The lack of new features and speed of the product development

[Graeme Palmer]

I've been using Adobe XD since its conception around 2017 - 2018, depending on your OS. When the product launched is was the bare bones of a web design software to replace Fireworks and compete with Sketch. We were promised monthly updates, and I had assumed with Adobe's expertise XD would become the gold standard in its sector, as with Photoshop & Illustrator, to name a few. The reality is the monthly updates offer little new features, and some months are just 'improvements and bug fixes. The XD the community provide excellent feedback on features and enhancements, so there's a clear development path for the XD team. Is anyone else frustrated with the slow speed at which this product progresses?

[HARSHIKA_VERMA]

Hi Graeme Palmer,

Thank you for reaching out and sharing your feedback. We definitely value your feedback and will make sure to pass on your concern with our product team for making improvements.

Thanks,

Harshika

[Graeme Palmer]

Hi Harshika, 

Thanks for your comment. I don't understand why the team are holding back on features-started and features-under-review; see https://adobexd.uservoice.com/forums/353007-adobe-xd-feature-requests. Does Adobe not see a future in XD or a need for designing websites, software and applications?

The most requested issue with 7,820 users votes was created in  Mar 9, 2016 and still not complete. By the time the team launch this feature it will not longer be required as the industry will have moved on.

Thanks,

Graeme

[elainecc · Accepted solution]

Hi, Graeme-

Thanks for your feedback. While it's true that the highest voted thing has been around since 2016, you're looking at the ones that have been left open after we delivered on many of the features on our top 10 feature list. For instance, video support (which we introduced in October of this past year) was the #1 top voted item for years, and it was a multi-year investment to bring the feature to XD.

Some of the features were left open because we've only delivered part of the request and are working on additional improvements to close it entirely. For instance, "animate elements independently:" auto-animate allows you to animate a single item on an artboard during a transition, and animation between states in a component also allow you to animate a single item independently. But there were other aspects of the initial request that haven't yet been addressed, and we didn't want to close it completely.

We're constantly using UserVoice as one of the inputs into our roadmap prioritization, and many of the initiatives we're working on right now behind the scenes are currently multi-year investments to bring these higher impact feaures to you. We're also laser focused on performance and quality, and while those are largely invisible features, they're also a key part of what keeps people using XD as a production tool.

Hope that helps,

Elaine Chao

Sr. Product Manager, Adobe XD

[Graeme Palmer]

Hi Elaine, Two features were released in two months and one of them is text links :-0 I rest my case!

[tonygray_]

I cannot count the number of times I have been frustrated with the lack of certain features and have downloaded Sketch or tried Figma or something else. I love XD but lately so disappointed with new features. My company is all in Adobe and sometimes I feel trapped. What's the deal with XD? I seriously want to try Sketch again and see how they compare.

[Graeme Palmer]

Hi @tonygray_ , My company software situation is very similar and to compound the issue agencies we collaborate with have switched to Figma. You would think Adobe would be concerned about the uptake of Figma within the design industry.

[hallokai]

Same situation here. I was a big fan of XD from the first time. But it seems that it is common to have regularly problems with XD when using the cloud service (linked assets/bibraies or published clickdummies). That's why i doubt it to use XD for large scale projekts like design systems for bigger clients/companies. Without having regularly trouble...

Worst thing is that you loose your connection to published clickdummies or libraries when you have to change an XD file from cloud to local file and vice versa. Impossible to fix it afterworth. Or that i can't give my collegue the master rights of a xd cloud file or the option to update the published link.

If you can see, i'm pretty dissapointed in xd recently.

[Hilary5EEC]

We're literally in the process of switching to Figma right now because XD is such a hot mess. I'm still having to use XD for ongoing projects and I'm on the forums trying to find a fix for yet another bug that's apparently been around for years. XD does lack some really important features (especially around file ownership) but also I wish they would fix the bugs they have now because it's become impossible to do my work at all.

[reachpeak]

Well, I just received an email from Adobe alerting us that they've bought Figma. The emails states they'll still support XD, they are reducing their investment in it. Like you, I love XD, but I'm so tired of Adobe creating a product, promising the world, getting us to buy into it and then throwing their hands up after not being able to deliver on their promise (remember Muse). I'll now move to Figma and can't wait to see howAdobe will rationalize abandoning that platform in the future. 

[nathanielcruz]

Wow. Thank you for the heads up. It ALL makes sense now and we have all become justified. If you can’t beat ‘um… Buy ‘um (If you’ve got the $20 Billion.)

[Peter25984197pnye]

This is the worst news I've heard in awhile in the industry... Beginning of the end for Figma??? 

[Spas K.]

I'd say it's more likely they'll integrate Figma into the ecosystem. Xd has been falling behind ever since 2020 on new features. Both programs are very close when it comes to features and interface, but the Figma team has been more agile with releases and new features, finally surpassing Xd (imo) when they released variants & interactive components.

Let's hope we'll get the best of both worlds at some point.

[TheChesterCat]

The software is great, but some of the decisions which differentiate XD from other Adobe software is baffling. We can't see layers and libraries at the same time, or customise the workspace whatsoever. The text handling (on the actual UI, when renaming layers / typing values) is incredibly buggy unlike Illustrator or other Adobe programs. You can't make multiple swatches of the same colour or style, as they'll just overwrite each other unlike other Adobe programs. There's a lot of disparity that's holding this great software back.

Problems like this are massive. Speaking as a UX designer in a tech startup, I've considered switching to Figma plenty of times just to do basic things faster. The only thing keeping me here is the time I've expended at this point. Plenty of great features, but plenty of insane drawbacks. One of the best examples is the Layers and Libraries buttons being in the bottom-left of the screen. The fact that we have to switch between them is insane to begin with, but putting them in that location breaks the most fundamental UI practices and helps nobody. Tiny, hidden icons that turn out to be the most important buttons in the entire program... Go figure. (Go Figma).

[nathanielcruz]

It's Monday Aug, 1st 2022. The last update for Adobe XD was May 19, 2022 and it was for "Improvements and Bug Fixes". After convincing my team at Samsung to switch to Adobe, I find myself full of regret and sorrow. As much as I'm invested in the Adobe ecosystem It is clear now that tough and humbling decisions have to be made. I should not have pushed the team to convert to Adobe last year but thankfully it is not too late to make the switch back.

[G Palmer]

Due to the lack of any valuable features added this year, it seems Adobe has given up on XD. I think everyone is switching over to Figma now.

[Alon_Lu]

I hope not.. but yeah, something is going on with xd development. If we're not going to get pages until Adobe max it's a sign for me to move on to figma or sketch

[G Palmer]

Yes, I too wanted XD to be 'the' software to use to keep everything within the Creative Cloud and make life easier, but it's not working out that way, unfortunately. 

[tonygray_]

Please tell me the XD team has something BIG coming that will be delivered at Max this year. If Adobe is going to abandon XD tell me so I can start moving to something else.

[tonygray_]

Hey, look! an update! The XD version is jumping from 51 to 54! There have to be some major enhancements if they skipped 3 version numbers! So excited... wait what? I'm looking at the release notes here. You have to be kidding me! That's all?!

XD 2022 (version 54.0)

[Mac and Windows] Data loss due to errors 2161 and 2158.

[Windows] Text fields of object properties that can be changed with incremental values lose focus with the
Up/Down arrow keys.

[Mac and Windows] XD freezes and performance degrades during document autosave.

[Mac and Windows] If you upgrade XD and then open a coediting document, XD crashes for you and your
coeditor.

XD 2022 (version 51.0)

[Windows] XD throws error 1002 when launching.

[Mac] Export Assets window (File > Export) doesn't open in XD.

[nathanielcruz]

This is unreal. Deeply dissapointed. Not sure the MAX event will hold enough excitement to redeem this year.

[Alon_Lu]

This is what I feel. I decided to cancel my XD subscription and I moved to figma. I can't hold hopes.. the fact that there are no answers about this subject on the forum is a bad sign. Paying costumers deserve answers. I wanted to wait until max but my gut feeling is that we are going to be disappointed. 

[Peter25984197pnye]

I feel the exact same way Tony. I'm now in the process of moving everything to Figma. Adobe does this every year, they put too much emphasis on Max, only release bug fixes for the upcoming months and then release features we don't really care for at Max. Leadership needs an overhaul.

[Rai Deck]

I don't understand it either. XD has really developed quite well, but nothing has happened in the last few months. My feeling is that something is fundamentally wrong at Adobe, they no longer act, but always react frantically to the more innovative competition (see Adobe Express), but then do not manage to establish real new good software on the market (first Adobe Muse, now Adobe XD dead?). Old flagships like Photoshop, InDesign or even Acrobat are maintained only laboriously or almost not at all, whereby also the quality assurance is no longer correct (for example with the Photoshop update 23.4.), which actually destroyed whole files! And now again the slow death of XD, which should actually be provided with monthly updates. All very disturbing indeed. What does Elaine Chao (Sr. Product Manager of Adobe XD) actually say about this?

[DGB-27Z]

And now we know why.