Editable Placeholder Elements for Icons / Images in Components

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Sometimes I make master components with icon placeholders / image placeholders.

When I make instances of those in my designs, I cannot change the icon out without detaching the instance from the master component. (There is a tedious workaround, which is to include lots of different hidden icon layers in the placeholder spot in the master component)

Instead it would be wonderful if there was a new feature in Figma such as a “placeholder icon” and “placeholder image” (or just a global “placeholder element” which could accept icons, images, etc) which could be used in components. Then any instances of the component could have the placeholder easily and manually replaced in that particular instance / design via the editing area or layers panel.

Thanks

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Hi @Matthew_Schwartz. Tell me, are your icons—components? What about the “placeholder icon”?

And images in instances are changed using fill.

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@tank666 Thanks for the reply. Your question about the icons made me realize that I may have overlooked something. After checking, I see that it is possible to swap out placeholder components in instances with other components. Silly me for overlooking it.

The image thing, I also tested a few more ideas and examples, and realized it is also possible to do what I wanted. I thought I’d tried it before and it didn’t work, but maybe I did something different.

In summary, I believe everything I wanted to do is possible, and I just needed to learn it better.

Thanks