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Question

Font issues keep re-appearing

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I uploaded a variable font in Figma’s settings several weeks ago, and it had been working without any issues.

Two or three days ago, I noticed that text links in my prototypes were switching to Inter when hovered. I uninstalled and reinstalled the variable font, tried the non-variable version, and even rebuilt some components—which I really don’t want to be doing this close to launch. Nothing fixed the issue.

A few hours later, it suddenly resolved itself without me making any further changes, so I’m not sure what happened.

Today, the problem has returned. I noticed that the uploaded font was no longer listed in Settings, so I uploaded it again. I’m the only person with access to my account, so nobody else could have removed it.

After installing the font, I restarted Figma. I can now see all the standard variations of the variable font under “Your uploaded fonts,” but the font still disappears from some hover states in prototype mode. Figma displays the message: “Some missing fonts were replaced.”

The strange thing is that there are no missing-font warnings outside prototype mode.

For example, the text-link components used in the footer menu work correctly on their own. However, when those same components are used within the footer, the font becomes missing when the links are hovered in the prototype. Like I said, it was all working previously but for some reason just stopped working.

Peter ScottAuthor

New Participant

In addition, having been away from my computer for a couple of hours. I opened up Figma and the Variable Font has duplicated itself. Either that the font was never really removed…. So there is some sort of bug/issue there.

djv

Community Support

Hey @Peter Scott, thanks for reaching out and for walking us through everything you’ve tried!

I understand how disruptive it must be to have this return so close to launch, especially after the font started working again without any further changes. This sounds similar to an issue we’re tracking where a custom font is replaced only after a hover interaction in prototype mode, even though it appears correctly in the editor.

Could you share a link to a file that reproduces the issue (View access for support-share@figma.com), the affected font family that you’re trying to use, and whether the font was uploaded to your Organization or installed locally? It would also help to know whether this happens in both the desktop app and the browser.

As a temporary solution, outlining the text in the affected hover-state variant should prevent the font from being replaced, though I understand that isn’t ideal if the text still needs to be edited. Let us know, and we can flag this over to the team.

Peter ScottAuthor

New Participant

Hey

I’ve had to try get a workaround as time is of the essence.

I’ve replaced the variable font with fours standard weights of the same font and that seems to be working for the time being - albeit, I’ve had to ‘swap’ missing font even though I updated the variable i nthe design system.

If it appears again, or if I can re-create, I’ll post it back here.

Peter ScottAuthor

New Participant

Its the one file just the other was a prototype preview. But yes added support-share to the file.

In addition, if I activate the font locally on my machine (Fontbase), the fonts load in Figma. So I’m not quite sure why the uploaded ones aren’t being recognised - albeit the file above is not in the shared folder the original is located - but still having the same result.

I’ve asked the client to upload the font to their organisation account to see if that works.

Celine_

Community Support

Hey @Peter Scott , Celine from the Figma Community Support team, thanks for the additional details! I’ve shared it to our internal team , thank you!

Jaycee Lewis

Figmate

Hey @Peter Scott 👋 The team asked for two things:

For both; the article shows you exactly how to:

Setup your browser dev tool
Capture each of the logs after you [do the thing] 😊
Here are two quick gifs showing how to do this

Once you get both, send me a DM and we’ll get you a way to get those to us securely.

Talk soon! — Jaycee

Emma Wingding

New Member

Hi Peter — fellow typography nerd here, and this pattern (fine in the editor, falls back to Inter in prototype hover states) looks familiar. A couple of things that might be compounding:

Each variant keeps its own font binding. When you swapped the missing font onto the four static weights, that swap only applies to the text layers you select — the hover variant is a separate text layer that keeps pointing at the old variable font until you swap it there too. That matches your symptom exactly: default state renders, hover state falls back. Worth opening the hover variant and checking what its text layers are actually set in.

Named instances in variable fonts are the usual suspect. A variable font file only ships real outlines for its default instance; weights like SemiBold get synthesised from the wght axis at render time. If the style name stored on the layer doesn't match a named instance in the font file, the prototype player can fail the lookup and substitute Inter rather than synthesising the weight — while the desktop editor, with the full font engine to hand, fakes it happily. Your four static weights working first time supports this: real files, real names, nothing to synthesise.

The duplicate in Settings is a tell. It usually means two uploads with slightly different internal family names (variable file vs static files, or a re-export with a tweaked name). Layers bound to the older entry then read as "missing" even though the family looks installed. I'd remove every upload of that family, restart Figma, and upload one canonical set.

Your Fontbase test is useful evidence, by the way — the file itself renders fine, which points at the upload/serving side rather than the font. Hope the bug report turns something up; the vanishing-from-Settings bit definitely smells server-side.

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