If you are reading this post, you have probably already discovered the wonderful world of Sketch. But why stop there? Sketch offers an abundance of plugins that provide additional functionality and time saving features. I know, I know, you thought it couldn’t get any better, but believe me it does. Here are my top 5 Sketch plugins, just to scratch the surface.

1. Sketch Measure

Sketch offers a one click export panel that may make you chuckle at the days of slicing more than you already do. However, Sketch Measure takes it a step further. This plugin provides a toolbar with the capabilities to mark up your design document with clearly defined specs and comments. But there is more, click Spec Export and all of your document specs generate into a html page. This html page includes all design details including CSS styles and the ability to directly download assets. Long story short, your developer will LOVE you.

2. Craft

Craft is one of the most robust plugins out there. Offering you a plethora of time-saving capabilities. Let’s start from the top:

• Sync – This feature allows you to sync your screens directly to InVision. In addition, you have the ability to prototype directly in Sketch – such as linking screens and assigning mobile and desktop effects like hover states, swiping to the left or right etc. A huge time saver when prototyping for a client or an internal review!
• Styles – Generate project style sheets with one click – including document color palette, fonts and text styles. Share them with your team with ease by syncing up with the Sketch Cloud.
• Data – Bring your designs to life with real data, from text to images. This is a great resource when building mock-ups or templates where specific content is just for look and feel/filler.
• Duplicate – Easily clone content with one click. This is especially effective when building out templates with repetitive elements, such as ecommerce layouts.
• Freehand –A painless, user-friendly way to keep your team connected. Mark up pages with ease by simply sketching. This makes the Q/C process fun – well as fun as it can be..
• Stock – Populate your designs with iStock or Getty images. Search directly in this panel – completely eliminating the need to open iStock or Getty Images in your browser. The less windows the better in my book.

3. Sketch IconFont

With this plugin you now have the ability to insert icons directly from a panel that lives in Sketch. Leave the days behind of copying and pasting icon fonts into your design!

4. Segmented Circle

No more clipping, manipulating shapes, tracing with a pen tool or whatever other cumbersome tasks are involved in creating circular graphs. This plugin provides a panel of properties such as values, radius, thickness etc. and voila your segmented circle appears right before your eyes!

5. Find and Replace

This is a feature that I found myself missing in Sketch’s capabilities. However, this plugin fills that gap and more. Not only does it provide the find and replace feature, but also a plethora of advances options like the option to select specific pages and case replacement.

Well there you have it, my top 5 Sketch Plugins that I find myself reaching for on a weekly and sometimes daily basis. These plugins have without a doubt improved my workflow tremendously. Give them a go!

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