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Adobe XD December Update: The One with Text Underline

almost 6 years ago from , Design Marketing, UI/UX @ Adobe

Hi Everyone,

Building on our November release which included features like Design Specs (Beta) and Layout Grid, our latest update is here, delivering some of the top requested features from the community:

  • Text underline: It’s finally here! With over a thousand votes in Uservoice and customer feedback that this was a must from day one, we’ve been working hard to deliver this functionality. Though it seems like it would be a small task, we had overcome a few technical hurdles but we resolved to deliver a high-quality experience that handles descenders appropriately. Now you can apply an underline with a keyboard shortcut or a button in the property inspector. Underline leaves space for characters with descenders such as y and g.

  • Options for Stroke Align Type: Better control the appearance of your design by toggling quickly between inside, outside, and center stroke align for shapes and closed paths in XD.

  • Graphics editing in Photoshop: Right click on a raster graphic in the Creative Cloud Libraries window to edit it in Photoshop.

  • Adobe Stock licensing: Quickly begin licensing stock imagery from the Creative Cloud Libraries window.

  • Prototype publishing enhancements: Disable or enable hotspot hints as well as set your prototype to display in fullscreen mode before publishing your prototype for an improved user testing and more.

For more details on what’s new, check out our release blog here

We’d love to hear what you think about this update! Please leave questions, comments, or suggestions below.

Thank you, Kyle from the XD Team

51 comments

  • the lefty, almost 6 years ago

    wow....so cool that i can now underline my text in 2017. booooring.

    17 points
    • Aaron Wears Many HatsAaron Wears Many Hats, almost 6 years ago

      Fuck, there's just no pleasing people

      20 points
      • Matt C, almost 6 years ago

        Look, I'm happy xD added underlining, but this is basically like a restaurant advertising "We now have spoons!" I could see why some people would have a cynical response. The gigantic, almost satirical gif didn't help them much here either.

        11 points
        • Aaron Wears Many HatsAaron Wears Many Hats, almost 6 years ago

          It's probably more a directed, DN-only response to the literally endless comments by Sketch fanboys going "hur hur, but do you have underlining yet?". I have almost no doubts it would have been nothing more than a single bullet point in the release notes otherwise.

          3 points
        • Kyle Galle, almost 6 years ago

          Hi Matt, thank you for the comment. We heard feedback from users about the absence of underline text in XD. We committed to delivering on that request and making users aware of when the feature became available.

          As a member of the community, we invite discussion on where we are going and what you think. Thank you for taking the time to share your thoughts.

          1 point
      • Nathan NNathan N, almost 6 years ago

        Why should we be excited about basic features that should be boilerplate?

        0 points
    • Kyle Galle, almost 6 years ago

      the lefty, we continue to add new features to XD. What would you like to see in 2018?

      1 point
      • A. N.A. N., almost 6 years ago

        I would love to see XD with the same interaction InDesign has with Photoshop files, for instance, the ability to turn on and off layer(s) of a PSD file straight in XD.

        By the way, I'm really enjoying how XD is turning in to. Keep up with the new features. Cheers!

        0 points
        • Kyle Galle, almost 6 years ago

          Hi Andre, thank you for the feedback. Glad you are enjoying using XD. The team is looking at making the workflow from Photoshop to XD easier. You can upvote this request here.

          1 point
      • Cristian MoiseiCristian Moisei, almost 6 years ago

        A less half assed (separate window) version of CC Libraries? Design Specs looks pretty cool though, nice work on that.

        0 points
  • Jude DiasJude Dias, almost 6 years ago

    Although, this should've been there from day one, I can appreciate the fact the XD team putting in the time and energy to implement these features to the tool. Keep the updates coming.

    6 points
  • Dave McCarthyDave McCarthy, almost 6 years ago

    Epic! Now I can mock up links haha

    4 points
  • Adam Trabold, almost 6 years ago

    Awesome to see some of these features we're been needing for so long finally see light of day!

    Any news on when we'll be able to edit and share design libraries from within XD? Right now XD's library feature is honestly basically useless to me, as they can't be shared across documents, and I don't create or manage really any pieces of our products (other than icons/illustrations, so ok useless is maybe a tad too far) in other apps (nor do I want to).

    This is the singular 'killer feature' that has me still thinking I'm going to end up switching to InVision studio when it comes out if it's any good, or just giving up and finally going over to Sketch if it isn't. The secondary one is integration with AE...creating marketing videos from XD files is a giant pain currently.

    2 points
    • Jonathan Pimento, almost 6 years ago

      Hi Adam,

      The team is working on adding cross document capabilities for symbols, colors and character styles. I understand how important it is to be able to share assets between XD documents as well as across other applications in Creative Cloud, I can assure you that we have this on our roadmap.

      Jonathan Pimento Product Manager - Adobe XD

      3 points
  • Tom CTom C, almost 6 years ago

    While I get it that DN is an open board for everything about design, but it seems that we're going to get a monthly summary (or more often) with XD updates posted by.. Adobe.

    IMHO this falls into "Advertisement" category, plus there's only a fraction of people here interested in XD. Can mods do something about it?

    2 points
    • Marek LMarek L, almost 6 years ago

      You would have to remove half of the content here as lots of stuff fall into some kind of ad category.

      5 points
    • Jernej Horvat, almost 6 years ago

      Not sure where you are getting your information that there are "only a fraction of people interested in XD".

      5 points
      • Tom CTom C, almost 6 years ago

        There are numerous existing design tools, most available for Windows. Adobe has proven from day 1 that XD is a pet of a product manager who woke up a bit too late and now is being rushed by his big boss. With all the features XD still lacks as of late 2017, and new tools coming up, I think its popularity is fractional, although I might have exaggerated a bit ;)

        Personally, I've tried it for a month, and I thought it was just slowing me down. Not even thinking to try it out again.

        1 point
    • Stuart McCoyStuart McCoy, almost 6 years ago

      To be fair, we do get a lot of updates about Sketch as well. It does seem like this has become a community for UI/UX people and not graphic designers.

      0 points
      • Tom CTom C, almost 6 years ago

        Sketch updates are usually posted by designers not affiliated with Sketch. But you're right, Invision is posting stuff here..

        1 point
    • Kyle Galle, almost 6 years ago

      Hi Tom, thank you for the feedback. The goal of the post is to invite discussion within the community about what the team is delivering and where we're headed.

      0 points
  • Nice ShoesNice Shoes, almost 6 years ago

    Can we control the weight of the underline?

    1 point
  • Bill SandersBill Sanders, almost 6 years ago

    XD isn't the most fully-featured prototyping tool, but it's a pleasure to use

    1 point
  • Giulio Cuscito, almost 6 years ago

    Ok is nice to see that huge improvement! Maybe for 2018 you will put rulers? BTW i started to use Sketch! :D

    1 point
  • Jason FullerJason Fuller, almost 6 years ago

    It's refreshing to see constant updates to XD however for me personally the 2 biggest things I would like to see is major reduction in exported PDF exports (XD produces massive file size PDF's compared to say indesign) & colour management.

    1 point
    • Marek LMarek L, almost 6 years ago

      Color management what for?

      0 points
      • Jason FullerJason Fuller, almost 6 years ago

        At the moment XD has no colour management which means if working with a high Gamut display like a MacBook Pro colours are really saturated in XD but then in exported PDF's / jpgs they become desaturated. Colour management would mean consistent colours.

        2 points
    • Kyle Galle, almost 6 years ago

      Hi Jason, glad you enjoy seeing the frequent updates! In regard to the PDF export size, I will check with the team. A few other users had a similar comment here. Please feel free to add any additional details about the issue you are seeing. You can also upvote this feature request here on additional PDF export options.

      Color management is something that we are hearing consistent feedback from the community. I would encourage you to add your vote here.

      0 points
      • Jason FullerJason Fuller, almost 6 years ago

        Hi Kyle,

        Thanks for your response, I've upvoted the items and added comments.

        Is there anyway you can feedback to me on the export size?

        0 points
    • Peter Flynn, over 5 years ago

      Jason, could you share with us an example of an XD file that produces huge PDF output? You can email me at pflynn and I'll make sure it gets to the right people to investigate.

      0 points
  • Jason Kanzler, almost 6 years ago

    can't remember the last time i ever even underlined text but ok

    1 point
    • Kyle Galle, almost 6 years ago

      Hi Jason, thank you for the comment. Do you use XD now? Is there anything you would like to see become available in XD?

      2 points
      • Stuart McCoyStuart McCoy, almost 6 years ago

        See subform and take copious notes. The web and mobile design is responsive. XD should be as well.

        Also, bring in After Effects-like timeline animations (or Edge Animate-like versus Animate CC-like). Timelines should be object oriented not just global for an entire art board. For instance, I might want to create a few animated icons or animate state change. I don't want to dig through a long timeline, I want to click an object and bring up the individual properties that can be key-framed, motion graphed, and animated. This could be individual lines in an icon or the state change between art boards or buttons. It could be the pop-up or slide-in of a navigation menu or modal window. Animation and access to scripting are key tools that need to be baked into any UI/UX tool.

        1 point
        • Kyle Galle, almost 6 years ago

          Hi Stuart, I appreciate the feedback. The team is looking at ways to bring responsive/adaptive design to XD. If you have not already, lend your vote here.

          In regard to animation, are using After Effects to achieve these animations or other tools ? This is on the team's radar and they are looking, as you suggest, at how to provide something that is simple to use. If you haven't already, upvote this request here

          0 points
  • Eduardo Tello, almost 6 years ago

    People at Adobe must know what Figma and Sketch do. They cannot be prowd for the main feature of the release being underline text.

    Adobe still have a long way to go... better step up their game. Sketch isn't gonna stay the same for much more, and Figma's becoming the one we look up to everyday.

    0 points
    • Kyle Galle, almost 6 years ago

      Hi Eduardo, thank you for the comment. We are consistently delivering new capabilities and enhancements in XD. There is a lot more coming in 2018! Is there something specific that you would like to see?

      0 points
    • Connor Tomas O'BrienConnor Tomas O'Brien, almost 6 years ago

      Shipping half a dozen new features a month isn't bad – I'm pretty happy with XD's progression over the last year! Adobe is a big company but XD is a new tool, and I think considered, gradual progression is the smart way to develop, instead of whacking together a slapdash Figma/Sketch clone.

      3 points