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Unity Editor Tips and Tricks

In this tutorial, you’ll learn some useful tips to speed up and streamline your development workflow in the Unity Editor.

In this video, Unity creators share some of their best tips and tricks to help you develop your confidence in the Editor.

Overview

When working in the Unity Editor, it’s essential to know how to 

efficiently. On the leftmost side of the 

overlay. For each of these tools, a gizmo will appear around the selected GameObject, allowing you to manipulate it along specific axes. Alternatively, you can switch between the six tools using the corresponding hotkeys:

view. A good way to think about it is like controlling a drone camera — it allows you to move freely and examine your GameObjects from any angle or distance.

 This tool lets you move GameObjects along each axis. At the center of the 

gizmo, you’ll find three small squares that let you drag the GameObject within a single plane — meaning you can move along two axes at once while the third remains fixed.

 By clicking and dragging any of the three colored circles on the

gizmo, this tool allows you to rotate the selected GameObject around the corresponding axis. You can also use the outermost circle to rotate the GameObject around the Z-axis from the 

 This tool allows you to resize a GameObject evenly on all axes by dragging the cube at the center of the 

gizmo. You can also scale individual axes.

 This tool is used for positioning 2D elements, such as sprites or UI components. It combines the 

 tools into a single gizmo, making it especially useful for 2D workflows.

 tools. Its gizmo provides handles for movement and rotation.

 If you look at your keyboard, you’ll notice that the hotkeys for each tool are arranged in the same order as the tools appear in the 

 overlay — they’re placed next to each other along the top left of the letter keys — this layout is intentional to make switching between tools quicker and more intuitive during development.

Scene view navigation tools

 tools is an essential skill in Unity, which allows you to position, scale, and view your GameObjects efficiently in 3D space. With these tools and some practice, you can develop habits to get the results you want quickly and easily. For further guidance, check out the 

view, and drag to orbit around the current pivot point — this method is not available in 2D view.

to increase the rate of movement and zooming.

A more complex navigation method is using 

 — similar to flying around in first person, which is common in many games. To do this, click and hold the right mouse button and use the following keyboard shortcuts:

 to move the view left/right/forward/backward.

 Flythrough mode is not available in 2D mode. Instead, use the 

tool while using the arrow keys to move left/right/up/down.

Scene view navigation techniques

By default, the entire Editor becomes slightly darker when you enter Play mode. However, by default this change is subtle and can be hard to notice. And if you're unaware that you're in Play mode, you might accidentally make changes that won't be saved.

To prevent this and avoid losing work, you’ll adjust the Play mode tint to make it more obvious when Play mode is active.

color to have a subtle color instead of gray.

The color should be very noticeable, but still allow you to read the text in the other Editor windows.

If the color needs further adjustments, return to the 

 Remember to exit Play mode before continuing to make more changes; if you don’t, your changes will be lost.

Change your Play mode tint color

When you enter Play mode in Unity, you might notice a short delay before the 

 view loads, along with a small dialog. This delay happens because Unity is reloading the domain and the scene from zero. 

 is a dedicated section of memory for your project’s compiled code and current application state (like variable values, static counters, and object references). By default, Unity reloads the domain and scene when entering Play mode so the game starts fresh — just like it would in a new build. For a more detailed explanation on this matter, check out the 

Details of disabling domain and scene reload

While this reset helps testing accuracy, it also slows down testing, especially if you frequently switch between Edit and Play mode. For faster playtesting, you can turn off domain and/or scene reloading. To change this setting, follow these instructions:

window, in the leftmost panel, select the 

 dropdown and select one of the following options:

: Resets the domain to the base state (variables, static data, etc.) but keeps the current scene.

: Keeps the current domain as it is (variables, static data, etc.) but reloads the scene from scratch.

: Keeps both the scene and domain state exactly as they were when entering Play mode last time.

For small projects that don’t rely on saved domain data or major scene changes, we recommend using the 

 option to speed up testing significantly. Check out the 

Enter Play mode with domain reload disabled

 documentation to learn how to manually reset your game state in code if needed.

Disable reloading domain when entering Play mode

 window has some useful hidden features that can speed up your development workflow. Below, you’ll learn two of them. If you’d like to explore more, check out the full 

When you need to compare settings between multiple GameObjects, or edit a single GameObject while referencing others, you can lock the

window on a specific GameObject or asset. This ensures the 

 window doesn’t change even if you select something else. To lock the 

button. can now freely select, move, or modify other GameObjects in the Editor without changing the 

Copy/paste component’s values between GameObjects

Sometimes you might want multiple GameObjects to share identical component settings, or duplicate a component’s setup within the same GameObject. Instead of adding a new component and adjusting each value manually, you can copy and paste the component’s values.

Select the GameObject with the component you want to copy.

2.  Paste the copied component as a new one:

The copied component will be added with the same values as the original.

3.  Paste only the values into an existing component of the same type:

) of the same type component on this GameObject.

The component will now match the original’s settings.

Inspector window’s hidden features

Sometimes you might want to quickly locate all GameObjects with a specific component in your scene — for example, every 

 component. Instead of manually scanning through long lists, you can use Unity’s 

  Enter the name of the component you want to find, then press 

You can also use this method to find assets in the 

A dropdown will open with all the available types of assets you can have in your project (such as 

dropdown, select the desired type and you’ll get all the assets of this type inside your project.

Sometimes you might want to prevent a GameObject from being selected or temporarily hide it in the 

When this button is disabled, the object can no longer be selected or moved in the 

 view. This is useful when you want to protect an object’s position or values from accidental changes.To lock a GameObject, follow these 

 window, find the GameObject you want to lock.

 On the far left of its name, select the 

When this button is disabled, the GameObject is not visible anymore in the 

 view. This is useful when you need to declutter the 

 view and focus on specific elements. To hide a GameObject, follow these instructions:

 window, find the GameObject you want to hide.

  On the far left of its name, select the 

The Hierarchy window’s hidden features


You’ve just learned some useful tips and tricks that can speed up your workflow and make your Unity development be more efficient. These tips are just the start. We recommend checking out the 

Unity Version 6.2