Frequently Asked Questions

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Thanks so much for trying out Ditto! To help you get started, this guide offers some quick best practices and answers to commonly-asked questions.

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Troubleshooting

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What happens to the text in Ditto when frames are deleted in Figma?

If you delete a frame in Ditto that's synced to Ditto, Ditto will no longer be able to sync text changes back and forth between Ditto and Figma. However, your work in Ditto won't be lost! The frame will be stored in Ditto as a drafted frame. You can access those for any project by heading to the Drafted Frames page.

In the future, you'll be able to re-link the drafted frame to a frame in Figma.

Learn more ->

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What's the "Ditto Plugin ID (do not edit)" component in my Figma file?

This component is automatically created in Figma when you create a new Ditto project. This component allows Ditto to track duplicated files. Please don't edit this component to avoid issues syncing duplicated Figma files to Ditto.

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I'm seeing text in Ditto that I don't need to work on. How can I remove it?

When you import a frame in Ditto, by default, we'll import all of the tex items on the frame in Figma. If there's text on the frame you don't want to work on, you can always hide this text.

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When importing frames into Ditto via our plugin, you can also select only a subset of text to work on (by selecting text in the layers panel or on the frame directly).

Learn more about hiding text in Ditto ->

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Why is the "Import as JSON" modal disabled for me in the Component Library?

To access the "Import as JSON" option, you'll need to turn on Developer Mode for the Component Library.

Learn more about Developer Mode ->

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Why can't I export the text in my drafted frames?

To export text in drafted frames, either via the export modal or Ditto's API/ CLI, make sure you've:

• Enabled linking for each drafted frames you'd like to export
• Turned on Developer Mode for the project

Learn more about drafting in Ditto ->

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Best Practices

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Who should be an editor in Ditto? Who should be a commenter?

In Ditto, there are three roles: admins, editors, and commenters. Editors are able to take any action in Ditto (like editing text, creating and attaching Ditto components, and adding variants). Admins can do all of that, plus remove users and view billing details. Commenters can leave comments, change the status of copy, and resync.

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For most teams in Ditto, editors will include product designers, content designers, and developers who might want to edit text or API IDs in Ditto. Commenters are often product managers, legal and compliance reviewers, or other stakeholders who need to review (but not edit) product copy.

‍More information on user permissions ->‍

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How should I set up my Figma files for the best experience in Ditto?

For the best experience using Ditto, we recommend that Figma files are structured so that:

• Only one screen is included per Figma frame- Ditto groups text based on the top-level frame in Figma. If multiple screens are included on the same top-level frame, it'll take a bit more time to organize your text in Ditto, and the frame preview in Ditto might be too large to see the text item you're looking for.
• Figma files aren't too large- Latency can sometimes occur for very large Figma files. If you're noticing slower loading times, we recommend smaller Figma files.

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What's the fastest way to organize text into Blocks in Ditto?

Blocks in Ditto keep text organized. To easily organize text into Blocks, we recommend doing so from our Figma plugin! You'll be able to easily select a grouping in Figma and turn it into a block in Ditto.

Learn more ->

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How should I name my components?

While there's no one-size-fits-all approach to naming components in Ditto (every team has a unique product and workflow), here's how many teams choose to organize their components:

• By product area (for example, "Merchant/ Set-up/ Onboarding description")
• By functionality (for example, "Explain/ Account Balance/ Negative balance")
• By mirroring their design system's naming convention (so that both writers and designers can easily find the component they need)

Learn more about strategies for naming components ->

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Product Features

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How will Ditto interact with my Figma files?

Ditto's Figma integration allows you to keep design files up-to-date with the latest version of text from Ditto. Editing text in Ditto is just like editing directly in the Figma file- when you update a text item in Ditto, the text will update directly in the Figma designs the next time you resync from our Figma plugin. Ditto won't update your files unless you resync from the Figma plugin (helping you ensure updates are made only when you'd like!)

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Ditto will also add a status icon to the layer name of text items where a status has been applied in Ditto and a component icon to text that's an instance of a Ditto component.

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Learn more about resyncing to Figma ->

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How will Ditto interact with my Figma components?

Because editing text in Ditto is like editing text directly in Figma, edits to Figma components will update as you'd expect if you edited the component directly. For example, if you edit text on a main component in Figma, that change would propogate everywhere else that Figma component has been used.

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Ditto components and Figma components can also interact to help both designs and copy stay consistent. For example, we've seen teams attach Ditto components directly to the Figma components in their design system (creating a combined content- and design- system).

Learn more about how Ditto can be used alongside your Figma components ->

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