How to Remove Unused Variables and Libraries in Figma

When you delete a collection, Figma disconnects the layers that used it, but references can survive in places a delete doesn't reach. The forum thread on clearing used variables that don't exist anymore runs to over 100 replies. Figma Community Support's answer there has two parts: run Detach deleted variables, and if anything remains, it's still used inside components or old colour styles and has to be removed by hand.

Detach deleted variables isn't documented in the help center, so its exact behaviour isn't spelled out. Users report it only touches the current selection, so select all first and run it once per page.

Where the leftovers usually hide

• Main components. An instance may look clean while its main component still binds the old variable. Fix the main component and the instances follow.
• Hidden layers and hidden fills. Selection colors skips hidden fills, and bulk actions don't reach hidden layers. Unhide, fix, hide again.
• Old colour styles. A style can be built on a variable. Deleting the collection leaves the style pointing at nothing. Edit or delete the style.
• Strokes and effects. A shadow colour or stroke bound to a variable is easy to miss when you only check fills.
• Boolean and merged shapes. In the thread on deleted collections and modes that don't disappear, one user's stubborn collection finally went away after they found merged shape layers still holding references.

Use Selection colors to hunt them down

Select a frame, or a whole page with ⌘A / Ctrl+A. Selection colors in the right sidebar groups every colour in the selection by variable, style and plain fill. Hover a leftover and click the target icon to select every layer using it. From there, click Detach, or pick a new variable for all of them at once. It doesn't list image, video or pattern fills, hidden fills or masks.

If nothing works, Figma support can look at the file. Community Support in the same thread asks people to send a support ticket with the file link rather than keep deleting layers at random.

Old modes show up in the Apply variable mode menu and in the page's mode settings for the same reason: something on the canvas still uses a variable from that collection. Clear the references with the steps above and the collection should drop out of the list. Remember that deleting a collection deletes all of its variables, and Figma can only bring them back through an immediate undo or version history.

Figma doesn't flag variables that nothing uses. You can delete them one by one (right-click → Delete variable), but first you need to know which ones are safe. Two ways to check:

• Per variable, by hand. Select all on a page and look for the variable in Selection colors. That only works for colour variables, and only on one page at a time.
• With a plugin. Find Variables lists the variables used on a page and selects the layers using each one. Variable Master's Find Unused Variables checks the whole file and lists variables that aren't bound to any layer, so you can review them before deleting.

The forum question "How to delete these color libraries?" has about 41.6k views. The fix depends on where the colours come from:

• They're local to this file. Delete the variables in the Variables tab, or the colour styles in the right sidebar with nothing selected (select them, then Delete style). Layers using a deleted style keep their colour but lose the link.
• They come from a library you added. In the Assets tab, right-click the library and choose Remove library from file. Colours you've already used stay on the canvas. They just stop appearing as options.
• They come from a library you have access to but never added. Open the library file, click Share, click your access level and choose Leave. Its styles stop appearing in your pickers, though they may still show in search while you can open the file.
• You want to replace them with another set. Swap library moves styles, components and variables to matching names in another library. Anything without a match stays linked to the old one.

Removing a library doesn't remove its colours from layers. If you want those gone too, use Selection colors to select the layers and detach or reassign them before you remove the library. More on library connections in Figma library not showing.

There's no native check for unused styles either. With nothing selected, the right sidebar lists the file's local styles; Shift-click or ⌘/Ctrl-click to select several, then Delete style. Library styles can only be deleted in the library file, then published. If you'd rather strip styles off layers first, Styler can remove or detach styles from a selection. Figma styles covers editing and publishing them.