Video Tutorial: Create a reusable text content library in Figma

This video walks through how to create a reusable text content library in Figma with CopyDoc.

Video Tutorial: Add text expander content snippet shortcuts in Figma

This video walks through how to add text expander content snippet shortcuts in Figma using the CopyDoc plugin.

Creating text expander snippets

After opening the Content Library panel, to create your first text snippet under the Collections tab, click on the Add New Snippet + button, and then complete the required fields:

Trigger Shortcut Name

Trigger shortcuts are special keywords that will have their content expanded when typed (or copy/pasted) into a Figma text layer (for example, //expandme).

Add To Collection (Optional)

By default, any new text snippets added are "Uncategorized", but you can create a custom collection name (or select a previously created collection) to keep your snippets organized by category.

Text Content Snippet

Your text content snippet contains the string(s) that will be applied to your Figma text layers, when the snippet is clicked on in your content library.

To create multiple variants for one text snippet, you can use double pipe symbols between your strings (for example, Hey || Hello || Hi).

Supported Markdown formatting for text snippets

You can optionally add some basic markdown formatting (bold, italics) and links to your snippets, which will automatically be applied when the snippet is applied to your Figma text layer.

• You can specify Bold text by using double asterisks **Snipet text to bold** or double underscores eg.__Snipet text to bold__
• You can specify Italic text by using single asterisks *Italic Snippet Text* or single underscores eg._Italic Snippet Text_
• You can specify Bold Italic text by using triple asterisks ***Bold Italic Snippet Text*** or triple underscores eg.___Bold Italic Snippet Text___
• You can specify hyperlinks by using the markdown syntax of This is [my link here](https://example.com) in a text snippet (you can also format the link text by adding the bold/italic syntax inside of the link's [] text area).

Apply snippets with text layer selection

The first way to apply your saved text snippet(s) is to select the Figma text layer(s) you want to apply your snippet(s) to, and then click on the Apply button to apply a random snippet variant to that text layer.

You can also apply your snippets in a certain order or selecting a specific variant, by first expanding the text snippet, then clicking a certain variant or choosing a bulk apply option ("Original Order", "Random Order", "A-Z" or "Z-A").

Apply snippets with text expander triggers

The other way to use and apply your saved text snippets is by copy/pasting (or manually typing) your text snippet "trigger" (for example, //expandme) directly into your Figma text layer while editing the layer's content; this will automatically expand your trigger shortcut into the full text snippet that you added.

You can use your triggers in other CopyDoc features. The text expander snippet works by automatically detecting the snippet when a Figma text layer's content is updated, which means that you can use your trigger shortcuts when using CopyDoc's other text layer update methods (for example, find and replace, bulk CSV/XLSX imports, and Google Sheet sync). Just use the trigger name as part of your updated content for example, Hello //firstname, how it's going?

Editing or deleting your text snippets

To delete or edit a custom text snippet that you've previously added to your content library, expand the text snippet by clicking it in your snippets list under the Collections tab, then either click on the Trash icon button to delete it instantly, or click on the Pencil icon button bring up the edit panel, which will let you update the trigger name, collection or text content for the selected snippet.

Bulk moving or deleting your text snippets

You can quickly move a bunch of text snippets to another collection by selecting the snippets you'd like to export by selecting their checkbox(es), then selecting an existing collection name from the Select Snippet Collection dropdown, or by adding a new collection name, then clicking the Move button.

Alternatively, instead of moving the snippets to a different collection, you can click the Delete button to instantly bulk delete all of the selected snippets instead.

Exporting your text snippets to CSV

You can export a .csv file of your custom text snippets by selecting the snippets you'd like to export by selecting their checkbox(es), and then clicking the Export CSV button to automatically download your selected snippets to a .csv file that you can save to your computer.

You can edit these .csv files and re-import them back into your content library snippets.

Importing text snippets from CSV

You can import a .csv file containing custom text triggers and snippets by clicking the Import CSV button under the Collections tab of the CopyDoc content library feature.

The .csv file that you drag into the dropzone can either be an updated spreadsheet that you exported via the Export CSV feature, or a brand new spreadsheet that you've formatted in the same way.

The format of the CSV needs to follow the structure of: each column of your first/header row contains the trigger names (for example, //expandme), with each text variant per snippet populating the rows underneath each trigger's column.

//firstname	//cities
Kate	Seattle
Elbert	Los Angeles
Michael	New York
Amy	Austin
	Portland
	Boston