Why are there ghost components in the "Used in this file" tray?

Hi everyone,

Three components (icons) are listed in the Used in this file tray of the Asset panel of my file although the Main components they are connected to are in a page of the same file.

As a result, these 3 components appear in both Local components and Used in this file trays of the Assets panel. When I click on one of the icons in Used in this file tray, it brings me to the correct Main component. Hence why I call it “ghosts”.

Things I tried:

  • look for hidden layers
  • click on one of the ghost > Main component is automatically selected > use Instance finder plugin > double-check if the instances selected are linked to the right Main component
  • reset all overrides of all instances related to these 3 components
  • click on Add to library

Nothing worked. These three ghosts are still in Used in this file.

Has it happen to anyone else? Is there something I could be missing?

Thanks a lot in advance :v:

2 Likes

You might want to send your file to Figma support team via the support request form to take a look.

Hi Gleb,

I actually managed to fix the file but I have no idea how. Maybe the one of the last library syncs fixed the links somehow.

Thanks for your reply anyway :+1:

Hi, I also have the exact same issue ! Looking forward for any solutions to clean my library :smiling_face_with_three_hearts:

5 Likes

I have the same issue. I wish there was a way to find where these stray components are located in my file. Currently it only lets you “Go to main component” which is not helpful at all.

2 Likes

I have the same problem too. please fix this

Same problem here. For me it seems more like a bug in the Instance finder Plugin. If I search for the component on the same page it works occasionally but not for the “entire document” selection.

Yup, here too. I feel like it has something to do with branching. I had a weird branching issue where I actually had to manually reconcile it and Main. Now when I select “Go to main component” in Main file by right-clicking the ghost component it wants to open a “(copy)” of my old branch file which doesn’t exist. Odd thing too is when I right-click the ghosts it highlights the component in the main file.

Would be nice to get a definitive answer from the fine Figma folks on how to resolve this.

:frowning: ame problem here :frowning:

Me too. Many ghosts hiding in closets and under beds in my “Used in this file”. Can’t locate - and trying to update a library to a new version. Finding all the existing uses is not only time consuming but frustrating.

same problem here, the original component is no longer there but I see this ghost components… please fix this

Hey All,

Ghost components are usually a sign that there’s an instance in the file still attached to the old component.

Can you please try these steps for any ghost components you’re seeing in the Assets panel?

For each page in the file:

  1. Drag in an Instance from the ‘Used in this file’ section of the Assets panel.
    If this generates an error this usually indicates that the original Component has been deleted or corrupted in some way
  2. Select the instance you just added and use the Quick Action menu (Cmd on Mac or Ctrl on Windows) to Select all with same Instance.
  3. If you find any Instances which are selected, then detach or swap them with the correct library instance.

Once the Instances are removed from the file, this should remove them from the ‘Used in this File’ list and Search.

If you try this flow and can’t find any instances which are incorrectly attached, or have trouble with any of the steps, can you please add support-share@figma.com to your file as an Editor (this won’t affect your billing at all) and send a link to the file and the name and screenshots for any of these ghost components via this form: https://help.figma.com/hc/en-us/requests/new

1 Like

Hi, same problem here. I drag the component from my published Library and automatically appear in Used in this file :confused:

I would add that (if users have persisting issues after this method) check to see if the “used in” components have the same name as the local versions, change the name of the local master, publish the update to the library, and then use the Find & Replace method to single out the ghost component name.

1 Like

Do you know of a way to remove components that are in the ‘used in this file’ list? I am not using these component (which are from other libraries) and they appear in the asset search :woozy_face:

4 Likes

This bothers me as well. Does anyone have the solution, yet? Maybe a plugin?

I’m having the same issue here and the provided solution is not working for me.

I found out the solution. The component was hidden, I showed all the hidden layers for each page and then searched the component name.
Then I found and removed the naughty component.
It is unfortunate that Figma search is not working for hidden layers.

2 Likes

I’ll try this—thanks for suggestion!