How to Create Variables in Figma

The type decides which properties a variable can attach to. If you pick the wrong one, the variable won't show up where you expect it.

• Color: fills, strokes, effects and gradient stops.
• Number: sizes, gap, padding, corner radius, opacity and other numeric fields.
• String: text content and font properties.
• Boolean: layer visibility, applied by right-clicking the eye icon in the Appearance section. See how to show and hide layers with a boolean variable.
• Timing and easing: animation values for Figma Motion only.

A collection is a set of related variables. A common setup is separate collections for primitives (the raw palette and spacing scale) and semantic tokens (text/primary, surface/default) that point at the primitives. Variables can reference other variables, so a semantic color can alias a primitive instead of repeating the hex value.

Each collection can have modes, such as Light and Dark or Compact and Comfortable. Every variable in the collection gets one value per mode. The full setup for theming is in how to change variable modes and build dark mode.

Open a variable's Edit variable dialog to set its scoping, which limits the properties it appears for. Scope spacing numbers to gap and padding, and radius numbers to corner radius, so designers don't see forty numbers in every field. Tick Hide from publishing for primitives that should only be referenced by other variables, not applied directly in other files.

There are two ways. Name variables with slashes, like spacing/sm and spacing/md, and Figma groups them under spacing. Or select several variables in the table, right-click and choose New group with selection. Groups show in the sidebar of the Variables view and keep long lists readable.

Select a variable in the table and press ⇧Enter (Shift+Enter) to duplicate it. This is the fastest way to build a scale: make radius/sm, duplicate it, rename the copy to radius/md and change the value. Figma doesn't document a keyboard shortcut for opening the Variables tab itself, so click it in the left navigation.

Right-click the variable and choose Delete variable. To remove a whole set, delete the collection; that deletes every variable in it. Check where a variable is used before you delete it.

A common forum complaint (a thread with over 100 replies) is "ghost" variables: entries that still appear under used variables or in the Page section's modes after the collection or component that brought them in is gone. The accepted answer from Figma Community Support gives two steps:

1. Open the Actions menu (⌘K / Ctrl+K) and run Detach deleted variables. This clears most leftovers in one go.
2. If some remain, they're still used somewhere, often inside components or deleted color styles. Find those layers and detach or replace the variable by hand.

The standard way to share variables is to publish them in a library. When that's not an option, for example a one-off copy between two files or restoring a backup, you can export and import JSON natively (see how to export Figma variables) or use a plugin that moves whole collections with a preview of what gets created or overwritten.

If a variable you just made doesn't appear in a property picker, the cause is usually its type or scoping. The fixes are in Figma variables not showing.