COLOR EXTRACTLY
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[EXPORT & VARIABLES]

Render your colors to the canvas as a sheet, styles or variables

Draw the color list as a sheet on the canvas, then add the colors as Figma styles or variables that the sheet uses.

published by updated by Daniel Schulz

Goal

Get a visible color sheet in your file and, in the same go, color styles or variables your designs can use.

Before you start

  • A color list in Color Extractly.
  • Edit access to the Figma file.

Steps

  1. Get the list ready Clean up and rename the colors first. The bar under the color list holds New, •••, Code Token and Render Colors to Figma.
    Color list of 64 colors after Magic Clean, with New, Undo, •••, Code Token and Render Colors to Figma in the bar below.
    The list after Magic Clean; Render Colors to Figma is in the bar under it (step 1).
  2. Render the sheet Click Render Colors to Figma. Color Extractly draws a frame named Sheet - Extracted Colors in the middle of your view, with a card for every color grouped by name, and zooms to it. If you filtered the list, only the filtered colors are drawn.
  3. Add the colors as styles The dialog Are you happy with the colors? opens. Click + next to Add as style(s). Each color becomes a color style named after the color, with hyphens in the name turned into folders. A style that already has that name is updated. The cards on the sheet are linked to the new styles.
    Dialog Are you happy with the colors? with a + button for Add as style(s) and one for Add as variable(s).
    Add the colors as styles or variables (step 3).
  4. Add the colors as variables Click + next to Add as variable(s). Each color becomes a color variable in a collection called Colorly. If a variable of that name already exists, the new one gets a number added. The cards on the sheet are linked to the new variables.
  5. Close the dialog You can add both styles and variables. When you are done, click ✕ or anywhere outside the dialog.

Tips

  • On the Typography and Numbers tabs the same button reads Render Text Styles or Render Number Sheet, and offers to add text styles or number variables afterwards.
  • To create variables without drawing a sheet, use Import to Variables in the ••• menu.

Result

A color sheet on the canvas, and color styles or variables in your file that it is linked to.

If something goes wrong

  • The styles or variables include colors the sheet does not show.

    Add as style(s) and Add as variable(s) use the whole list, even when a filter limited the sheet. Take the colors you do not want out of the list first, with the Remove color button on their row.

Common questions

How is this different from Import to Variables?

Import to Variables creates variables only, in a collection named after the imported token file or Extracted Colors. Render Colors to Figma draws a sheet first and puts its variables in the Colorly collection.

Where does the sheet go?

On the current page, centred on what you were looking at. Figma zooms to it when it is done.