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Figma's logo on a busy canvas of teammates' cursors and comments. Maya moved Dev's comment off the Figma icon; its thread reads Maya Chen moved this, the cursor rests on Put back, and a dashed outline on the icon marks where it goes back. In the loop, Put back glides it home, Maya types Oops!, and a new comment arrives in blue while the others work around it.

Keeping Figma comments where they belong

2026

This started with my own frustration. While panning around the Figma canvas, I'd accidentally drag comments with it, and there was no way to undo the move. Where a comment sits is half of what it says, so besides an interrupted pan, I'd be left with vague comments from days ago and no clue where they belonged.

After some digging, I found I wasn't the only one. Designers on Figma's forum have reported the same frustration since 2022. So I designed a concept where panning only moves the canvas, and if a comment does get moved, it shows who moved it and gives a way to put it back.

Role
Product designer
Team
Designer (me)
Timeline
September 2026
Scope
Concept

Problem

Moving the canvas can also move the comments

Today, if you’re panning and your cursor passes over a comment, the comment gets picked up and dragged, even inside a locked frame. Zoomed out on a file full of work, a small slip can carry a pin far from where it belongs, and pressing Undo reverses your last design change instead.

The comment is left pointing at the wrong part of the design, or at nothing at all, and neither you nor anyone reviewing the file later can tell it moved.

Today in Figma, recreated: 3 checkout screens on Figma's canvas with comment pins. Holding Space, a hand pans the file, then grabs again, and the grab lands on Dev's pin, so the pin is dragged onto the blank canvas between 2 screens while the canvas stays put. Zoomed in, a label, Accidental drag, points to where the pin was. Then Ctrl Z turns the pay button from lime to grey, labeled Undid this instead, and the pin stays where it landed.
Recreated. Labels added since Figma leaves no trace.
5 Figma forum threads and 3 replies about comments moved by accident, the key lines highlighted. Panning with Space and drag moves comments from their place, and the move can't be undone or the old spot found; comments get grabbed by mistake while zoomed out and panning; Cmd Z undoes the design instead of the comment move; the hand tool shouldn't select and move comments. The replies: a daily issue, and wishes for a way to undo comment moves.
Posts from Figma's forum, highlights added.

Concept

Pan without moving the comments

Most of Figma works the way you’d expect, and panning should too. When someone moves around the canvas, every comment should stay where it is, with nothing getting dragged along by accident.

The concept, on the same file: holding Space, the same hand pans the file, then grabs again on Dev's pin, and this time the whole canvas pans, the pin riding along on the Standard delivery option. Zoomed in, a label, No accidental drag, points to the pin where it belongs.

Exploration

Fixing the pan instead of adding a lock

I started with a lock, the same kind used across design tools. The problem was the extra step. It was easy to forget, and repetitive on a file with lots of comments.

The direction I landed on was much simpler. Fix the pan. Comments stay put while panning and can still be moved with a regular click and drag. A move can still go wrong though, like moving the wrong comment or dropping it in the wrong spot.

2 cards from my first concept, in Figma's light UI, each on Figma's light canvas on a soft blue ground. Locking a comment: a thread's menu open on Lock position, which sits with the thread's other actions. Drag attempt: the pin stays put with a not-allowed badge, under a tooltip, Locked by Grant Zerlaut, with an Unlock button.

Recovery

A way back

If you catch a wrong move right away, Undo now takes back the move instead of your last design change, something other designers have asked for. But a wrong move isn’t always noticed, especially when someone else made it, so comments also needed a way to show they’d moved and get back to where they were.

I first explored notifying the comment’s author and adding a badge to every moved pin. Doing that for every move gets noisy fast, and neither says where the comment came from. The better option was a note in the comment itself, so anyone who reads it and gets confused learns right away that it moved, and who moved it.

Hovering Put back shows where the pin will go. Clicking it returns the comment to the same spot, even if the frame has moved. Anyone who can move a comment can put it back.

The concept, on the same file: the arrow drags Dev's pin off the Standard delivery option onto the blank canvas between 2 screens, where it landed in the first video. Then Ctrl Z glides it back onto the option, labeled Undid the move.
The same pin moved by mistake. This time Ctrl + Z puts it back.
3 options side by side on a soft purple ground, each a crop of Figma's light canvas. Notify the author: a notifications panel listing 3 moved comments, under it A ping for every move, not where from. Badge on moved pins, beside the checkout screen's price column: 2 pins with a small move badge, under it A mark on every move, not where from. Note where people look, in Figma's selection box as the chosen one: Dev's moved pin hovered open, its preview reading Moved by Maya Chen, under it Seen when someone reads the comment.
The way back in 3 states, each a crop of Figma's light canvas on a soft green ground. Hovering Put back: the checkout screen with a dashed ghost of Dev's pin on the Standard delivery option, a dashed path to the pin out on the blank canvas, and its thread open with the cursor on Put back. Frame moved: the checkout screen down and left of its old place, a faint dashed outline, and the ghost on the option where the screen is now. Frame deleted: no screen, and the thread's Put back is off, with the reason, Frame deleted.
Put back undoes only the latest move. A pin moved twice goes back one step, not to where it started.

Measuring success

Designers should find the way back on their own

I’d test a working prototype in a busy review file with designers who’ve had the same problem. Does moving a comment still feel natural when they mean to? And when a comment doesn’t make sense where it sits, do they spot the note and put it back without being told how?

Reflection

Forum posts showed the demand, not the behavior

Reading other designers’ frustrations on the forum showed me the problem wasn’t just mine, but it couldn’t show me how people actually work with comments. Watching or talking directly with designers would have been a stronger first step.