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Table Layout Switcher

A Figma plugin that flips a table between row and column auto layout without rebuilding it.

My role
Design Engineer
Team
Just me
Year
2025
The plugin's page on the Figma Community

Outcome

  1. 100% usage within Ab Initio design team.
  2. Figma Community: 26 installs, 5 likes, and 1 comment. “Thank you, small function but useful.”

Auto layout was too rigid

At Ab Initio, every Figma I touched had a data table. I designed data processing flows, which meant editing and resizing columns, rows, and cells every day. If the table was row-based and I needed to resize a column, I had to pick cells out of each row and resize them one by one.

A flexible solution

In January 2025 I designed, coded, and shipped Table Layout Switcher. This Figma plugin allows users to flexibly switch between rows and columns without any property loss of cells; since launch, it became part of the team’s daily workflow.

Later that year Figma launched Grid. However, this new feature still does not give users the full power of row or column based auto layout, which my plugin still allows.

Switching a table from row-based to column-based auto layout

Letting real use cases drive iteration

The simple case worked well and was enough to feel instantly valuable. However, there were later issues with tables that had hidden columns, mixed row heights, annotation layers, and row fills.

Instead of thinking of every single edge case before launching, my philosophy is to ship an MVP and let real use cases drive iteration. Since then, I’ve launched 6 new versions.