I’m currently assessing Sketch for a substantial project. I appreciate the software’s capabilities; however, I am attempting to resolve two significant challenges.
Delayed Workspace
We use the collaboration feature, storing documents on sketch.com.
When I am the sole contributor to the project, I usually have two local files open:
A library where I update symbols
A document containing various pages where I arrange my UI.
Upon altering a component within the Library and pressing ⌘+s to save my changes, I switch back to my document with my pages. Unfortunately, I have to wait around 20 seconds or sometimes even 1 to 2 minutes to receive the notification that my library has been updated. Given that my fiber optic connection is incredibly fast, latency on my side is not the root cause.
Is there a way to replicate the immediate changes characteristic of local work (since I am, in fact, working locally) in my dependent documents?
Two-Click Component Update Requirement
This concern is related to the previous one. Suppose I’m working with my files locally, without syncing with sketch.com, entirely local. In this scenario, I’m the only one who can modify a component from a library, so any change is intentional. Thankfully, there’s no delay, which is fantastic. However, to see the changes, I must:
Press ⌘+s
Switch to the other document
Click the notification bell
Click the Update Components option from the preview.
This series of steps seriously hampers my workflow. Is there a way to bypass clicking the bell and updating the component, allowing me to simply see the change?
Hi @jchatard and welcome to the Forum! Thanks for sharing this.
I have a question about the Delayed Workspace scenario. You mentioned that you work locally, but the files are stored in your Workspace. Does this mean that you have an offline copy not saved in your Workspace but that is connected to the Workspace library?
If the library is in the Workspace the size and quantity of it may add some time for the changes to update and get the updates back on your local file.
About the Two-click update, in short, there’s no way to eliminate notifications when you edit existing components. This is by design so you can be aware that a component was changed and see the before and after states. I can see how this doesn’t fit when you’re the only author and I’ll definitely share this insight with the team.
However, if you activate the setting “Automatically download and update Libraries” you won’t get a notification when adding new components or creating new layers, just when you edit existing components.
I’m not sure I understand your question. I work on my team’s workspace files, ie not locally stored (not saved on my computer).
And the files are actually pretty small, in that I’m just evaluating the software, so I have a header, a menu, a content item. So something like 1 % of the project.
So if it’s slow in this situation, I can’t imagine when we really start working.
Library update
Ok thanks for the tip for new components.
The same kind of checkbox allowing to bypass existing components updates notification would be the solution.
Hey. We are currently working on a very large design system for our company and projects. I want to answer your delayed workspace question. Even if you have 10 or more than 1000 components, after updating the library, it can take 30-60 or even 2 minutes to reflect on the file you are working on. In other words, size of the library does not affect to update time.
As you said library updates is not reflecting instantly. We don’t see this as a problem for now, but it would definitely nice to see instant library updates.
Hello, we see the same problem here. We work with a shared library (on the cloud) and when a modification is made to it, we sometimes have to wait 1 hour to receive the component update notification. This does not make working with an external library very efficient.
To get the updates right away (after someone has confirmed they’re good to go) is to manually save a version:
With the Library open, press ⌃⌘S (Save Version)
Done!
After you press Save, this new version will be sent to everyone using the Library. If you’re using Starred Updates, you can also mark the update as Starred in that window!
I don’t find this works either, and the fact we have to create a version each time is annoying to be honest. Can we not have an option we can turn on that just means when we save a change to a componenet in a library, it will show up/notify us of a component update in file we are working on that is linked to that library?
I can see how creating a new version can lead to some friction, but it can also work the other way around. When you’re working with documents, it’s not uncommon that you hit ⌘S often. If changes were propagated every time you save a change, it can lead to multiple notifications and disruption, specially in shared libraries.
If you’re working on a project file and an Editor is editing a Component on a shared library, or even just doing some housekeeping, pushing those changes every time they are saved can lead to some noise.
Creating versions on the other hand, allow you to control when you want to share those changes and if you couple that with starred versions you have even more control.
As you make changes, Sketch will save them automatically, but it won’t create a version unless you do so, or if close the document or make enough changes to trigger an autosave version.
About the notifications, every time an existing Component is changed, you’ll see a visual comparison, and our next version will include a better way to quickly adjust which changes you want to accept.
Thanks for the reply but those solutions don’t solve the problem. There are plenty of designers who by choice want a solution where if you save a component in a library, it should then be updated in the linked artwork file immediately - not all of us work in large teams.
We don’t want to create a version manually, nor do we want to close the document and then open just to see my two changes to a component that I’m currently working on. This is really frustrating. Currently using separate files for libraries is not a viable option for us.
Why can’t we have an setting to just allow this way of working? I just want to save my change and be able to pull that change in to my artwork file, even if it’s one single change to one single component - it’s still very valuable and important.
Agreed on this, the saving a version for an update isn’t really cutting it, it just feels a bit broken when coming from Figma. It’d be great if there were a similar situation to Figma, where you manually choose which components to push and when, perhaps with a checkbox on save that says “Publish all components”, then you have the best of both worlds. Streaming smaller singular updates and major version changes with optional descriptions
