Hi, is there a way to replace a component in a team library (many instances in other files) without reconnecting the instances? I have 400 refurbished icon components, same size/names as the the original master. I know I can paste the new layers of the refurbished component to the master, but it’s tedious work. Is there some kind of hack or plugin or automation tool?
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You can move old icons to a separate file (cut/paste/publish). It would keep the connection with original icons.
Then swap old icon library with new one. Once it is done you can move new icons back to your master file.
UPD. Seems like I get it wrong. I assume your icons in a separate library file, they are not a part of bigger design library?
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Hi, thanks for your reply. Yes, the icons part of an asset library. Those assets are connected to other libraries and files. The swap doesn’t change the fact that I have to reconnect all instances. Instances are tied to the unique ID of the component. And that’s my problem right now.
Hey Niki, I’m dealing with a similar issue here. Were you able to find a solution that didn’t involve either redoing all of the work to the master components or reconnecting all instances?
Any updates on this?
I think that there should be an update that allows us to swap 2 icons with just renaming them. Figma should give us a warning something like: there are 2 components with the same name, mark those instances, delete the ones that you dont want and BUM, works like that.
This is a major issue for products that have a long maintenance cycle (enterprise products mostly).
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@Niki Did you solve your issue?
If yes, please share how 
Thanks!
Bumping this! I’m finding this a common issue with maintaining a design system. I would LOVE to be able to tell all instances to link to a certain component ID. Sometimes its just easier to rebuild the button component, replace the old button with the new button and tell Figma ‘this is the button now’ rather than having to go INTO the existing one and fiddling with it. Especially with complex components with nested instances.
Okay, I think I have something for you to try.
Here is the plugin - https://www.figma.com/community/plugin/1369680060657648796/source-ds-utils
And here is how it works
If all your icons have identical layer structures you can choose the “Merge Content” option. It will attempt to replace vectors preserving your original overrides.
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Wow, thanks! Finally there is a solution!