Option to duplicate/copy styles, not just cut them

It is a basic necessity, add a duplicate button and it will save us so much time.

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Hello, I think it would be a great idea to have the option to copy the color styles, fonts, etc. that are created. Currently the user can only cut them, so if I need to copy these styles to another project I have to cut them and press ctrl + z to go back, this is a bad thing for me because the files that have these styles applied, I need to reapply ! So it would be great if Figma had the option to copy styles and not just cut!

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Hi Lara, Thank you for sharing your thoughts on Styles!

In Figma, we have Library! A library that lets you reuse components, styles, and variables across your design files. Anyone on a paid plan can publish a library. Anyone on any plan can access published libraries.
You can learn more details ā€Œhere: Guide to libraries in Figma

Hope it helps! Please let me know if thereā€™s anything else I can help with!

Thanks,
Junko

Exactly what i was just searching for too! Why only cut, and no copy? Setting up a shared library is too much (or not even a possibility), if you only want to use some of the styles in another project.

In my use case, iā€™d copy my basic font structure (headers, labels, body variants etc.) to a new project and edit them to match the new style instead of creating them manually. And since itā€™s still mostly concepting, i have no intentions of ā€œproperlyā€ setting up the document just yet - just fast and dirty would be enough :smile:

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Hello, I know the library option, but I believe that for a specific case where I just want to get some color styles, the copy option is totally adequate, the library is important for publishing component patterns, but having to publish only to use 2 or 3 colors that are there, for example, becomes unnecessary, apart from the fact that I would need the paid plan to publish, for the common user and learner of Figma, having to pay for the plan just for that is not viable. Still, it would be great to have the simple alternative of copying the styles, I would really like you to evaluate this, itā€™s something simple and I believe it will benefit a lot of people!

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I completely agree with you, it is unnecessary to publish a library just to get some styles, as this is part of the paid plan, limiting the free user.

Thanks for your thought! Your input is greatly appreciated! I will bring this up with our internal team and weā€™ll consider it for future improvements.

Nice one. thx

Did this guide for those of you who donā€™t enjoy cutting and pasting between multiple files.

https://www.figma.com/community/file/1329786599856576780/duplicate-text-styles

Thereā€™s a little learning curve to this method, but should work smoothly when you get used to it.

Just adding a +1 to keep this open and (hopefully) on Figmaā€™s radar. Itā€™s a much needed feature and should be basic functionality.

upping this too!

There is one specific scenario where this is VERY needed. I am a UX and UI director at an agency. We have new projects come and go all the time. When work on our clients products they have specific color, texts, shaped, shadows and more. So what we do is that we have a file that has our components and styles, we duplicate it and work over that file changing the styles and the look of the components. For example changing the colors to the new brand, or changing an input to look like the client usually uses. This is HARD to navigate and control in Figma. So a better way to handle these style would be great.

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Incredible a so basic functionality is not even already done !
Maybe a plugin that manage the style already do the trick, if someone know a good one

Also, it is annoying to have to duplicate style that are kind of related, like the bold version of a style.
It is a duplication as any change in the style of one need to be replicated to maintain consistency, like the line height spacing.

Instead, it will be better to have a kind of style + modifier concept where, for example, I inherit all style of another style but override font weight for example

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This is a must.

+1 to Copy styles, not just Cut them. Iā€™m working at an agency where I need to combine different base styles from different files and libraries into a single master library for my project. Having styles across multiple libraries has access issues for my team, and scatters the source of truth about.

Cut and Paste styles is also destructive to the original file, and I bet itā€™d create a nightmare of ripples when styles are cut if that library was a dependency in other files.

Copy and Paste styles is non-destructive to the original file.

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Iā€™m working on a multi-language project. The way the test-styles are implemented now just drives me crazy. Simply being able to duplicate styles would save a lot of time. I really hope that this idea will be implemented soon!

So a hacky work around is you ā€œCutā€ the styles then hit undo to put them back so you donā€™t mess up the original file. Then you are free to paste them into the new file as they are still on your clipboard. bingo bango done.

We still need this. For example, I have body text group with 5 different size styles in it, and I need to create several absolutely similar groups for bold, italic or underline text. Still open context menu every time hoping to discover duplicate function ))

Your workaround is great and quick for duplicating styles. I can see the duplicated (renamed) styles available in my original file now.

Only problem is the application of the styles to elements doesnā€™t carry over from the duplicate file. So when I take the elements in from the duplicate file that have the renamed styles, when I paste them in the original file (which again, already has the renamed styles added), the pasted elements have no style at all. So I have to manually assign every single element to the new style. Youā€™d think that having a renamed style applied to elements in the duplicate file would remember/retain that style when being pasted into any other Figma file (including the original file).