A new Artboard picker, better vectors and more in Sketch 44

Hot on the heels of Sketch 43, we’ve used this release to focus on one of Sketch’s most fundamental features — Artboards. We’ve also added better support for missing fonts, dramatically improved resizing controls and added a great new feature to Sketch Cloud. Here’s an overview of the headline updates in Sketch 44:

• The Artboard picker has been overhauled and Artboards themselves can now adjust their content when resized
• We’ve introduced a new way to handle missing fonts in your documents
• Rounded corners on vector paths now have more accurate curves
• We’ve redesigned resizing controls to be more powerful and flexible
• You (and others) can now comment on Artboards you’ve shared in Sketch Cloud
• Over 40 other improvements and bug fixes, including a new Touch Bar button and keyboard shortcut for opening and closing paths

Updates to Artboards

They might not be the most exciting feature, but Artboards are a common starting point for so many Sketch projects. They’re already pretty flexible, but we figured they could do more for you in Sketch 44.

With this release, we’ve redesigned the Artboard picker to make it clearer and more flexible. We’ve simplified that long list of Artboard presets — splitting them up into categories that you can select using a drop-down menu. Also, instead of having a preset for each orientation of a device, you can now select portrait or landscape using a set of dedicated buttons. The result? Creating and controlling Artboards is now quicker and easier than ever before.

Better still, you can now select an Artboard and change its size on the fly by selecting a new preset in the Inspector. If you want to create a new preset, it’ll now take into account the size of the Artboard you have selected.

We’ve made it easier for you to select multiple Artboards in Sketch 44, too. Simply click and drag on the Canvas and ensure that all of the Artboards you want are fully contained within your selection.

Finally — and this is a big one — you can now have an Artboard adjust the size of its contents as you resize the Artboard itself. We reckon this will seriously speed up the design process as you work across different screen sizes.

A new way to handle missing fonts

If you’re used to collaborating on designs with other Sketch users, there’s a good chance that (at some point) you’ll have been sent a document containing fonts that you’re missing. Having your whole design thrown slightly by a font change is never fun, but we hope this update will at least make it a little easier to deal with.

If you find yourself in this position with Sketch 44, you’ll now be notified about missing fonts and we’ll give you a couple of options to help fix this.

Even if you don’t have the font you need for the document you’re working on, we’ve made sure you’ll know about it, so you can adjust your work accordingly.

More powerful and flexible resizing controls

Select an object inside a group or Artboard and you’ll see a big change in the Inspector. We’ve completely overhauled Sketch 44’s resizing tools to be more powerful and flexible.

Firstly, the new controls are clearer and more intuitive. We’ve taken away the guesswork of figuring out which edge an object will pin to by giving you the option to choose yourself. Secondly, along with more powerful pinning, resizing itself is more flexible. In Sketch 44, you can select whether an object’s height or width (or both) change as you resize its parent.

We think these controls will make a huge difference to how you use resizable and responsive objects in your workflow.

Improved rounded corner handling on vector paths

Previously in Sketch, rounded corners on vector paths weren’t always handled correctly when the angle of the paths going into a point was particularly wide or narrow. That meant some shapes didn’t look quite right.

With Sketch 44, we’ve improved this behaviour, so rounded corners run smoothly, particularly when you choose to round a straight point type that’s connected to a curve.

Sketch Cloud gets commenting

Sketch Cloud is great for quickly sharing your designs with colleagues for feedback, but there’s been a missing piece to the puzzle…until now.

The Sketch 44 update coincides with a fresh version of Sketch Cloud — one that includes commenting. Now, right alongside your Artboards in Sketch Cloud, you’ll see a comments area where anyone you’ve shared your design with can leave their thoughts on what you’ve been working on. It’s ideal for quick rounds of feedback as you work on your next big project.

To make collaboration and feedback even easier, we’ve also updated Sketch Mirror so it’ll open and display any Sketch Cloud link that’s shared with you.

Over 40 other improvements, changes and bug fixes based on your feedback

As ever, thanks for all of your feedback and suggestions — it’s what makes Sketch great. Here are a few highlights of other changes you’ll see in Sketch 44:

• We’ve updated our iOS UI template with new styles, nested Symbols and improved overrides
• There’s now a Touch Bar button and keyboard shortcut (Option-Command-O) for opening and closing a path
• Symbols and Shared (Text) Styles now show nested menus when swapping via the Inspector
• There’s a new menu item to move a layer up in the hierarchy

You can find a full list of bug fixes and improvements on our updates page.

Sketch 44 is a free update for everyone with an active license. If you need to renew your license, you’ll get Sketch 44 and a whole year’s worth of updates after that.

Do let us know what you think of this update — we’d love to hear from you. If you’ve got questions or feedback, you can get in touch with us visa our support page or join in the conversation on Twitter.

Stay tuned for news about Sketch 45 — we’re already working hard on it!