I’m new to Figma and trying to figure out how to rotate text vertically
I’ve been exploring Figma for my web projects and I’m stuck on something that seems basic. I need to create text that flows vertically instead of horizontally, but I can’t locate this feature anywhere in the interface.
In web development, I would normally handle this with CSS properties like:
writing-mode: vertical-lr;
text-orientation: sideways;
Does Figma have a built-in way to achieve vertical text layout? If not, what’s the best alternative approach to get the same result? I’ve looked through the text settings but maybe I’m missing something obvious.
Any help would be appreciated since this is blocking my current design mockup.
Figma doesn’t support vertical text flow like CSS writing-mode. I’ve hit this wall countless times designing layouts that need vertical text. The rotation trick works but it’s clunky - selecting text gets weird and editing becomes a pain. For basic labels, rotation’s fine. But for complex vertical layouts, I build the text horizontally first, nail the styling, then rotate last. Heads up: rotated text won’t reflow when you change the content length, so expect manual tweaks. Classic case where web beats the design tool.
Rotating text in Figma is a pain. The bounding box stays horizontal even after you rotate, which screws up spacing and auto-layout. Found this out the hard way doing sidebar navs with vertical labels. Now I duplicate the text layer before rotating so I can easily go back for edits. Pro tip: use the transform panel instead of dragging the rotation handle - you can punch in exact values like -90 or 90 degrees. Still not as good as real vertical text support, but these tricks help.
yep, you can rotate the text layer by -90 degrees. it’s not pure vertical, but it does the trick for most designs. make sure to preview it tho!
Been there with Figma’s vertical text limitations. Everyone suggests rotation but that’s just a bandaid that creates more problems later.
I automate the whole thing now. Built a workflow that takes my text, generates vertical layout programmatically, and feeds it back into my design system. Text changes don’t require manually messing with rotated layers anymore.
You can even connect this to your CMS. When stakeholders update copy, the vertical text updates automatically in your designs. No more manual rotation fixes or broken layouts.
I use Latenode for design automation like this. Build workflows that handle text transformations, connect to Figma’s API, and sync with your dev environment. Way more reliable than fighting Figma’s rotation quirks.
Check it out: https://latenode.com