apparently its a know bug and they are working on it, im having the same problem, I spoke to the PM on Reddit and he said it was W.I.P

Still not fixed and easy to reproduce:

1. Turn a file with variable modes into a library


2. Create other file that makes use of this library (e.g. for colors)


3. Remove one of the modes of the file in step 1


4. ¯_(ツ)_/¯


5. Pain

After lots of experimentation and a number of iterations on a colour system using Variables and Modes I now have lots of orphaned modes supposedly used in a file and being displayed at page level despite the variables no longer existing and not being used/assigned anywhere in the file.

Figma, please clean this up!

@dvaliao happy to share a file and use case

Thanks, @Maciej_Balasinski!

Please include the file link in this thread and share edit access with support-share@figma.com.

If you’re not able to share your file publicly, please share your file with us here: https://help.figma.com/hc/en-us/requests/new

Be sure to use your Figma account email, include a link to the file, and share edit access with support-share@figma.com, so we can take a closer look.

I’ve encountered the same issue. Any news on this? ​@dvaliao 

I’ve encountered this issue as well.  One of our designers deleted variables from a Figma file, but when I use the Figma API (getLocalVariables) to get that file’s variables, it’s still returning the deleted variables.

its been 84 years

so, i think i solved it...

first, the easy part:

publish your tokens file with all variables visible (uncheck the hidden ones). then, update the offending library to the latest version of this file.

now, the tedious part:

brace yourself, especially if your component library is large. go through each section, component set, and component. check the modes dropdown at each level. make all hidden layers visible and inspect the selection colors. you'll likely find stray items linked to non-existent variables. if nothing shows in a component's layers, try replacing the frame it's in. sometimes, it's the sections or frames causing issues.

hope that helps!

 ++

If you have “Text Style” properties feeding by variables, your variables might be coming from old variables set. There is no any way to understand it but to check/apply it manually. I suggest you to re-apply your current variables to your all “styles”.