How to present a prototype in Figma on Mac: step by step for beginners

Presenting a prototype is the last check before a client, a teammate or a user test sees your flow. You want it to open on the right screen, move the way you planned and fill the display cleanly. Most problems come from setup, not from the shortcut. Fix the setup first and the keys will behave.

Before you present: the setup Figma needs

Figma shows only what sits inside a frame. A frame is the board that holds one screen or one state of a screen. If a screen floats loose on the canvas, neither Preview nor Present will show it. Check each screen before you start, especially if you pasted it in from another file.

Two more things control the flow. The first is a starting point, the frame where the prototype begins. The second is the set of connections between your frames. Figma creates a starting point for you when you add the first connection between two frames, so many flows get one without extra work.

Preview or Present: which one to use on your Mac

Figma gives you two ways to run a prototype. Preview opens above the canvas, so your layers and sidebars stay in view while you test. Present opens the prototype in a new tab, which suits a full-screen demo. Use Preview to check the flow yourself. Use Present when someone else watches.

Preview has one extra trick. Click the preview icon on a flow starting point to open that flow directly. Once the preview is open, clicking another frame jumps the preview to that frame. This helps when you only need to test one screen, not the whole flow.

Set the starting frame and device settings

The starting frame decides where the prototype begins. You can set it in three places. Select a frame and use the Flow starting point section of the right sidebar. Right-click a frame and choose Add starting point. Or set the Starting Frame inside prototype settings. All three do the same job.

• Device and Model: choose a device, or No device for a plain screen.
• Background color: the color shown behind your screens in presentation view.
• Orientation: pick portrait or the sideways option. It applies to the whole prototype.
• Starting Frame: the frame where the flow begins each time you present.

Prototype settings include a preview of how the device will look, so check it before you present. Set orientation before any fine-tuning. It changes the whole prototype, not one screen. Changing it later means you test everything again.

Move through the prototype in presentation view

Once the prototype opens, the keyboard controls it. The right arrow, Space and N all move to the next frame. The left arrow goes back one frame. R restarts from the current flow's starting point. Forward and back are on by default, and you can turn them off in the Options menu.

Hotspots and on-screen arrows still work during a presentation. A viewer can click through the flow the way a real user would. If you present to a group, decide before you start who drives the keyboard. Two people pressing keys at once makes the demo hard to follow.

Scale, fit and responsive options during a demo

Press Z in presentation view to cycle through scale options. The Present Options menu offers Actual size (100%), Responsive, Fit width, Fit width and height, and Fill screen without a device. With a device, it offers Responsive or Fixed size. The device switcher at the bottom offers Fit device on screen, Zoom device to fill screen and Show device at 100%.

Each option has a condition. Fit width appears only when the device is No device or Presentation. Responsive needs constraints and auto layout on your frames. If an option is missing, check the device setting and the frame layout before you assume something is broken.

Real numbers: versions, support and recent updates

The Figma desktop app for Mac needs macOS 12 Monterey or later. It runs on both Intel and Apple silicon Macs. Figma supports each desktop version for six months after its release. The app prompts you in-app when a newer version is ready, and Figma recommends staying on the latest one.

Two recent release notes touch prototyping on desktop. The April 24, 2026 performance update, tagged Desktop app and Prototyping, reports faster vector editing, smoother Make frame rates, faster load times and fewer memory warnings. The May 1, 2026 update adds tab search and direct opening of Figma links in the macOS app.

Desktop app or browser for a Mac presentation

Core features match between the desktop app and the browser version, so most of the steps above work in both. Two Mac details matter. In the desktop app, tabs are hidden in presentation view. On Mac only, you can choose to always show them. Fonts installed on your Mac also work in the desktop app without a separate installer. A background service called FigmaAgent detects them and only accepts connections from figma.com.

The paths in these steps use the labels Figma's help pages use, such as Present in the toolbar and Flow starting point in the right sidebar. If your window looks different, search the toolbar and the right sidebar for the label rather than hunting through the menu bar.

Mistakes people make when they present a Figma prototype

• Presenting with no frames: put each screen inside a frame first.
• Skipping the starting frame: the flow opens on the wrong screen, or on none.
• Testing only in Preview: the two modes open in different places, so run one full pass in Present.
• Setting orientation last: it changes the whole prototype, so set it early.
• Expecting Responsive on a loose layout: it needs constraints and auto layout.

Rehearse on the Mac and display you will use. Use the same full-screen setup, the same keyboard and the same browser or app. A flow that works on your laptop can still surprise you on a projector. Do one full run the day before, not five minutes before the meeting.

Where Lazur helps while you present

Lazur is a voice assistant that lives in the notch of your Mac. Hold Option and Command together, ask your question, and Lazur answers out loud. Ask where a control is, and Lazur draws a circle and a label around it on screen. Ask how to do something, and Lazur guides you one click at a time, waiting for each click before it moves on.

Lazur is not a plugin or add-in for Figma. It does not click buttons, edit files or operate Figma for you. Lazur listens and looks at the screen only while you hold the shortcut. Audio and the screenshot go to AI providers to answer you and are not stored.

For more on Lazur with Figma, read AI assistant for Figma on Mac. Designers who run Figma all day can also see Figma for designers on Mac, which covers desktop setup and memory fixes.

After the demo: export frames for stakeholders

Sometimes a stakeholder wants images, not a live link. Export the frames you showed as files. Follow How to export a frame as PNG in Figma on Mac for raster images. For vector files, use How to export as SVG in Figma on Mac.