Variants not updated when i change master component

Hi Julien! I think I see where things went wrong.

At 0:46 you “re-wrapped” an instance of ❖ Frame 74 as a main component and then combined the two as a variant set. If you expand all the layers in the layers panel you should see this structure.

At 1:01 when you added a third variant to the set, ⬥ Variant 3, my guess is it was based on the first variant, ⬥ Fame 74. Unlike ⬥ Frame 75, ⬥ Variant 3 does not contain a nested instance of ⬥ Frame 74. This would explain why its text layer does not mirror updates you make to ⬥ Frame 74.

I would advise you against having variants that contain instances of a neighboring variant. Working this way may seem efficient, but it almost always leads to problems down the road. This was a trap I personally fell into with base components and after being burned by memory usage issues and unreliable components I actively avoid that method in my work today.

For this specific example, I’d suggest binding all of the text layers together using a component property! This should achieve what it sounds like you’re trying to do: edit that text layer across all instances. Here’s a video tutorial from Figma showing how to create a text component property.

Thanks for creating a video in addition to writing out your steps, that made it incredibly easy to help identify the issue and help <3 I wish more folks did this!

Hello Alice

Thank you very much for your kind and complete answer. It’s very well explained and I understand your point.

The video shows a simple example but what I try to achieve is more complicated.

I have a component with 3 variants. If I want to add a frame to all components for example, I must update each variant one at a time. If the modification is more complex or if I have 20 variants, it could be tedious.

In the attached video, what i’d like to achieve.

I think I figured this. So, when you add a variant this way that you did, go the layers and find added variant. then in the layer panel, double-click to rename. you’ll see that all other variant has like Property 1=variant name, but the one added has only a name. so manually add Property 1=variant name, or whatever is your structure, but it needs to match all other variants. That will properly link them together.

Let me know if this help. I know I’m a bit late to the game, but 1 year later, I faced the same problem, and tried to search for solution to stumble upon this post. After someone suggesting the layer structure, I saw that my layer structure was correct, but when selecting added variant I found error in naming. After I changed this, it worked perfectly.

Cheers.