Editing multiple variables in one batch

Hello friendly people,

I’ve gotten myself into a rather uncomfortable situation regarding my variable set up, the issue at hand:

I have added lots of color variables but always duplicated the previous group structure. All of my variables have now these properties:

I am wondering, is there a way / or plugin where I can take a set of variables and edit their properties? In my example the color scoping should be entirely deselected and the code syntax should be just the default for now. This I want to apply to 60 variables in one batch. Is that possible?

There is probably an easy solution to this that I am missing, but I couldn’t find anything in the forum :frowning:

As an interesting addition to that problem: Is it possible to generate code syntax abbreviations for new variables in a pre-defined way? So say my syntax needs to look like this: ${Colors. Blue[100]} and a subsequent shade would just be ${Colors.Blue[200]} etc. Is this possible in Figma? Is there a Plugin for that?

Thank you very much in advance!

Best Sam

Hi @Samu1, Thank you for reaching out! I understand how challenging it can be to update 60 variables one by one.

Rest assured, you can edit variables in bulk in a collection by selecting multiple variables by using short cut:

  • Mac: Hold ⌘ Command / Control and click to select individual variables
  • Windows: Hold Shift and click to select a range of variables

For more detailed instructions, please refer to the “Edit variables in bulk” section in this guide: Create and manage variables

I’ll share your question regarding pre-defined code syntax internally to explore any possible solutions. I will provide an update once I have more information on this.
Also, Feel free to explore our community on your own. While I haven’t found an exact match yet, you might find helpful resources here: Plugin results for variable code syntax

I hope it helps! If I overlook something, please let us know. Also, if anyone in our community has suggestions or insights, please feel free to jump in!

Thank you,

Hey @Samu1, For your code syntax question, I reached out to our internal team, and unfortunately, we currently do not have a prewritten plugin for this specific purpose. However, any user can create their own custom code syntax generation using the plugin API.

I hope this information is helpful to you! Also, we welcome input from other community members, so please feel free to share your insight here.

Hey Junko,

first of all, thank you for your first suggestion. I knew that I could make a selection but didn’t see that I needed to activate a dedicated “edit variable” menu, so that cleared my confusion up!

Regarding the second request: Also thanks for checking in with your internal team on that one. I am a developer first and foremost and already thought about making a plugin for that as it’s a very frequent task for me (in my workflow at least). I am gonna post the link to the plugin here once I have made it :slight_smile:

Best Sam

3 Likes

Hi @Samu1, did you write a plugin for this? I am sure it would be extremely useful for the community.

Hey Jeremy,
sorry for the late reply,

I was not yet able to find time to do so, it’s on my to-do list :slight_smile:

I have to first migrate a design system for my company with all sorts of token translations and gather learnings along the way to make a somewhat good judgment on how to approach this from a user perspective.

As soon as I have made the plugin, Ill post it here :slight_smile:

Best Sam