What happened to the "Can view prototypes only" permission?

Hi there,

We hear the confusion about the change. According to the release note from May 23rd, the sharing behavior isn’t changed:

4. Prototype sharing: Prototype sharing behavior/policy has not changed, but will be presented through a dedicated prototype share dialog, rather than presented as a role on the main file.

Also, thanks for the feedback. I shared it with our internal team. Please feel free to let us know if you have further questions.

Thanks,
Toku

Real answer: Figma has put the ability to share prototypes without giving access to your editable file behind a paywall. You now have to have a paid plan to use this functionality.

I just found out that this option is suddenly missing at the worst possible timing – during my research team had a meeting with a client and there was no one around to fix the sharing settings 🫠

Like you, I didn’t find any Figma help or announcement about it – the only thing I found is your post, so +1 to being disoriented.

Hi,

but it doesn’t work at all. I’ve shared only prototype, but client is commenting all the components in the editor file. :-/

I have the paid plan.

Thanks,
Lukas

Hi Lukas,

It seems our support team needs to investigate the file sharing permission, which we can’t support in public here. Could you please reach out directly to the support team with a copy of your file: https://help.figma.com/hc/en-us/requests/new? Our support team will look into it.

Please make sure you use the email associated with your Figma account, include links to the file in question, and share access with support-share@figma.com. Don’t worry, inviting us to view your file won’t impact your billing.

Thanks for your patience.
Toku

I wonder why this topic is not bigger - sharing ONLY prototypes was crucial in multiple scenarios, and now we don’t have such an option? It’s a pity… Is there any workaround to lock “Open in editor” option right now? Or do I need to put things in separate files so the client won’t have an access to everything in design file? 🙄

To be honest, I don’t understand this wording. Can you rephrase? Obviously, it has changed. Now there are two types of access: restricted, that is, by invitation, or completely open access to the file. Where can be found now the functionality to give everyone access only to the prototype?

@y_toku any response on this?

Hey All, sorry for the continues trouble and confusion!

We did recently change the entry point for sharing prototypes with prototype only viewing access.

To share prototypes only, you will need to share from the “Share prototype” button while in the prototype viewer and not the Share button in the Editor view.

The steps to do this are:

1. Open the file in Presentation Mode by pressing the Present button in the toolbar
2. Click the blue “Share prototype” button at the top right
3. Select Only those invited.
4. Select Anyone and then save. This means anyone with the URL to the prototype will be able to see just the prototype.

After saving, copy and send the link to those that should have access to view.

For more information on the sharing options, you can also see: Share files and prototypes

Hey! I just tested this and followed your steps above. The only issue is allowing (approving) an invited user to view your prototype also allows them access to your design pages. There is no option to grant them access to one or the other, they are both combined now, regardless of if you click the link while in presentation mode.

After I was granted access to one of my personal projects with a fake Figma account, I could see the prototype and the design pages. The only way for me to see both of them is through a direct link. But there is no restriction stopping me from seeing the design pages.

It would be helpful if on the “Share this file” page you had a dropdown that says “can view only prototype”, and when someone used the direct link to go to the design pages they are blocked. Where as right now you are not blocked.

Thanks and I hope you all can figure this one out, love using Figma!!

Agreed! We are having issues where our clients are getting notified when we comment to each other in our designs and view our prototypes before presentations. We want to lock that down so they can only view the presentations.

I have the same issue, please fix this 🥲🥲

Hey everyone, this looks odd. I can’t reproduce it on my end 🤔
Please also make sure they are not invited to the main file to ensure they can only access the prototype.

If the issue still occurs, I’d like our support team to investigate further with a URL of your file so they can try to replicate directly: here
Be also sure to use your Figma email account, include a link to the file, and add support-share@figma.com as an Editor (this won’t impact your billing at all), and also share a quick video recording with the steps you have done, so we can better visualise it. Thanks!

So, are the above steps only work on paid plans?

Hey there! Sharing files and prototypes are available on any team or plan.

More information on the sharing options:

When I start the prototype and tap Share prototype, then the person that I’m sending the link to is able to click on “Open in editor” and see the entire project (when I don’t want him to). Can’t prototype and project be made separate?

Can you please make sure to follow the steps mentioned by Denise. This should only give access to the prototype (View access):

I’ve also created a video to help you better visualise how to edit the settings. Please ensure you share the copy link using the blue link , next to ‘Share this prototype’ in the right hand corner – in the popup):

What the other user will view upon opening the prototype link:

Thanks for the videos, Celine! But after repeating the steps and upon clicking “Save” (view the prototype for anyone) I get the message that this is for payed plans only (see screenshots).

Thanks for the screenshot and apologize for any confusion!
Unfortunately, this feature – prototype-specific access permissions- is only available for paid plans.

To provide more context:

• If the access level for both the design file and prototype are the same, all plan tiers can share without issue.
• However, if the prototype’s access level is different from the file, then it requires professional plan at least.

To clarify, the permission state actually still exists, that’s how prototypes can be accessed separately from the file in design mode. However, we don’t show the “prototypes only” permission type anymore as an option.

It’s inferred based on where you share the resource:

• Sharing from file is file specific (prototype can inherit from this)
• Sharing from prototype is prototype specific (can be different from file on pro plan or higher paid plans)

Hope this helps!

The option to grant the right to leave comments or not, seems to have gone missing.

Sometimes you want to share prototypes with a larger audience without the risk of getting your stakeholder comments cluttered up with noise.

The fact that the feature to share the prototype code on a website is behind a paywall is extremely frustrating. Having to send out my website portfolio and knowing that whoever is looking at it, has to create Figma account before they can play with the prototype, will definitely be detrimental to my ability to gain clients or get a job with a company. I am super disappointed in this.