Last month we launched Sketch for Teams and we’ve been really excited about the response so far. If you’ve signed your team up for a 90-day free trial, thank you! We hope you’re having a blast. Here’s what’s next for Teams, as well as a sneak preview of a new feature coming to Sketch on the Mac.
Swap layers in Smart Distribute selections
With the last few releases of Sketch, we’ve introduced a new set of Smart Distribute features that make it quicker and easier to work with complex layouts. And with Sketch 57, we’re rounding them out with the ability to swap layers within your Smart Distribute selections. Here’s how it works:
Here, we saved you a click…no seriouslyTo swap layers in a selection, make sure they’re evenly spaced in a row, column or grid. You can use the Tidy button in the Inspector to help with that. Once they’re evenly distributed, drag the handle in the middle of the layer to move it around in the selection. The surrounding layers will automatically move and snap into place.
Better yet, Smart Distribute doesn’t just work with layers (or Symbols, like the demo above), it works with whole Artboards, too. Now there’s really no excuse to tidy up those flows.
Use this one trick to make your UX colleagues love youKeep an eye out on Twitter for the Sketch 57 launch announcement. Or, if you can’t wait to start swapping layers, you can download the latest Sketch Beta and start using it right now (just be sure to read the caveats about using our beta builds first).
Get attention with Mentions
Before we dive into some of the updates we have planned for Sketch for Teams, here’s one we’ve already shipped — Mentions.
As the old saying goes, move fast and mention peopleIf you need to nudge a team member or collaborator for a design decision, simply start a comment, type an @, and add their name. They’ll get a notification or email to tell them they’ve been mentioned, so you can continue that conversation and make sure everyone stays in the loop.
Mentions is available right now, for both teams and personal accounts on Sketch Cloud.
Organize your documents with Projects
Next, here’s a sneak preview of a new feature coming to Sketch Cloud very soon — Projects.
We know Don wouldn’t bother with Projects, but we reckon Peggy and Sal would love themBeing able to view and collaborate on all of your team’s documents in a single, shared workspace is one thing. But what if you’re working on designs for multiple clients? Or multiple products? That’s where Projects come in.
With Projects, you’ll be able to organize your work by client or product (or any other grouping that makes sense to you and your team) and filter your documents in a new sidebar menu.
We’re putting the finishing touches on Projects right now and plan to have it in Sketch Cloud, for both teams and personal accounts, very soon. We’ll be sure to announce it as soon as it ships.
What’s next for Teams?
As we mentioned in our launch announcement, we have a whole host of exciting updates and features planned for Sketch for Teams. Here’s what’s coming up on our roadmap:
- A Full Canvas view, so you can go beyond single artboards and get a better overview of your documents — ideal for those complex user flows.
- Commenting let you discuss specific design elements, giving more context to your feedback. We’re planning to pull those comments back into the Mac app, as well.
- A new Cloud API, making it easy to use Cloud with your favorite third-party tools and services.
- Cloud Inspector, so you can grab code, view specs and download production ready assets, without having to open the Mac app. We’re working hard across the whole of Sketch platform right now to bring these features (and more!) to you as soon as possible. And of course, we’ll be sharing more of the sneak previews as soon as we can. As ever, if you have any feedback or questions, we’d love to hear from you.
