1 — Organize the Tools

When getting used to the new features you usually want to have the Tool icons available right away. Rightclick on the Toolbar and select Customize Toolbar. Then add the icons for Link, Preview, Hotspot and eventually Show Prototyping (it’s in the View list by default).

Adding Tools to the Toolbar

2 — Use Hotspot Overrides for Symbols

When you draw a hotspot inside of any Symbol, you can then change the hotspot target in the overrides. A side tip is to initiate a hotspot with the most common target inside the Symbols and then use overrides only if needed.

Using hotspots overrides for Symbols

3 — Change the color of Prototyping elements

You can change a color of the prototype elements appearing on Canvas such as lines and hotspots. In order to do so, go to Sketch Preferences and in the Canvas tab, change the Prototyping next to the Colors section.

4 — Use the Shortcuts

Here’s the short list of useful keyboard shortcuts for prototyping in Sketch:

H — draw a hotspot

— draw a hotspot W — adds a link to layer / group

— adds a link to layer / group Ctrl + F — shows/hides prototyping elements on canvas

— shows/hides prototyping elements on canvas Cmd + P — enters the Preview

5 — Use shorthand icons

When you add a link or a hotspot you can easily define the target pointing to the artboard on a different Page. You don’t even have to tweak it in the properties — simply hover over the icon to the top right-hand side of the artboard. You can quickly add a backlink (targeting the previous artboard) the same way pointing the icon on the top left.

Bonus Tip — Use Cloud Export

When you upload your Sketch file to the cloud, your prototype lands there, too. This way anyone can preview the prototype inside of the browser. Also, make sure you update the Sketch Mirror app in order to use the prototype directly on the device!

Where to go from here?

The best thing you can do is to experiment with prototyping in Sketch! If you want to learn more and see the prototyping tools in action, feel free to watch the video lesson on prototyping in Sketch. Plus, check out a 9-hour, always up-to-date Sketch Course on learnux.io!

— — —

Thank you! I hope you’ve learned something useful. Please, don’t hesitate to ask questions in the comments as well as to leave some warm applause for Prototyping in Sketch! 👏👏👏