Libraries
The best design happens when designers collaborate together. With Libraries, designers can now share Symbols across documents and have them update to be always kept in sync.
A Library is just an ordinary Sketch document that contains Symbols which you can then use in any other Sketch document. If you update any of those Symbols in your Library file, documents containing instances of those Symbols will receive a notification telling you that they can be updated. Here you can preview, check, and confirm changes — and by doing so, you can always ensure your documents are using the up-to-date copies of those components.
If you’re working as part of a team with other designers, Sketch’s Libraries have got you covered. Simply place your document somewhere where your colleagues have read-access such as a Dropbox folder, or repository in GitHub, etc, have them add the document to their Libraries in Preferences, and they will have quick and easy access to those Symbols. All whilst still being able to receive any updates made to the file.
Are Libraries for Me?
Whether you design alone, or as part of a team — we’ve built Libraries with everybody in mind. Individual designers will see benefit by being able to quickly insert Symbols of their commonly used components straight from the Insert menu. We’ve already added our “iOS UI Design” template as a Library so you can start with these building blocks for your next design. Add an already-existing document as a Library, or create a new one so you can use its Symbols in all your new documents going forward. By doing so, you can effortlessly update them with any changes that you make.
Designers in teams can take full advantage of a Library’s ability to make sure they’re using the most up-to-date versions of icons, or the latest branding from the company’s style guide. With the Library document safely separated, updates to Symbols can only be made here so you don’t inadvertently make any edits in your design that will embarrassingly appear across all your colleague’s documents!
If another team member makes a change to the Library’s Symbols, you’ll get the opportunity to review the change and make sure all is as it should be before accepting the update to your own document.
