Troubleshooting

Something not working as expected? Find your problem below. Most fixes take a minute, and the first one solves most cases: click Save.

My changes don’t show up in Figma

Changing a setting in the ACSS plugin for Figma doesn’t change anything in your file until you click Save. Click Save at the top right of any screen except Export, and wait for “✅ Variables and settings saved” at the bottom of the screen.

If you pressed Cmd+S or Ctrl+S and nothing happened, click inside the plugin window first. The shortcut only works while the plugin window is active.

See Saving and auto-save.

My settings are gone when I open the plugin

The plugin remembers settings for each file separately. If you open it in another file, or in a new file, you see that file’s settings or the defaults. Check that you’re in the file you worked in.

Make a habit of clicking Save before you close the plugin. That updates your variables and makes sure your latest settings are kept for next time.

A variable I renamed came back under its old name

The plugin finds its variables and styles by name. If you rename or move one, the next Save can’t find it and creates a new one with the original name. The renamed one stops updating.

To fix it, rename yours back to the original name and delete the duplicate, or move your layers to the new variable and delete the renamed one. Keep the plugin’s names from then on.

I edited a variable in Figma, and Save changed it back

The plugin’s settings are the source of truth for its variables. Each Save writes the values from the plugin, replacing changes made in Figma’s Variables panel. Make the change in the plugin instead and click Save.

Text styles didn’t update after I changed a variable

Text styles aren’t linked to the variables. They hold their own copy of the font, size and line height. Change the value in the plugin, for example on the Typography screen, and click Save. The plugin updates the text styles and the variables together.

Shadows didn’t change after I edited a color

Shadow effect styles hold a copy of their color, not a link to the palette. Click Save in the plugin after you change your palette, and the shadows get the new color. If you changed the color in Figma’s Variables panel instead, make the change in the plugin; see Shadows.

A font isn’t in the list

The Font Family list shows the fonts Figma can use on your computer:

• Google Fonts are always available.
• Fonts installed on your computer are available in the Figma desktop app. In the browser, Figma needs its font installer to see them.
• Your team or organization may have shared fonts in Figma.

If you’ve just installed a font, close the plugin and open it again so the list is refreshed. If it’s still missing, restart Figma.

A hex value looks different from what I entered

There are two common reasons:

• Your file uses the Display P3 color profile. In a Display P3 file, the plugin writes P3 colors, and Figma shows their hex codes in P3. The plugin’s Hex field always shows sRGB hex codes. The color looks the same, but the codes differ. If a color is too vivid for sRGB, the plugin shows “Outside sRGB. Hex shows the closest sRGB color.” under the field.
• The family follows Primary. Every family takes its lightness and vividness from Primary, so a family other than Primary won’t match a hex code exactly. Turn on Manual controls for that family and enter the hex there. See Manual controls.

The plugin also keeps every shade within the colors a screen can show. A very vivid color can come out slightly less vivid at very light or very dark shades. That’s expected.

Some variables are missing

• Have you clicked Save? Variables only appear after a Save.
• Look in the right collection. For example, the default text color is Text/Text Color in the Typography collection, not in Backgrounds & Text. See All variables and styles.
• Some variables are built from others. Background, text, border and form colors point to palette colors. Button and form text styles use your Typography sizes. If something they need was missing when you saved, they’re skipped. Click Save once more.
• Coming from an older version? The Medium color shade and the old XS to XXL layout widths no longer exist. See Upgrading from an older version.

A variable doesn’t show up in a field

Each variable only appears in the fields it’s made for. Spacing variables appear in gap and padding fields, radius variables in corner radius, and so on. Variables that only record a setting, like Desktop Base Spacing Value, only show up when you bind the content of a text layer, not in other fields. See Scopes.

Also check the D or M prefix: both versions are in the list, and they’re easy to mix up.

Save shows an error

If Figma shows “❌ Error saving tokens:” followed by a reason, click Save again. Make sure you have edit access to the file. If the error keeps coming back, ask in the Facebook group and include the full message.

If the message says some text styles weren’t saved because a font couldn’t be loaded, Figma can’t use that font on this computer. This often happens in a file someone else set up. Everything else was saved. Make the font available (see A font isn’t in the list) or pick another font on the Typography screen, then click Save again. Until then, those text styles keep their previous values, and styles the plugin hasn’t created yet are missing.

License messages

These messages appear on the Plugin Activation screen.

Message	What to do
Please enter a license key	Paste your key into the field.
This license key does not exist.	Copy the key again from your purchase email or customer portal, all of it, without spaces.
This license key has expired.	Check your license in your customer portal.
This license has reached its activation limit.	Deactivate the license on a Figma account you no longer use.
This license has been disabled or revoked.	The license is no longer valid. Ask in the Facebook group.
License activation timed out. Please check your internet connection and try again.	Check your connection, turn off a VPN or firewall that might block it, and try again.
Failed to activate license. Please check your license key and try again.	Check the key and try again. If it keeps happening, ask in the Facebook group.

If the plugin asks for your key again after working before, you may have deactivated it, switched to another computer or browser, or been offline for a long time. Enter your key again. See Activate your license.

Where to get help

Ask in the Facebook group. Describe what you did, what you expected and what happened, and include any message the plugin or Figma showed. A screenshot helps. Never post your full license key in public.