.

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Yes please !