07. Symbol, let's increase efficiency

It is a symbol that can be seen as a flower in a sketch. Symbols are a powerful feature of Sketch that allow you to easily reuse elements across artboards, pages, and multiple documents.

symbol

Symbols are essential for reusable digital product design. It consists of a master and an instance, and is used when designing instances copied from the master symbol. Editing the master symbol applies the changes to all instance symbols. Modifying the instance does not change the master, and you can change the contents inside the instance according to the purpose of use.

*Master symbols have purple names.

Create a symbol

You can create a new symbol by selecting the desired layer and pressing Create Symbol in the top toolbar. When you create a symbol, you can give it a name, and you can also specify its layout. To convert the master symbol back to a regular artboard, select the symbol artboard in the layer list and select Layer › Convert Symbol to Artboard from the menu.

Insert symbol

You can add a new instance of a symbol by selecting insert > symbol from the menu. You can also search for and insert components by pressing the C key on your keyboard. You can also clone an existing instance.

Replace symbol

You can swap symbols with Inspector or Control+Click.

separate from the master

You can completely detach an instance from the master by Ctrl + Clicking on the instance layer or selecting Layer > Detach from symbol from the menu.

Edit symbol

There are two ways you can edit symbols. You can edit the master symbol or edit individual instances via overrides.

master edit

Double-clicking on an instance will take you directly to the master, no matter where you are now. If the master symbol is on a separate symbol page, you can also find it manually in the layer list. Edits to the master symbol are instantly reflected in all instances in the document, and once you've made any changes, click Return to Instance in the top left to navigate to the original instance you were viewing.

Instance Edit - Override

Overrides allow you to edit the contents of instances individually while preserving the appearance of the master. You can change various elements such as text and images. Editable elements are displayed in the Inspector on the right when an instance is selected. Editable elements can be edited in the master symbol. You can lock a layer to make it unaffected by overrides.

symbol nesting

You can put instance symbols inside symbols. These are called nested symbols. If you update the master symbol of the nested instance symbol, it will be applied to all nested symbols.

smart layout

When modifying an instance symbol, i.e. when it is overridden, you can set the rules by which the symbol changes. For example, when the length of the left and right text inside the symbol increases, if you specify a smart layout, the size of the symbol is adjusted to fit the content as intended while maintaining the spacing. You can specify the direction of stretching vertically or horizontally. You can specify it when creating a symbol, or in the Inspector when editing a master symbol.