Change opacity on a referenced color variable

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1

So this boggles me.

Why can’t I change (override) the opacity of a referenced color-variable, without having to detach it? To me a color and an opacity value are two different things. So if I want an opacity on my referenced color e.g. “Blue-950” I have to detach it and change the value to my liking, now it is not referenced to the variable collection anymore.

A workaround is to add that “Blue-950” with the desired opacity in the variable collection and then reference that new “Blue-950-50-percent”.

It is so annoying that you can’t change opacity on the fly without loosing reference!!!

2

I get why that would be frustrating. Changing the opacity of a color variable directly without detaching it would be a useful feature. Currently, Figma doesn’t allow for overriding opacity directly on referenced color variables, which indeed forces you to either detach or create new variables for each opacity level.

3

Hey @Henrik_Andersen, thanks for the feedback!

@Alok is correct that this is currently expected behavior. I updated your topic for clarity, and we’ll pass this onto our team for future improvement.

Be sure to also vote up top! :point_up: Our teams use votes to gauge overall interest and prioritize.

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