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 ✌️
Best answer by dvaliao
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:
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
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.
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
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.
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 🥴
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.
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.
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:
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
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.
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
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.
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.
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