User guides

Organize designs with sections

Use sections to organize related layers on a design canvas and show which work is ready for development. A section can contain layers and other sections, making it useful for grouping a flow, a page area, or a set of designs for handoff.

Create a section

You can create a section in three ways:

From the toolbar: open the + menu, choose the section tool, then click or drag on the canvas.
From selected layers: select two or more layers, open the context menu, and choose the command to create a new section from the selection.
With a shortcut: press Shift + S on Windows or macOS.

A section acts as a parent for the layers it contains. You can nest sections to organize larger areas of a file.

Set a section status

Sections can be marked as being designed or ready for development. These statuses help designers and developers identify the relevant work without relying only on layer names.

Select a section.
Use the status control at its upper-left corner to set a status.
To change the status later, open the status label's menu at the same location.
Switch to the handoff view from the right panel to filter sections by status in the left panel.

The status belongs to the section. Converting it to a frame removes that section status.

A section link opens the design file at the selected section. Access follows the design file's sharing permissions; copying a section link does not grant additional access.

Select the section, then use one of these methods:

Open Share at the top right and copy the link.
Open the context menu, go to the copy-and-paste options, and copy the link.
For a section with a status, open its status menu and copy the link.

Change the orientation

Select the section and use the portrait or landscape control in the right panel. Changing a section's orientation does not rearrange the objects inside it.

Check the bounds after changing the orientation. Content that falls outside the section can leave its layer hierarchy.

Change the layer type

To convert a section to a frame, select it and choose the frame type in the right panel's layer-type dropdown. This conversion is supported for a section without nested sections. Its status is removed when it becomes a frame.

You can convert a group to a section, but you cannot directly convert a section to a group. Use Undo if you need to reverse a recent conversion.

Adjust the appearance

Select the section, then use the fill and stroke controls in the right panel to change its background color and border. These settings help distinguish areas of the canvas without changing the objects they contain.

Export and hand off

Use the export controls to export a section as an image. In the handoff view, inspect the available assets and code information for the design.

A section's development status organizes the handoff; it does not replace file permissions or automatically implement the design.