how to set export scale and suffixes in Figma for Google Drive

what do scale and suffix mean in Figma exports?

When you add an export setting to a Figma layer, you define two things: the scale multiplier and the suffix appended to the filename.

Scale controls output resolution. A frame exported at 1x produces a pixel-for-pixel render. At 2x, Figma doubles every dimension — a 100×100px frame becomes a 200×200px file. At 3x, it triples. This is how you produce assets for standard, Retina, and high-density displays from a single source frame.

Suffix is the string added to the filename before the extension. Figma's default for a 2x export is @2x, so a frame named icon exports as icon@2x.png. You can change this to anything — -2x, _hdpi, @retina, or leave it blank if you only need one size.

Together, scale and suffix let you export multiple resolutions from one layer in a single action, each file uniquely named and sized for its target context.

how do you add export settings in Figma?

Select any frame, component, or layer. In the right panel, scroll to the Export section and click the + button. Figma adds a default 1x PNG setting.

To add a second resolution, click + again. Change the multiplier from the dropdown — options include 0.5x, 1x, 1.5x, 2x, 3x, and 4x, or you can type a custom value. Figma auto-fills the suffix based on the multiplier, but you can overwrite it inline.

To export all three standard display densities at once, add three rows: 1x with no suffix, 2x with @2x, and 3x with @3x. When you export, Figma generates all three files simultaneously.

Export settings persist on the layer. The next time you open that file, the configuration is already there — no need to re-enter it.

what naming conventions work best for exported assets?

The convention you use should match your handoff target. For iOS, Apple's toolchain expects @2x and @3x — deviate from that and assets won't be recognised automatically. For Android, the convention is folder-based (drawable-hdpi, drawable-xhdpi) rather than suffix-based, so suffixes matter less there.

For web, there's no enforced standard. Common choices are @2x, -2x, and _2x. Pick one and stick to it across the project. Inconsistent naming creates lookup errors in CSS background-image declarations and srcset attributes.

For shared asset libraries delivered via Google Drive — where the consumer is a designer, not a build system — clarity beats convention. A suffix like -retina is more readable to a non-technical stakeholder than @2x, and either is better than an undifferentiated filename.

One rule that applies everywhere: no spaces in filenames. Spaces encode as %20 in URLs and break shell scripts. Use hyphens.

can you save export presets in Figma?

Not natively as named presets you can recall from a menu. Figma doesn't have a global "export preset library." But there are two practical workarounds.

The first is components. Set the export configuration once on a master component. Every instance inherits those settings. When you export a frame containing instances, the export rows are already applied.

The second is styles via copy-paste. Configure export settings on one layer, then select multiple other layers and paste the settings using the layer panel. It's not a single click, but it's faster than re-entering the values manually across a large file.

For teams that export the same asset types repeatedly — icons at 1x/2x/3x, hero images at 1x/2x — the component approach is the more scalable solution.

how do you send scaled Figma exports directly to Google Drive?

The standard Figma export flow — regardless of how many scales you've configured — writes files to your local Downloads folder. From there, you open Google Drive, navigate to the right folder, and upload manually. If you're exporting three resolutions of twenty assets, that's sixty files to manage.

Exporting directly from Figma to Google Drive removes that entire local step. ExportHub is a Figma plugin that connects to your Google Drive account and sends assets straight to a folder you choose — no Downloads folder, no manual upload.

The plugin respects the export configuration already set on each layer. If you've defined three export rows, three files are created per asset. You don't re-enter scale or suffix anywhere in the plugin — it reads what Figma already knows.

If you've ever wondered why Figma sends exports to your Downloads folder in the first place, it's a browser-level constraint that plugins like ExportHub work around through direct API access to cloud storage.

does export scale affect file size when sending to Google Drive?

Yes, significantly. A PNG exported at 2x has four times the pixel area of its 1x equivalent — file size scales roughly with the square of the multiplier, not linearly. A 1x icon at 12KB becomes approximately 48KB at 2x and 108KB at 3x.

For SVG exports, scale is irrelevant — SVG is vector-based and resolution-independent. A 1x SVG and a 3x SVG of the same frame produce identical files. If your target environment supports SVG, export once at 1x and skip the multi-scale setup entirely. The PNG vs SVG decision for Figma exports covers when each format is the right choice.

For Drive storage, file size rarely matters in practice — Google Drive's free tier is 15GB, and even a large icon set at 3x is well under a gigabyte. Where size matters is delivery: large raster assets slow down web performance if used directly from Drive via a public link.

how do you keep Drive folders organised when exporting multiple scales?

The simplest approach: one folder per scale. An icons/1x, icons/2x, and icons/3x structure keeps assets separated and makes it obvious which file to reach for. Developers working with build tools that auto-select resolution by folder path will appreciate the predictability.

The alternative is a flat folder where the suffix carries all the differentiation — icon-home.png, icon-home@2x.png, icon-home@3x.png all in one place. This works for small sets but becomes hard to scan as volume grows.

ExportHub lets you create new Drive folders from inside the plugin during export. If you're exporting a new icon set, you can create the destination subfolder on the spot without switching to a browser tab. For teams running repeated export cycles on the same project, the folder is already there from the previous run — select it and go.