Hi all,
I have all of my symbols (graphics) made to a particular size, 500x500px on my Symbols page, so that if I need to, I can swap those symbols’ instances without any distortion. They would distort if I had two symbols of different frame/graphic/artboard sizes, i.e. a 500x250px frame would stretch the content 200% vertically when switching.
But if I have a frame/symbol set to 500x500px, but the content inside, like a logo, only fills up 500x250px and the rest is transparent with no background, is there a way ignore the transparent pixels when selecting it’s instances? Basically so that the transparent areas of said instance do not get in the way of layers beneath it? (CMD+Click doesn’t do it)
Basically I’m looking for a best of both world’s solution. I don’t want to have my symbols distorting as I swap them as that’s a nuisance, nor do I want it to be so awkward trying to select layers beneath my symbols, which is also a nuisance.
Thanks,
Hi there,
To answer your main question up front: there’s no way to ignore the transparent area. It’s part of your symbol source, so it’ll define the layer bounds. Considering what you’re looking for, swap and select, there are a few things that can help.
Selecting layers inside symbol instances
- Use ⌘-click to select any nested symbols or text layers inside the instance.
- Use double-click to select directly any shape layers that are direct children of the instance.
Shape layers or nested empty frames won’t be selected with ⌘-click, unless you select first the symbol instance and then use ⌘-click.
If you need to select a shape that’s nested deeper in your instance, select it first and then use ⌘-click
Swapping symbols of different proportions
You can do the swap you mention without content distortion. What can change is the instance’s position after the swap, depending on how you’ve set your symbol sources. I can take a look if you share a sample.
There’s an option when you swap instances that allows you to keep or not the current instance dimensions. Turn the option off when you swap symbols with different proportions and the swap will be completed without distortion.
We hope this helps!
2 Likes
That’s unfortunate about the transparent pixels. It would be nice if it could (if possible) be added in the future.
However, on the swapping symbols and keeping the proportions, the solution you’ve suggest half works - but if I scale down a symbol to 50%, then turn off ‘preserve current dimensions’, it will always reset it back up to 100% scale. It means I cannot really do straight swaps.
Unfortunately I cannot share documents here! But thank you for the reply
By the lack of votes on this, I guess I’m the only person that experiences this as a major nuisance? As an artworker, I feel like we could get the best of both worlds here if it’s actually implementable. I’m thinking of how Photoshop can click through transparent pixel data if it’s truly 0% opacity.
I understand your issue you’re facing with the workflow you have.
I would say symbol swapping could be improved in Sketch in general, I’ve come across this issue before and I think it should be more intuitive to switch between different size/ratio icons without deformation. I suggest you to post a request for that on this forum.
As for the transparent area, I really prefer to be able to to select a symbol with it’s transparent area. It’s really nice for thin linework icons for example, where selection is tricky if not in a symbol.
I think this topic would count as my official request. 
I definitely think there’s merit to it - perhaps a ‘best of both worlds’ situation can be achieved with ctrl+click, or ctrl+cmd+click or some thing to toggle ‘ignore alpha’ on and off. If possible.