# Using CopyDoc

Exporting popular document formats
Finding and replacing text content
- Using the find and replace feature
Exporting Figma text layer content
Making text updates to exported files
Re-importing text updates to Figma
- Dragging in your file, previewing changes and updating Figma layers
Spell checking Figma text layers
Syncing spreadsheet rows with Figma
Exporting Figma comments

# Exporting popular document formats

The Export Figma Frames feature in CopyDoc works by letting you export frames on your current Figma page to other popular document formats.

# Selecting your Figma frames to include

To get started with this feature, click on the Export Frames button in the main CopyDoc plugin screen.

You'll now be able to select the frames from your current Figma page that you would like to export to another format.

CopyDoc will load all of your parent frames from your current Figma page into the plugin as a list of frames that you can use to choose the frames you would like to include; you can click on any frame's checkbox or image thumbnail to select it (clicking it again will deselect it).

Parent frames required

To export frames from CopyDoc, your Figma page must contain at least one Parent Frame; this means, any "frames" that are located directly underneath your page.

# Selecting your document export format

After you've selected the Figma frames you would like to export, you can select the export format using the dropdown box options, which include:

PDF .pdf
Microsoft Word .docx (BETA)
Microsoft Excel .xlxs
Plain Text .txt
HTML Table .html
E-Book .epub
Comic/Manga .cbr

# Export PDF

Selecting the PDF option allows you to export your Figma frames (which are treated as "pages") to a PDF document. You can configure the following settings for PDF exports:

# Export PDF File Per Frame

Enabling the Export PDF File Per Frame toggle will ensure each Figma frame you've selected will be exported as an individual .pdf files, rather than exporting all of the selected frames being merged together into a single .pdf file.

# Vector Gradient Fix

If you're exporting Figma frames to .pdf that contain gradient fills inside any vector paths, you can enable the Vector Gradient Fix setting to ensure the gradient is rendered as expected. If you don't need this option, there's no need to enable it.

# DPI

You can select the DPI (dots per inch) setting for your PDF exports, which will influence the file size and quality of your exported .pdf files. The higher the DPI, the better the quality (with higher file sizes) - the lower the DPI, the less quality (with lower file sizes).

The available DPI options are:

72dpi Low Quality
150dpi Good Quality
300dpi Best Quality

PDF Export Browser Support

Due to browser compatibility issues, exporting PDF files from CopyDoc isn't supported in Safari. Please run the plugin in another browser (like Chrome (opens new window)) or the Figma Desktop App (opens new window) instead.

# Export Microsoft Word

Selecting the Microsoft Word option allows you to export your Figma frames (which are treated as "pages") to a DOCX file that can be opened and edited in the Microsoft Word desktop app. You can configure the following settings for Microsoft Word exports:

# Export DOCX File Per Frame

Enabling the Export DOCX File Per Frame toggle will ensure each Figma frame you've selected will be exported as an individual .docx files, rather than exporting all of the selected frames being merged together into a single .docx file.

Exports aren't optimised for Google Docs

If you're exporting your Figma designs to .docx, please open them in Microsoft Word, as some features won't be supported in Google Docs.

# Export Microsoft Excel

Selecting the Microsoft Excel option allows you to export the text content of your Figma frames to a XLSX file that can be opened and edited in Microsoft Excel (or another spreadsheet app that supports .xlsx files). You can configure the following settings for Microsoft Excel exports:

# Export XLSX File Per Frame

Enabling the Export XLSX File Per Frame toggle will ensure each Figma frame you've selected will be exported as an individual .xlsx files, rather than exporting all of the selected frames being merged together into a single .xlsx file (with each Figma frame as a different "tab" in the Excel file).

# Include Design References

Enabling the Include Design References option will include .png images for each FIgma frame that you've selected to export. These can be used as a visual design reference alongside your text exported to .xlsx files.

# Export Plain Text

Selecting the Plain Text option allows you to export the text content of your Figma frames to a TXT file that can be opened and edited in any text editing software. You can configure the following settings for Plain Text exports:

# Include Design References

# Export HTML Table

Selecting the HTML Table option allows you to export the text content of your Figma frames to a HTML file that can be opened in a web browser, or edited in any text/code editing software. You can configure the following settings for HTML Table exports:

# Include Design References

# Export E-Book

Selecting the E-Book option allows you to export your Figma frames to a EPUB file that can be viewed with any e-book reader software or app. You can configure the following settings for E-Book exports:

# Include Design References

# Export Comic/Manga

Selecting the Comic/Manga option allows you to export your Figma frames to a CBR file that can be viewed with any Comic Book or Manga reading apps. You can configure the following settings for Comic/Manga exports:

# Include Design References

# Exporting and downloading your document

When you're happy with your selected frames and the options for your chosen export format, you can click on the Export button to generate your file.

After clicking the Export button, you'll see a confirmation screen letting you know that your file is ready to download. To download the file from Figma to your computer, you can click the Download button in the CopyDoc plugin.

File downloads from Figma

If you're using the Figma desktop app, you'll see a prompt appear to download your file. However, if you're using Figma in a web browser, your file will automatically be downloaded to your computer by default (usually to the Downloads directory on your computer).

# Finding and replacing text content

The Find & Replace feature in CopyDoc works by letting you search all of the text layers on your current Figma page , and replacing any matching with different text. This is useful for a quick find and replace, instead of using a full CSV or JSON export/import.

# Using the find and replace feature

To get started with this feature, click on the Find & Replace button in the main CopyDoc plugin screen.

You'll now be able to search your current Figma page for text using the Text to Find in Figma Page input field, and then specify the text you'd like to replace any matches with by using the Text to Replace Matches With input field.

Clicking the Find Matches & Preview Updates will conduct the search and show a list of any matching text layers where the text you searched for was found. You'll also be able to preview what the text will look like with your replacement text.

You can select/deselect any text layers you would like to perform the replacement on; if you don't know which layer is related to which part of the design, you can click on the Text icon button to instantly zoom and scroll to that text layer on your Figma page.

When you're happy with the previewed changes and the text layer selections to replace, you can click on the Update Figma Text Layers button to automatically replace any matching text with your new specified text.

Figma text layers with missing fonts can't be updated

If your Figma text layer contains a missing font (opens new window), the plugin won't be able to update it. Please ensure any text layers you would like to update in any way using the CopyDoc plugin have their missing fonts resolved.

# Exporting Figma text layer content

The Export Text Layers feature in CopyDoc works by letting you export all of the text layers for your top level parent frames from the current Figma page to a .csv, .json or .xliff file (with optional images for design references) that you can download to your computer.

After exporting these files, you can then update their content outside of Figma using a text editing software, and instantly re-import the updated text back into your Figma designs again later.

# Getting started and selecting your Figma frames to include text layers from

To get started with this feature, click on the Export Text Layers button in the main CopyDoc plugin screen.

You'll now be able to select the frames from your current Figma page that you would like to use as the pages in your CSV, JSON or XLIFF export.

CopyDoc will load all of your "parent frames" from your current Figma page into the plugin as a list of frames that you can use to choose the frames you should like to add text layers to your export from; you can click on any frame's checkbox or image thumbnail to select it (clicking it again will deselect it).

Parent frames required

To export text layers to CSV, JSON or XLIFF, your Figma page must contain at least one "Parent Frame". This means, any "frames" that are located directly underneath your page.

# Selecting your export format and CSV/JSON/XLIFF options

# Exclude Locked

Enabling the Exclude Locked option will automatically skip over any locked text layers layers or text layers that are contained inside of a locked parent layer (frame, group, component etc) on your Figma page. You can use this to easily exclude any text layers that you don't want to be included in your export.

# Include Design References

Enabling the Include Design References option will include .png images for each frame that you've selected to export. These can be used as a design reference alongside the text exported to .csv, .json or .xliff files.

# Group Duplicate Text Layers

Enabling the Group Duplicate Text Layers option will ensure that any text layers with exactly the same content with automatically be grouped into a single entry in your CSV, JSON or XLIFF export. This option can make editing and re-importing your content back into Figma a bit easier, as you only need to edit the text in one place and it will be re-imported back to all of the layers with the same text after being changed.

# Adding custom text variant placeholders to CSV or JSON exports

One common use case for exporting and re-imported text that has been modified externally in a CSV or JSON file is to quickly swap out your text in Figma to an alternate version of the content. Often, this is localised content, where you're translating content into a different language, or trying out a different set of content for A/B testing etc.

If you need to do this for more than a single language or text variant, you can select the CSV (Custom) or JSON (Custom) options in the export formats select box. Selecting either of these options will reveal a new text input field where you'll be able to add your own custom text variant placeholders that will be included in your CSV or JSON exports.

For example, if you know you need to translate the text layers in your current Figma design to multiple languages, you might add custom variants called Japanese, Dutch and French. This will ensure that these are all added as additional CSV columns or JSON properties, and you'll be able to populate them with the translated text after exporting your content from Figma.

If you decided to re-import these text updates back into Figma via the CopyDoc plugin again later, you'll be able to instantly select any variant in your single CSV or JSON file to swap out, making it much easier than maintaining multiple files.

# Exporting and downloading your text content

Once you're happy with all of your export settings, you can click the Export button at the top of the export panel to begin exporting text layers from Figma to CSV, JSON or XLIFF.

After CopyDoc has finished processing your text layers, you'll be shown a confirmation message; you can download your .zip file containing your exported CSV/JSON (and optional image) files by clicking the Download Text button.

After you've downloaded your .zip file from Figma to your computer, you can open your file explorer to the directory where it was saved. Double clicking on the exported .zip file will unzip the contents and let you use your text exports however you like.

File downloads from Figma

# Making text updates to exported files

After opening your exported .zip file, you can start editing text content in your .csv or .json file in your software application of choice.

# Editing text in CSV files

To edit your exported .csv file, you can open the file in a spreadsheet application like Apple Numbers (opens new window), Microsoft Excel (opens new window) or Google Sheets (opens new window), or simply just a text/code editor application like Visual Studio Code (opens new window) or Sublime Text (opens new window).

Opening CSV files with unicode characters in Microsoft Excel

Microsoft Excel requires you to use the built-in Import Wizard (opens new window) to import the CSV if your text contains unicode characters (for example, if your content is in Polish or Russian). Please note that other spreadsheet software like Apple Keynote and Google Sheets doesn't require you to do this, and you can open the CSV file normally in those apps.

Each row in the .csv file represents a string of text from your Figma file, you can verify the parent frame for each text layer by checking the "frame" column value as an easy reference, and you can edit the content for each row by updating the "figma_text" column value.

# Understanding the columns included in your CSV file

# id

The id column contains unique references to the text layers in your original Figma file, this is what allows any text updates to be re-imported back into the CopyDoc plugin later.

Don't edit anything in the "id" column

If you intend to re-import your text updates back into your Figma file, please don't edit anything in the "id" column, otherwise the links back to your Figma text won't be possible (or could possibly update other layers incorrectly).

# frame

The frame column contains the name of the parent frame that the current row's text layer is included in, this is helpful for referencing where the text layer appears in your design.

# layer_name

The layer_name column is in reference the name of your text layer in the original Figma file; this is almost always the same as the text content itself, but will be different if you've manually renamed your Figma text layers.

Please note: editing or updating the layer_name will automatically update your Figma text layer name if the CSV is re-imported back into Figma. This won't have any impact on the text layer's content itself, so please ensure you're making any text content edits to the figma_text column, or in any other custom text variants you may have added.

# figma_text

The figma_text_ column contains the text content from the text layers in your original Figma file, editing this content will make it available to re-import the updated content back into Figma again.

# Custom Text Variants in your CSV

If you've exported your CSV file with additional custom columns, these will automatically be included after all of the other default columns in your .csv file export. You can populate these empty placeholder columns with different versions or different languages, which can be selected if you re-import your CSV back into Figma.

Ensure you re-save the file as a .csv

If you're using a spreadsheet app to edit your .csv file, please sure you re-save the file as a .csv after editing it; sometimes these apps will try to save the file in a different format, which won't be compatible when re-importing your file again via the CopyDoc plugin.

# Editing text in JSON files

To edit your exported .json file, you can open the file in a text/code editor application like Visual Studio Code (opens new window) or Sublime Text (opens new window).

Each object in the .json file array represents a string of text from your Figma file, you can verify the parent frame for each text layer by checking the "frame" property value as an easy reference, and you can edit the content for each object by updating the "figma_text" property value.

# Understanding the columns included in your JSON file

# id

The id property contains unique references to the text layers in your original Figma file, this is what allows any text updates to be re-imported back into the CopyDoc plugin later.

Don't edit anything in the "id" property

If you intend to re-import your text updates back into your Figma file, please don't edit anything in the "id" property, otherwise the links back to your Figma text won't be possible (or could possibly update other layers incorrectly).

# frame

The frame property contains the name of the parent frame that the current object's text layer is included in, this is helpful for referencing where the text layer appears in your design.

# layer_name

The layer_name property is in reference the name of your text layer in the original Figma file; this is almost always the same as the text content itself, but will be different if you've manually renamed your Figma text layers.

Please note: Editing or updating the layer_name will automatically update your Figma text layer name if the JSON is re-imported back into Figma. This won't have any impact on the text layer's content itself, so please ensure you're making any text content edits to the figma_text property, or in any other custom text variants you may have added.

# figma_text

The figma_text_ property contains the text content from the text layers in your original Figma file, editing this content will make it available to re-import the updated content back into Figma again.

# Custom Text Variants in your JSON

If you've exported your JSON file with additional custom properties, these will automatically be included after all of the other default properties in your .json file export. You can populate these empty placeholder properties with different versions or different languages, which can be selected if you re-import your JSON back into Figma.

Ask your developer friends/team to help you use JSON

If you don't know much about the JSON format, check with someone you know who understands web development, as they'll be able to use this format to do some really neat things, like integrating the data into a third party API/app, or write their own Node.js script to manipulate the text data in other cool ways.

# Editing XLIFF files

To edit your exported .xliff file, you can open the file in a text/code editor application like Visual Studio Code (opens new window) or Sublime Text (opens new window).

Each <unit> in the .xliff file represents a string of text from your Figma file, you can verify the parent frame for each text layer by checking the "frame" property value as an easy reference, and you can edit the target translation locale for each <unit> by updating the <target> value.

Use XLIFF editing software to make this easier

If you don't want to use a normal text editor for making updates to your .xliff file, you can use specific software made for editing .xliff files, such as Counterparts (opens new window) or XLIFFTool (opens new window) for OSX or Virtaal (opens new window) for Windows.

Don't edit anything in the "id" property

If you intend to re-import your text updates back into your Figma file, please don't edit anything in each "id" property, otherwise the links back to your Figma text won't be possible (or could possibly update other layers incorrectly).

# Viewing design references

If you're editing text in your export, you may want to visually reference where the text is displayed in the original Figma design. If you enabled the Design References option, your exported .zip file will include a folder called _frames, which includes .png images for each frame that you've selected to export. These can be used as a design reference alongside the exported text files.

Exported text layers are ordered by visual position

The text layers in the exported files are sorted by their visual position in the design (from the top/left to the bottom/right), this should help make it easier to scan a design image and find where the text is being used.

# Re-importing text updates to Figma

The Import Text Layers feature in CopyDoc works by letting you add your updated .csv, .json or .xliff file that was originally exported from the CopyDoc plugin, and manually approving any text differences compared to the text layers in your Figma file, then applying any selected updates with one click.

Figma text layers with missing fonts can't be updated

# Dragging in your file, previewing changes and updating Figma layers

To get started, click on the Import Text Layers button in the main CopyDoc plugin menu, then drag and drop your updated .csv, .json or .xliff file from your computer into the drop zone of the import settings panel. This will read your file and check for any updated text layers compared to your Figma text layers.

After your text update previews have loaded, you can see a list of all the differences of the text layers that contain updates in your file.

If you originally exported a .csv or .json file with multiple custom text variants, you'll be able to switch between these by clicking on the Select (CSV Column/JSON Property) To Import drop down menu.

You can approve the changes that will be applied by scrolling through the list and checking or unchecking the text updates you would like to import, then once you're happy with the selected text layers, click the Update Figma Text Layers button to instantly apply all of the selected text updates at once.

Use the normal "undo" command in Figma to undo updates

If you would like to undo your text updates, you can use the standard CMD + Z (on Mac) or CTRL + Z (on Windows) shortcut to undo the changes in your Figma file.

Zooming in on text layers that contain updates

To instantly see where each text layer is in your Figma file, you can click on the Text icon button next to any of the updated layers to instantly move the focus of your Figma page to show where the text layer is located. You can click on this icon before or after making your text updates.

Figma text layers with missing fonts can't be updated

# Spell checking Figma text layers

The Spell Check Layers feature in CopyDoc works by checking every text layer on your page for spelling errors, and provides suggestions to correct any misspelled words.

# Selecting the spell checking language

To get started with this feature, click on the Spell Check Layers button in the main CopyDoc plugin screen. When the settings panel opens, you can select the language of the text you would like to spell check by clicking on the Language select box and changing the language that matches your Figma text content.

# Finding spelling mistakes in your text layers

Once you've selected your language, you can click the Find Spelling Mistakes button to begin searching every text layer on the current Figma page for spelling mistakes.

More Figma text layers will take longer

The more text layers in your Figma file, the longer it will take to find spelling mistakes.

# Zooming in on text layers that contain spelling mistakes

Once the search is complete, you will see a list of words that contain spelling mistakes.

To instantly see where each text layer is in your Figma file, you can click on any word in the results list to expand it and show the frame(s) where the text is located in your page; clicking on the Search icon next to any of these frames will instantly move the focus of your Figma page to show where the text layer is located.

# Applying spelling corrections to text layers

To apply a correction to a word that contains a spelling mistake, you can click on any of the suggestion buttons underneath each word; clicking on any of the buttons will instantly change the word to the new suggested word in each of the locations where it exists.

Figma text layers with missing fonts can't be updated

# Undoing spelling corrections to text layers

To undo a correction you made to a word, you can click the Undo button besides the "corrected to" notification after a suggestion was applied; clicking on the Undo button will instantly change the corrected word back to the original word in each of the locations where it exists.

# Syncing spreadsheet rows with Figma

The Sync Spreadsheet Content feature in CopyDoc works by allowing you to sync repeatable text and image content from multiple rows from any spreadsheet (which can be an .xlsx/.csv file or a public Google Sheet URL) to your selected Figma layers.

This can be really helpful for designs that contain repeating grids or lists where you need to populate it with real content automatically.

# Structuring your spreadsheet

Regardless of if you're using an XLSX, CSV or Google Sheet for your spreadsheet, the structure is always the same; the very first row (or the "header") of your spreadsheet has to contain the names of the Figma layers that you would like to sync the rest of the rows underneath it with.

You can name these whatever you like, but it's easiest to use a short yet descriptive hashtag format like: #Title or #Description. In Figma, you would then name your text layers #Title or #Description as well; this will ensure that they are mapped together when the spreadsheet is synced up in the plugin later.

# Including image URLs in your spreadsheet

If you'd like to use images in your spreadsheet that will get added to your non-text Figma layers, you can paste any image URLs that begin with http:// or https://, and the CopyDoc plugin will automatically assume that they're being used as images. Please also ensure you name your image column header to be the same as your Figma image layers (eg. #Poster).

# Naming your Figma layers

In Figma, you'll rename your text layers to be the same as the header names that you already setup in your spreadsheet. For example, if you named your spreadsheet headers #Title or #Description, then you would then name your text layers #Title or #Description as well; this will ensure that they are mapped together when the spreadsheet is synced up in the plugin later.

Figma image layers

If you're using the spreadsheet to update image content, you can also rename your Figma image layers with the same spreadsheet header name (eg. #Poster) that contains image URLs in its column's content rows; your Figma layers will automatically be replaced with image content when the spreadsheet is synced.

# Duplicating your Figma layers

After you've named the layers in Figma that you'd like to map to your spreadsheet columns, you can now copy/paste your layers into multiple blocks. These will be selected later, and each one will be mapped to a single row in your spreadsheet; this is what allows you to easily create lists or grids with dynamic content in Figma.

# Syncing content from a CSV/XLSX file

If you've created your spreadsheet as either a .csv or .xlsx file, you can sync it with your Figma design by clicking on the Sync Content button in the main CopyDoc plugin screen, which will open up the settings panel for this feature.

You can preview your spreadsheet contents by either dragging and dropping your correctly structured .csv or .xlsx file into the Sync XLSX/CSV File dropzone area, or by clicking on it and selecting the file manually by browsing for it on your computer.

Ensure that you select at least one layer in Figma that contains renamed layers to match your spreadsheet headers, and then click on the Sync Spreadsheet Rows with Figma Layers button. This will sync the content from your spreadsheet with your selected renamed Figma layers.

# Syncing content from a Google Sheet

If you've created your spreadsheet as a Google Sheet, you can sync it with your Figma design by clicking on the Sync Content button in the main CopyDoc plugin screen, which will open up the settings panel for this feature.

# Making your Google Sheet link public and copying the URL

In order to use your Google Sheet's content to sync with Figma, you'll first need to ensure that the Google Sheet share URL is made public, otherwise the plugin won't have permissions to read it. You can do this by opening up the spreadsheet in Google Sheets, clicking the Share button and changing the sheet's permissions from Restricted* and update it to Anyone with the link.

# Pasting your Google Sheet URL and syncing with Figma

You can preview your spreadsheet contents by pasting your public Google Sheets URL into the Sync Public Google Sheet input field; if it's a valid, and public URL that's correctly structured, it will automatically load a preview of the headers that it contains after pasting it.

# Exporting Figma comments

The Export Figma Comments feature in CopyDoc lets you export all of the comments from the current Figma file to a .csv and .json file (with optional images for design references) that you can download to your computer.

# Getting started with exporting your comments to CSV/JSON

To get started with this feature, click on the Export Figma Comments button in the main CopyDoc plugin screen.

# Adding your Figma file URL

You will need to manually add your Figma page URL by clicking on the Share button in the Figma header, then clicking Copy link in the pop-up window, and finally pasting the copied URL into the Figma Page URL (Required) input field in the CopyDoc plugin settings.

# Adding your Figma personal token

To authenticate the request for reading comments in your Figma file, you will need to manually add a personal Figma access token. You can obtain a token by navigating to your Figma Settings* page, scrolling down to the Personal Access Tokens heading and clicking + Create a new personal access token; you can enter any description (eg. "CopyDoc") for your token when prompted, then you will be able to copy your token and switch back to your Figma file to paste it into the Figma Personal Access Token (Required) input field CopyDoc settings.

Your token will automatically be saved after successful export

After you've successfully exported comments via CopyDoc, your Figma personal access token will automatically be saved (and pre-populated in the input field) for future use in the plugin, across other Figma projects.

# Toggling design references option

Enabling the Include Design References option will include .png images (containing numbered/positioned pins per comment thread) for each frame that contains at least one comment. These can be used as a visual reference alongside the text comments exported to .csv and .json files.

# Fetching and exporting comments

Once you've added your valid Figma Page URL and Figma Personal Access Token, you can click the Export Comments to CSV/JSON button, which will scan your Figma file for any comments and generate a CSV and JSON file (along with image references, if the Include Design References option was enabled).

After CopyDoc has finished exporting your comments, you'll be shown a confirmation message; you can download your .zip file containing your exported comments by clicking the Download Comments button.

File downloads from Figma

# Opening .zip file

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