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• Guide to libraries in Figma

  Before you start

  Who can use this feature

  Anyone on Education, Professional, Organization, and Enterprise plans can publish libraries. Anyone on any plan can access published libraries.

  Anyone with can edit permission to a file can publish styles and components to a library.

  A library lets you reuse components and styles across your design files. You can select the components and styles you’d like to share, publish them as a library, and access the library from other files.

  Note: You can update a library’s components and styles by navigating to the file where they were initially published and modifying the original versions.

  Build libraries

  Create the styles and main components that define your brand. Publish these styles and components as a library.

  • Styles in Figma
  • Manage and share styles
  • Apply styles to layers and objects
  • Create styles for colors, text, effects and, layout grids
  • Create and use variants
  • Create and use component variants
  • Create components to reuse in designs

  Manage and share

  Continue to develop, iterate and refine your styles and components, and publish your changes to the library. Figma will keep a detailed record of your changes in the file's version history.

  • Name and organize components
  • Publish styles and components to a library
  • Make changes to main components
  • Create branches and merge changes
  • Move published components between files
  • Unpublish a library to remove it for all collaborators

  Access libraries

  Enable libraries in team files to allow members to view and use them across their files. Designers and collaborators receive updates to styles and components, making sure they're always using the latest version.

  • Enable libraries in drafts, teams, and files
  • Accept updates from a library
  • Remove a file from your libraries
  • Add and remove libraries in an organization
  • Track library and component usage

  Use styles and components

  Create local instances of components and apply styles to layers in your files. Override properties of local instances or detach them to customize further. Swap individual instances or swap entire style and component libraries.

  • Create an instance of a component
  • Apply overrides to instances
  • Swap between instances in a file
  • Detach instances from their main component
  • Swap style and component libraries
    There are a few different contexts for swapping your libraries: 
    • Manage missing libraries
    • Swap between style themes
    • Swap styles and instances in bulk
• Add style and component descriptions

  Documentation makes sure the people using your design system have the right information and context. It can help guide proper application, variant and state usage, and accessibility and contrast requirements.

  Documentation is not just for designers, it’s also important to consider other people who will be using your design system. This includes the developers who will be implementing your designs.

  At the moment, there are a few ways to incorporate design system documentation in your Figma libraries:

  • Give styles and components meaningful names
  • Add short descriptions to styles and components
  • Add links to external documentation to components
  • Add descriptions to any library updates

  Tip! Looking for more guidance around style and component libraries? Check out these best practice guides:

  • Components, styles, and shared libraries →
  • Component architecture in Figma →

  Components

  You can attach a short description and a link to your components. This allows you to better communicate a component’s intended use.

  Figma will look at component descriptions when returning search results. So you can use descriptions to tag components with relevant keywords. It won’t be possible to capture every detail in this description field, so have a think about what information will be most important.

  If you have design system documentation in an external tool, you can add a link to that documentation. This appears as a View documentation button. Figma shows a custom button if your link is from any of these domains:

  • Github → View in Github
  • Notion → View in Notion
  • Storybook → View in Storybook
  • Zeroheight → View in Zeroheight
  • Confluence → View in Confluence
  • Dropbox Paper → View in Paper

  

  Note: If you combine existing components as a component set, Figma will apply any existing links and descriptions to the individual variants. You can view and edit this description when you have the variant selected.

  Add descriptions and links

  Add a description and any links to your main components. You’ll need edit access to the library file to add or update descriptions. You can add descriptions and links to:

  • Main components, including those with component properties
  • Entire component sets and individual variants in a component set

  1. Open the file where your component library lives. If you have an instance selected, you can select Go to main component in library to view the component in the library file.
  2. Select main component, component set or a specific variant within the component set.
  3. Click to open the Documentation details:
  4. Fill in one or both fields:
     • How to use this component: Add a description to this field. Figma will look at this description when searching for components, so you can use this field to tag relevant keywords.
     • Link to documentation: Add a link to external documentation or a file with further explanations or guidance.
  5. Click or anywhere outside the modal to apply changes.

  Figma will show descriptions and links in common style and component locations in files. View component descriptions and links ↓

  Styles

  There are a few tools you can use to help guide people toward the right styles for their designs.

  You can use the slash or dash naming process to organize your styles into groups. We recommend giving your styles names that are relevant to their use case.

  You can also add descriptions to styles. Descriptions allow you to show extra information about a style’s intended usage. You can view a style’s description when you hover over the style in the style picker.

  Add style descriptions

  Add a description to the style definition in the library file. You need to create a style before you can add a description to it.

  1. Click an empty spot in the canvas.
  2. In the Design panel, view any style definitions in the file.
  3. Hover over the style and click when it appears:
  4. In the Edit style menu add a Description using the field.
  5. Click outside the menu or use the to close the menu.

  Tip! You can find and open the style definition from any layer that uses that style:

  1. Select a layer that supports that style.
  2. Click to open the style picker.
  3. Hover over the style and click when it appears.
  4. In the View style menu, click Go to style definition to edit:

  Libraries

  You can also add descriptions when publishing updates to your library. These descriptions show in both the library modal and in the file’s version history and are great for communicating high-level changes to your library.

  

  We recommend using these descriptions in addition to component and style descriptions. Style and component descriptions are visible to anyone who interacts with the style or description. Library descriptions are only available at a file and library level, so have much less visibility.

  Figma will show a notification in any files with styles and components from that library. You can view a list of updated styles and components and the description (if included). Review and accept library updates →

  View descriptions and documentation

  You can view descriptions and links when interacting with styles and components in these places:

  Inspect panel

  Anyone with can view or can edit access can access component details in the Inspect panel.

  1. View the name of the component or instance.
  2. View the description. If the component or instance is a variant, you’ll see descriptions for both the component set and the variant.
  3. Click the link or button to view further documentation.
  4. If the component lives in another file, you’ll also see a Go to main component in library icon to view the component in the library file.

  

  Instance menu in right sidebar

  View component details in the instance section of the Design panel in the right sidebar. You need edit access to the file to access the Design panel.

  1. Figma shows a preview of the description underneath the component / instance name.
  2. Click Show more to view the full description and link in the documentation window. Click outside of the modal or use the button to close.
  3. Collaborators can also click to view the original library file. This is great if you have additional guidance for how to use components.

  

  Assets panel

  You can view component names and descriptions in the Assets panel. Figma will also use component descriptions when you search for a component.

  Hover over the component in the Assets panel of the left sidebar to view the component’s details. You can see both the component name and description from list or grid view.

  You need to have can edit access to a file to open the Assets panel. You’ll only need view access to the library to use components from that library.

  

  Style picker

  View the style name and description from the style picker.

  1. Click to open the style picker.
  2. Hover over a style to view the style description in a tooltip:
• Publish styles and components

  Who can use this feature

  Anyone on Education, Professional, Organization, and Enterprise plans.

  Anyone with can edit access to a file can publish it to team libraries.

  When you first create styles and components, you can only access them in the current file. Publish styles and components to a library to share them with others, or use them in other files or projects. 

  Browse published styles and components in the library modal and enable libraries to access them in drafts and team or organization files.

  Who can publish styles and components

  • Education plan: team members with can edit team permissions can publish styles and components.
  • Professional plan: only team members with an editor design role on the team can publish styles and components.
  • Organization and Enterprise plans: only members with editor design role can publish styles and components.

  Caution: Libraries are a paid feature. You can still create and use components and styles on the free Starter plan, but you can't publish them to access them in other files.

  Publish styles and components

  You can choose exactly which styles and components you want to publish using the checkboxes. You can also hide components in your file throughout the publishing process.

  View, manage, and publish libraries from the Library modal. The publishing process is the same for new libraries, as well as changes to existing libraries.

  There are a few ways to access the Library modal from within a file:

  • A

    Editor toolbar

    1. Click on an empty spot in the canvas to deselect.
    2. Click the next to the file name in the toolbar.
    3. Select Publish styles and components from the options.

    

  • B

    Assets panel

    1. Click on the Assets panel in the left sidebar.
    2. Click the to open the library modal.

    

  • C

    Use the keyboard shortcut

    • Mac: ⌥ Option 3
    • Windows: Alt 3

  Publish to library

  Every time you publish to your library, you'll be prompted to add a description. This allows you to communicate decisions and changes to the people who use your library.

  Figma shows descriptions when accepting updates from a library, as well as in the file's version history.

  Publish styles and components from the file where they live.

  1. Open the library modal from the file ↑
  2. In the Current file section, click the Publish button.
  3. Add a description of the library's purpose, or a summary of any decisions or changes.
  4. View a list of changes to the library. This details any styles and components added, modified, or removed.
  5. Choose which changes you want to publish:
     • Check individual components you do want to publish
     • Uncheck individual components you don't want to publish
     • Uncheck Changes to deselect all styles and components
  6. When you've finalized your styles and components, click the Publish button. Figma will show a notification to confirm your file has been successfully published.

  

  Publish individual styles and components

  If you are missing styles and components from a published file, or want to add more styles and components, you can publish these individually. There are a couple ways to do this:

  • A

    Use the right-click menu

    1. Select the components you want to publish.
    2. Right-click the selected components.
    3. Click Publish selected components.
  • B

    Use the Assets tab

    1. Click on the Assets tab in the left sidebar or use the keyboard shortcut:
       • MacOS: ⌥ Option 2
       • Windows: Alt 2
    2. Scroll down to the Hidden section, which will list any components that exist in the file, but haven't been published.
    3. Right-click on the component and select Show when publishing. If you have hidden the component using the . or _ prefix, you will need to remove this.
    4. Figma will notify you that your updates are successfully published.

    

  Publish updates to a library

  If you make changes to a published style or component, this will only apply those changes to instances in the current file. If you want those changes to be reflected in your library, you will also need to publish those changes to the library.

  Figma will display a blue dot on the icon in the Assets panel of the left sidebar to let you know if there are any updates that need to be published:

  1. Click either the Assets panel at the top of the left sidebar to open the library modal.
  2. Add a description of any decisions or changes. This will show in the file's version history, and the Updates tab of the Libraries modal.
  3. View a list of changes to the library. This details any styles and components added, modified, or removed.
  4. Choose which changes you want to publish:
     • Check individual components you do want to publish
     • Uncheck individual components you don't want to publish
     • Uncheck Changes to deselect all styles and components
  5. When you've finalized your styles and components, click the Publish button. Figma will show a notification to confirm your file has been successfully published.

  Note: If you are a member of an organization, you can also choose to share the library with your organization. This will allow other members of the organization to find and use styles and components from this file.

  Check the box next to Allow any member of organization to access this file before you click Publish. Learn how add and remove libraries in an organization →

  Hide styles and components

  If you have styles and components that you don't want to share, or are still a work in progress, you can hide them from publishing. When you're ready to share you can show them again to publish and share them.

  There are a few ways to hide styles and components:

  • A

    Add a prefix to style or component

    To prevent Figma from publishing your styles and components, you can add a prefix or modifier to the component's name in the layers panel.

    Figma will skip over these styles and components during the publishing process and list them in the Hidden section of the Assets panel and Library modal.

    • Add a period . in front of the component layer's name.
    • Add an underscore _ to the beginning of the component layer's name.

    

    Note: If you add a period or underscore after a style or component is published, Figma will remove it from your library the next time you publish changes to the library.

    If you want to publish these styles and components at a later date, you will need to remove the prefix and then publish the components individually.

  • B

    Remove via the assets panel

    Remove a component from a library in the Assets panel. It's not possible to remove a style from a library via the style picker.

    1. Click on the Assets tab in the left sidebar.
    2. Right-click on the component in the list.
    3. Select Hide when publishing from the options.
  • C

    Remove during the publishing process

    Remove styles and components from the library modal from the publish modal.

    1. Open the library modal using any of the entry points above.
    2. Right-click on the component or style and select Hide when publishing.
• Review and accept library updates

  Who can use this feature

  Supported on Education, Professional, Organization, and Enterprise plans.

  Anyone with can edit access to a file can accept library updates and apply them to styles and components in that file.

  New to components and libraries? Guide to style and component libraries →

  When someone publishes an update to a main component or style in a library, Figma makes the updates available in every file where the component or style is used.

  Anyone with can edit access to a file can review and accept the changes.

  View available updates

  View all updates

  

  When updates are available for a style or a component, a notification appears in the bottom right corner of your file. Click Review to open the Updates tab of the team library modal and accept or ignore changes.

  Tip: You can dismiss the notification and continue to use the component or style in its current state. If you dismiss the notification, Figma will prompt you again the next time you open the file.

  To view all available updates in the file at any time:

  1. Click the Assets panel in the left sidebar.
  2. Click Team library.
  3. Switch to the Updates tab.

  View updates to a single component or style

  

  When you select a component instance or layer using a style, an update icon will appear in the design panel if there is an update available. Click the icon to review the update, or immediately apply the update to the selected instance.

  Review and accept updates

  

  From the Updates tab of the Team library, click on each update to review the changes.

  • A By default, Figma shows a Side by side view of the change. You can switch to an Overlay view, which places the updated component or style on top of the current instance. The Overlay view has a slider to change the opacity of the updated component or style to visually compare the difference with the original.
  • B If there are multiple instances of the updated component or style in the file, you can use the arrows to review each instance on the canvas.
  • C You can update each instance individually, or update them all at once.

  Note: You won’t be able to visually compare updates made to hidden layers in a component.

• Swap style and component libraries

  Who can use this feature

  Supported on Professional, Education, and Organization plans.

  Only people with Can edit access to the file, and at least can view access to affected libraries.

  Swap libraries lets you to quickly update all instances in a file, so they use components from another library. Use swap library to:

  • Use a different or newer version of a library
  • Swap to external or agency-provided libraries
  • Manage instances from missing or unpublished libraries

  

  How does swap library work?

  Swap library lets you replace styles and components in the current file with instances from another library. You can swap any library you have at least can view access to.

  Figma looks for any matching styles and components in the selected library. Matching is based on the style or component name only. This includes components sets and the variants within them.

  If you've deleted components, or recreated them with different names, Figma won't recognize or match these components.

  Unmatched assets

  If a matching style or component isn't found in your selected library, Figma won't swap those assets. They'll stay connected to the original library.

  You can ignore these styles and instances, delete them from the file, or manually swap them using the Instance menu. Swap between component instances →

  Swap or override styles

  The Swap default styles in instances setting allows you to control how styles are applied to instances.

  • Checked: Figma applies matching styles to instances as overrides. If you make changes to the main components, Figma will preserve any overrides you applied via swap libraries.
  • Unchecked: Figma applies the styles to any local instances. When you make changes to the main components, any changes you applied to local instances via swap libraries will be overwritten.

  If you're swapping to an updated version of a library, or replacing a missing library, you'll likely be swapping both styles and components. Leave this setting unchecked to swap local instances and use the styles defined on the main components.

  Local instances will continue to receive updates from their main components and any changes you applied to local instances via swap libraries will be overwritten.

  Regardless of whether this box is checked, Figma will preserve any overrides — which aren’t related to swapped styles — applied to local instances. Learn more about override preservation →

  Swap between libraries

  Swap styles and components in the current file with instances from another library. This replaces local instances with matching instances from another library.

  1. Open the Assets panel in the left sidebar.
  2. Click Library to open the library modal.
  3. View a list of all libraries which have styles and components Used in this file.

  4. Select a library to view the styles and components in that library.

  5. Click Swap library at the bottom of the modal.
  6. Use the Choose library field to select a library.
     • View libraries available to the entire organization
     • Explore published libraries by team
     
  7. Figma looks for any matching styles and components based on name only.
     • If a matching style or component is found, the box next to the asset is checked and you'll see a preview in the selected library.
     • If no matching styles or components are found, the box is unchecked and you'll see a None found message.
     • If there are incorrect or undesired matches, use the checkbox to remove the asset from the swap.
     
  8. Decide whether to apply matched styles as overrides using the Swap default styles in instances ↑ setting.
     • Check to apply matched styles as overrides.
     • Leave unchecked to swap instances and use the default styles defined on the main components. Figma will preserve any supported overrides you've applied (default).
  9. Click Swap library to replace assets with assets from your selected library.

  Manage missing libraries

  Styles and instances can be disconnected from their library when the original file is unpublished, deprecated, or moved to a team you can't access.

  Use the library modal to view styles and instances in the current file which aren't connected to an active library. Then use Swap library to replace any local instances with instances from another library.

  Figma matches styles and components by name only. It's not possible to manually select a new style or component, or match to an asset with a slightly different name. Figma won't swap any styles and components without a match. You can also deselected any matched assets you don't want to swap.

  Swap missing libraries

  1. Open the Assets panel in the left sidebar.
  2. Click Library to open the library modal.
  3. In the Used in this file section, select the Missing libraries option.
  4. View a list of styles and components no longer linked to an active library. Figma groups styles and components by their origin library and shows the number of styles and components.
  5. Select a library to view the affected styles and components. View the original library's name at the top and a preview of every style and component.
  6. Use the Choose library field to select a library.
     • View libraries available to the entire organization
     • Explore published libraries by team
     
  7. Figma looks for any matching styles and components based on name only.
     • If a matching style or component is found, the box next to the asset is checked and you'll see a preview in the selected library.
     • If no matching styles or components are found, the box is unchecked and you'll see a None found message.
     • If there are incorrect or undesired matches, use the checkbox to remove the asset from the swap.
  8. Decide whether to apply match styles as overrides using the Swap default styles in instances ↑ setting.
     • Check to apply matched styles as overrides.
     • Leave unchecked to swap instances and use styles defined on the main components. Figma will preserve any supported overrides you've applied (default).
  9. Click Swap library to replace affected instances with instances from your selected library.

  Undo swap library

  There's isn't currently a way to undo a library swap using a shortcut. You have a few options for reversing your changes:

  • Swap the library back using the same method described above.
  • Restore a previous version of the library to a version before the swap.

  If you checked "Swap default styles in instances" when swapping libraries, you can reset overrides to revert to the previous library. Learn how to reset overrides →

• Manage libraries in design files

  Before you start

  Who can use this feature

  Supported on Education, Professional, Organization, and Enterprise plans.

  Anyone with can edit access to a file can enable libraries for that file.

  This article applies to Figma design files only. Learn how to manage libraries in FigJam files →

  If you have can edit access to a file, you can manage libraries that are available that file. This enables the library for everyone with can edit access to the file.

  People will still need to have view access to the library to be able to use styles and components from that library.

  Manage libraries in a design file:

  1. Open the Assets panel in the left sidebar.
  2. Click the Library icon.
  3. View a list of available libraries in the library modal. Every library corresponds to a file with published styles and components.
  4. Click the library name to view the styles and components in that library.
  5. Use the toggles to enable or disable that library in the current file:
     • Library on:
     • Library off:
  6. Click to return to the canvas.

  

  Access styles and components

  When you make a library available in a design file, you can access assets from that library in the sidebars.

  • Drag components into the canvas from the Assets panel in the left sidebar. Click to select variants of a component. Add components to your designs →
  • Find and apply styles using the style pickers in the right sidebar. Apply styles in Figma design →

  

• Manage libraries for your drafts

  Before you start

  Who can use this feature

  Anyone on any team or plan can enable libraries for files in their drafts.

  From your draft files, you can access style and component libraries from any teams of which you're a member.

  Tip! If you're in an organization, you'll get access to any organization-wide libraries in your drafts. You can also choose which other organization libraries you want to access in your drafts.

  Manage libraries

  Manage which libraries are available in your drafts from your account settings. You can choose to make libraries available in Design files, FigJam files, or All files.

  1. Click your name in the top-right corner to open the account menu.
  2. Select Settings to open the account settings modal.
  3. Under the Library heading, select Enable Libraries for all files in your Drafts.
  4. View a list of available libraries in the library modal. In your drafts, you can view and enable:
     • Styles from published libraries in your drafts or Starter teams.
     • Styles and components from published libraries in any Professional and Education teams.
     • Access styles and components from organization-wide libraries.
  5. Click the library name to view the styles and components in that library.
  6. Click Off next to the library.
  7. Choose which files to make the library available in:
     • Design files
     • FigJam files
     • All files
  8. To remove a library from your files, click next to the current setting and select Off.

  

  Access libraries in files

  Design files

  When you make a library available in a design file, you can:

  • Find and apply styles using the style pickers in the right sidebar. Apply styles to layers in Figma design →
  • Drag components into the canvas from the Assets panel in the left sidebar. Add components to your designs →

  FigJam files

  Access components, along with stickers curated by Figma, from the library tool. Use stickers and components from libraries →

• Manage libraries in teams

  Before you start

  Who can use this feature

  Supported on any team or plan. Publish styles and components in teams on the Professional, Education, or Organization plans. Publish styles only in free Starter teams.

  Only team admins can manage default libraries for that team.

  Team admins can choose which libraries are available in team files. This allows you to quickly share styles and components across team files. This applies to both Figma design and FigJam files.

  Note: You need to publish styles and components to your library, before you can enable them as a default library.

  Manage team libraries

  Manage team libraries in the team's Settings. Make libraries available in Design files, FigJam files, or All files.

  1. Click on the team name in the sidebar.
  2. Click Settings at the top of the page.
  3. In the Team libraries section, click the Enable libraries option.
  4. View a list of available libraries in the library modal. Every library corresponds to a file with published styles and components.
  5. Click the library name to view the styles and components in that library.
  6. Click Off next to the library to adjust.
  7. Choose which files to make the library available in:
     • Design files
     • FigJam files
     • All files
       
  8. To remove a library from your files, click next to the current setting and select Off.

  Access team libraries

  Design files

  When you make a library available in a design file, you can:

  • Find and apply styles using the style pickers in the right sidebar. Apply styles to layers in Figma design →
  • Drag components into the canvas from the Assets panel in the left sidebar. Click to select variants of a component. Add components to your designs →

  FigJam files

  Access components, along with stickers curated by Figma, from the library tool. Use stickers and components from libraries →
• Hide published styles and components

  Who can use this feature

  Supported on Education, Professional and Figma Organization plans

  Anyone with can edit can remove styles and components from a library.

  New to components? Guide to libraries →

  There are a couple of ways to remove a style: hide it when publishing, or delete it entirely. In this article, we'll cover removing style and components from a published library.

  Are you a member of an organization? Use Library analytics to track component usage, including when components are detached.

  Hide styles

  To hide a style when a library is published, you will need to unpublish the style from the library. You can only hide a style from the original file, where the style currently lives.

  You can access the original style from any object that is currently using it:

  1. Select an object in the canvas that uses that style.
  2. Click on the style in the right sidebar
  3. Click the icon to edit the style.
  4. Click Go to style definition to open the style in the library.

  Note: You will also see an option to Move style definition into this file. This allows you to edit or delete that style without leaving the current file. Moving a style removes it from the original file. If you re-publish the original file, the style would no longer be included.

  Hide when publishing

  You can hide a style from a library without deleting the style itself. You can only do this from the original style, the style definition.

  1. Open the file where the style lives.
  2. Click Assets in the left sidebar, then click to open the library modal.
  3. Click Publish # changes.
  4. Right-click the style and select Hide when publishing.
  5. Repeat for any other style you want to unpublish.
  6. Click Publish to apply your changes and remove the styles.

  Note: If the library is published and up to date, you need to make changes to it to remove the style. Make changes to a library by editing or creating a main component or style. Then follow the instructions above starting with step 2.

  Delete style

  If you don't want to use a style at all, you can delete it. This won't update the properties of any layers using those styles, but will detach them from the style. You can only delete the style definition in the file it originates from.

  1. With nothing selected in the canvas, you can view Local styles in the right sidebar. Click an empty spot or press Esc to deselect.
  2. Select one or more styles:
     • Hold down Shift and click to select a range styles
     • Hold down ⌘ Command / Control and click to select multiple non-adjacent styles.
  3. Select Delete style or Delete all from the options. Figma will remove the style and you will no longer be able to use it. 
  4. Publish your changes to your library.

  Hide components

  You can hide components when you publish changes to your Team library. Or, from a library you have already published. You can only hide components from the file they originate from.

  Note: You can open the file for any component from any file with access to those components. Right-click on an instance of that component in the canvas and select Go to Main component.

  1. Open the file where your component lives.
  2. Open the Assets panel in the left sidebar.
  3. Right-click on the component and select Hide when publishing.
  4. Figma will move the component(s) to the Hidden section.
  5. Publish the changes to your Team library.

  Tip! You can also quickly remove a component from your Team library via the Layers Panel. Add a period . to the beginning of the component's name. Learn more in our Create Private components article.