Finding Missing Library components/styles

First off, I’m loving the new Swap Library feature!

Problem

Today, it actually helped me discover some “rogue” styles and components that were leftover from an old library! Now I can try to locate those and finally get rid of them in our current library!

But wait - what if I don’t actually know where these are in the file? Or even further, what if I can’t get Figma to find a match?

Suggestions:

  1. The one thing I wish this feature could do is to help me actually locate those rogue styles or components. I tried using the Instance Finder plugin but it still didn’t help because I have to actually locate them on the canvas/file first. :frowning_face:
  2. What if the dialog let us force a new style or component match, instead of us running into a dead-end with the None found message. Currently, it tries to match using the name. But that might not always work (like in this case.)

Any ideas are appreciated. Otherwise, wanted to pass this suggestion on to the Figma team. Thanks!

21 Likes

Seconded, this is difficult. The library publish dialog tells me the name of what’s about to be pushed, but nothing about it like when it was changed or even where it’s located (am I the only designer whose library spans multiple pages?).

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Nope that’s a common practice I’ve seen. A page for each component I take it? We also have a dedicated file just for Styles.

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I found another plugin called Find / Focus that I used to search for the name of the rogue instance, on each page!

But now I have one rogue style that I can’t find. The worst part is it’s called “White”, yet I went page by page using Selection Colors and didn’t see any called that.

I did see some that were named “white” with a lower case. Detached those but still showing. I’ll have to dig more and find a plugin that can find all styles being used in a file.

I just thought of something (added to my post at the top under Suggestions) - If we could manually force a match (find a component or style we want to swap) instead of Figma trying to auto-match it or run into the None found, that could solve this problem too.

8 Likes

Just wanted to chime in that this is causing issues for us as well. Mostly with our OCD but it would be nice to be able to diagnose this easier.

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Yeah, the yellow icon probably doesn’t help with that :sweat_smile:

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I’m thinking hidden layers might be causing this issue as well since it is displaying a broken image thumbnail for the single remaining color style that is missing. With a file that is 10 pages deep with hundreds of components it’s maddening.

On the “Missing Library” panel I would like to be able to double click on the component and/or style and Figma take me to where that component or style is being used. Sometimes a library is deleted or an item is copied from another non-connected library and I would like to just unlink these components and styles quickly. Looking for them in a multipage project with hundreds of screens is very time consuming and painful.

26 Likes

I am going through the exact same thing right now. Have absolutely scoured my file and can’t find it. So frustrating. This functionality exists currently in the color panel with the “target” icon.

Also, not being able to swap library components that aren’t named the EXACT same is frustrating.

EDIT: Here is a more detailed thread: Missing Library feature suggestion

2 Likes

Yeah, I noticed that at least one of my missing instances was hidden.

Thankfully, I found this plugin called Find / Focus, that I could run a search for on every page. But if you have tons of pages, I could see that getting annoying quick (but better than nothing for now.) Try it out, see if it helps.

For missing Styles, you might need another plugin (I’m sure there’s one you can leverage to find styles, colors, etc.)

1 Like

The plugin Style Organizer helped me find my missing color styles. I think it also handles text styles, but not effect styles, so wouldn’t help locate those.

I did still have to use it on each individual page in my library to find the culprits.

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I’ll have to check that one out. Thanks!

Hey Figma, could someone please advise on this? Seems like it’s a problem for many people.

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Thanks for bringing this up. At the very least, let me convert instances with missing masters to masters within my file. Or let me bulk unlink from lost masters.

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I believe a moderator @Gleb has this post already, and guessing he’s probably passed the feedback on? If not, just share this post with people and have them Vote. :wink:

1 Like

I have the same issue, and as I am working in our master UI kit file, I cannot delete all the pages to clear the “missing library” styles. Are you suggesting searching for the “missing” style names in the Figma file I am working in? I think I am missing the purpose of the “missing library” feature, if there isn’t a simple way to check a style and delete it.

I tried to swap in any number of other libraries to no avail.Screen Shot 2021-08-30 at 6.06.22 PM

2 Likes

Same issue here, when opening the list of ‘used styles’ I cannot select any of the checkboxes, let alone delete the items. Also, after selecting another library in the right column, doesn’t change anything.

I’m also pretty sure that they aren’t actually ‘used styles’. Or at least that shouldn’t be the case.

Pretty annoying nonetheless! :grinning_face_with_smiling_eyes:

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I have the same issue as @Sjoerd_T. I have “None Found” for a match and I cannot find any of the components that are listed that say are missing. So I have no way to tell Figma to just remove these missing things.

4 Likes

I don’t work for Figma. Figma team checks the feedback threads on the forum occasionally.

For anyone having an issue with “ghost” styles and components, especially styles that you can’t find, check this thread:

2 Likes