AI Editing: Rename Layers, Content, Images & Search
First Draft gets a screen on the canvas. The next set of tools is what saves you time every single day: the small AI edits that used to be tedious manual work. Renaming a mountain of layers, writing realistic placeholder copy, cleaning up an image, or finding that one component buried in a huge file. Individually each is a few seconds saved. Together they change how fast you can work.
This lesson is a hands-on tour of Figma's native AI editing tools. None of them need a plugin. All of them start the same way: select something, then right-click.
What You'll Learn
- How to rename messy layers in one pass
- How to generate and adjust text content with AI
- How to make and clean up images without leaving Figma
- How to find anything in a file with visual search
Rename layers: the one-click cleanup
Every Figma file drifts into chaos: "Frame 47," "Rectangle 12," "Group copy 3." Developers and teammates cannot read it, and neither can you a week later. Rename layers fixes the whole file at once.
Select a frame or a set of layers, right-click, and choose the rename layers action. Figma reads the structure and gives everything a meaningful, human-readable name, like "Header," "Nav item," or "Price card." It is the fastest possible way to make a file professional before handoff. Run it right before you share a file with a developer and you will look far more organized than you feel.
Content tools: text without the busywork
AI content tools live in the right-click menu whenever text is selected. The most useful ones:
- Replace content swaps generic placeholder text (the same "Lorem ipsum" repeated everywhere) for varied, realistic-looking content that fits each field. Your mockup instantly looks more real.
- Rewrite adjusts tone. Turn a blunt line into something warmer, or a wordy one into something punchy.
- Shorten trims text to fit a tight space, like a button or a card, without you fiddling word by word.
- Translate converts selected copy into another language so you can preview a localized layout.
A practical move: design with real-sounding content from the start using replace content. Layouts that use realistic copy expose problems (a headline that is too long, a card that overflows) that fake repeated text hides.
Image tools: a mini photo editor inside Figma
Figma packs a surprising amount of image AI. Select an image, right-click, and you will find:
- Make an image generates a brand-new image from a written prompt, so you can drop in a visual without opening another app.
- Edit image with a prompt changes an existing image by describing the change.
- Remove background isolates the subject, perfect for product shots and portraits.
- Boost resolution sharpens a low-quality image.
- Expand image extends an image past its original edges to fill a larger frame.
- Vectorize converts a flat raster image into editable vector shapes.
- Select area lets you isolate or erase just part of an image.
These replace a lot of quick trips to a separate image editor. For a hero section, you might make an image from a prompt, expand it to fill the frame, then remove the background from a product photo layered on top, all without leaving the file.
Visual search: find anything, fast
In a large file or team library, finding the right component or screen is its own chore. Figma's visual search solves it three ways:
- Search by keyword or description ("primary button," "empty state").
- Search with an image or a selection, so you can find things that look like what you already have.
- Use find more like to surface similar assets to one you selected.
This matters most on real projects with big component libraries. Instead of scrolling endlessly, you describe or point at what you need.
Choosing the right tool
When you are not sure which editing tool fits, match the tool to the job:
Match the native editing tool to the task in front of you.
| Criteria | Rename layers | Replace content | Image tools | Visual search |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Use it to | Clean up file structure | Fill mockups with realistic text | Create or fix visuals | Locate assets and screens |
| Best moment | Right before handoff | Early, while laying out | When you need a visual now | In big files and libraries |
| Starts from | Select layers, right-click | Select text, right-click | Select image, right-click | Search or quick actions |
Rename layers
- Use it to
- Clean up file structure
- Best moment
- Right before handoff
- Starts from
- Select layers, right-click
Replace content
- Use it to
- Fill mockups with realistic text
- Best moment
- Early, while laying out
- Starts from
- Select text, right-click
Image tools
- Use it to
- Create or fix visuals
- Best moment
- When you need a visual now
- Starts from
- Select image, right-click
Visual search
- Use it to
- Locate assets and screens
- Best moment
- In big files and libraries
- Starts from
- Search or quick actions
Try it now
Take any messy practice file and do three things in order. First, select the top frame and run rename layers. Second, select a text block and use replace content to make it realistic. Third, drop in any photo and remove its background. In under two minutes you have used the three most common daily AI edits in Figma.
Key Takeaways
- Rename layers cleans an entire file's structure in one click, ideal before developer handoff.
- Content tools (replace, rewrite, shorten, translate) remove text busywork and make mockups realistic.
- Figma has a built-in image editor: make, edit, remove background, boost, expand, vectorize, and select area.
- Visual search finds components and screens by keyword, description, image, or selection.
- Every native edit starts the same way: select the element, then right-click.