View layers and pages in the left sidebar

In this article, we're going to cover the Navigation panel (left panel) which gives you access to layers and pages in your file. You can also use the left panel to view components created in the current file and access components from any libraries added to the file.



There are a two tabs in the Navigation panel: File and Assets. You can click to switch between each view in the panel, or use keyboard shortcuts:

Mac

Windows

To Minimize or Expand the left and right panels, click in the left panel, or using the keyboard shortcut Shift \.

If you select an object while the panels are minimized, the left panel remains minimized while the right panel expands so you can update the properties of the selected object. Once all objects are deselected, the right panel minimizes again.



Toggle visibility of the entire Figma UI to make more space to view designs. Find Hide/Show UI from Actions, or use the keyboard shortcut:



Tip: You can adjust the width of the left sidebar. This allows you to better see layer or asset names.

Within a file, you can create as many pages as you need. Each page has its own canvas, where you can explore and iterate on your designs. You can even create separate prototypes on each page. Create and manage pages →

Any frames, groups, or objects you add to the canvas will be visible in the Layers section of the File tab. You can determine if a layer is a frame, group or a specific type of object by the icon next to it:

Figma nests any child objects within their parent group or frame. This allows you to collapse and expand layers within a group or Frame.

New layers are added to the top of the list, or to the top of the group, frame, or section it is contained within. Or, just above the layer you currently have selected.

There are lots of interactions you can have

Tip: You can enable or disable the Highlight layers on hover setting. Go to Menu > Preferences > Highlight layers on hover.

Components are aspects of your designs that you can reuse. These could be buttons or icons, or more complex UI elements like navigation menus or status bars.

You can find all of your components in the Assets tab. You can drag any component from the assets view onto the canvas to create an instance of the component.

To open the assets view, click the Assets tab in the left sidebar, or use the keyboard shortcut:

Once you've opened the assets view, you can:



Note: Figma groups components in the assets view by heading. If you have many components, Figma will present them as a path: file > page > frame

Learn how to insert components from the assets tab →

Libraries allow you to publish styles, components, and variables from your files as a library. You can then apply styles and variables, or create instances of your components across files. Get started with libraries →

To access your libraries from the assets view panel, click Libraries to open the libraries modal.