Published variables not showing up in Local Variables in other projects

[radu.iancu]

Hi!

To cut to the chase, we have a main project where we’ve created our Design System using Local Variables.

These Local Variables were then published as a library to use in other projects, however, when adding this library to another project, no collections show up in the Local Variables panel.

I have checked and all variables have the “Hide from publishing” option disabled. To add insult to injury, they do actually show up in the Library panel but that’s it.

Different Variable collections that were published:

Same library added to another project:

The Local Variables panel is empty but somehow the project has access to modes, even if the variables themselves are not available anywhere.

What can we do?

[Raphael_M]

I think Figma has to make the local variable panel more self descriptive though I’m not entirely sure how will they do that.

A lot of users are confused how variables published from another file is not showing up in their “local” variables. But please take note that only variables locally created on the file would show up on the “local” variables panel. But, you can freely use the published variables from another file via library.

Maybe, Figma should show the variable assets on the assets tab too