Sharing design work with clients should be simple and secure. Yet many designers still share personal logins or grant edit access by default — creating version conflicts and accountability issues.
Figma's permission model gives you fine-grained control once you understand the options.
Choose the right permission level
- View — clients can comment and inspect but cannot edit. Best for most review cycles.
- Edit — use sparingly for collaborators actively contributing to the file.
- Admin — reserve for your team leads only; never for external clients.
Share at the right level
Invite clients to specific files or pages rather than entire team projects when possible. This limits accidental exposure of unrelated work-in-progress.
Use presentation links for read-only walkthroughs during meetings. Enable 'can view' link sharing only when confidentiality allows.
Best practices
Name pages clearly, lock approved frames, and document revision history in comments so feedback stays traceable.
For handoff, pair Figma access with exported specs or a developer-ready file structure. Clients appreciate knowing exactly what is final versus exploratory.
Review access quarterly and remove inactive collaborators — especially on long-running projects.