How to quickly change layer opacity in Sketch

Luke Mitchell

A sketch window, with rectangles of different opacities

You can use your keyboard to very quickly change the opacity of a layer in Sketch. Using the number keys you can set the opacity to 10% increments, hide something or set the opacity to anything between 1 and 99.

Try this: select a layer and using the keyboard type 1, the layer now has a 10% opacity. The other number keys work as you would expect:

  • 2 = 20%
  • 3 = 30%
  • 4 = 40%
  • 5 = 50%

… and so on

However, tapping 0 will return the opacity back to 100%, you could also type 100 for the same result, but this is faster.

Holding 0 will reduce the opacity to 0%, which is handy for visually hiding something, while still having it selectable in Sketch.

It doesn’t end there. You can be as granular as you like — providing you use whole numbers — for example quickly typing 25, will do exactly what you’d imagine.

What’s next

If you’re looking for more Sketch tips I recently posted about the hidden ability in Sketch to make calculations without leaving the app:

How to make quick calculations in Sketch