Contact Us

If you still have questions or prefer to get help directly from an agent, please submit a request.
We’ll get back to you as soon as possible.

Please fill out the contact form below and we will reply as soon as possible.

  • Contact Us
  • Home
  • Figma Design – Figma Learn
  • Build design systems
  • Use libraries

Apply styles to layers and objects

Written by Figma Man

Updated at June 19th, 2025

Contact Us

If you still have questions or prefer to get help directly from an agent, please submit a request.
We’ll get back to you as soon as possible.

Please fill out the contact form below and we will reply as soon as possible.

  • Administration – Figma Learn
    Manage files and projects Manage a team Manage your account Manage a Figma organization Manage Enterprise plan settings and permissions Billing Manage Figma in a school
  • Figma Design – Figma Learn
    Create prototypes Import and export Create designs Tour the interface Dev Mode Work together in files Build design systems Figma Draw
  • Get started – Figma Learn
    Set up your account Layers 101
  • FigJam – Figma Learn
    Import and export Run meetings Work on boards Tour the interface
  • Community – Figma Learn
    Explore the Community Creator tools and resources
  • Help – Figma Learn
    Troubleshoot Common questions Work with support
  • Work across Figma – Figma Learn
    Figma AI Work across Figma
  • Courses, tutorials, projects – Figma Learn
    Courses Projects
  • Figma Slides – Figma Learn
    Create and edit slides Present slide decks Tour the interface Import and export
  • Figma Buzz – Figma Learn
    Templates in Figma Buzz Create and edit assets in Figma Buzz Overview
  • Figma Make – Figma Learn
    Tour the interface Work with Figma Make
  • Figma Sites – Figma Learn
    Design a site Create webpages and breakpoints Make your site interactive Preview and publish a site Tour the interface
+ More

Table of Contents

Apply a style to an object Use the color picker Switch between styles Detach a style Share styles with libraries

Before you start

Who can use this feature

Anyone on Education, Professional, Organization, and Enterprise plans can use style libraries.

Users with can edit access to a file can create and edit styles.

Users with can view access to a published file can use styles from that library in files where they can edit.

Styles allow you to define a set of properties or attributes of an object. You can create styles for colors, text, effects, and layout guides and reuse them across your designs.

Apply a style to an object

Apply any styles created in the current file, or apply styles from a published team library.

Tip: You can use the eyedropper tool to sample a color style and apply it to a selected layer. 

  1. Select the object(s) you'd like to apply a style to.
  2. In the right sidebar, click the  Apply styles or Apply styles and variables icon next to the property you want to update.
  3. From the Libraries tab of the menu, you will see all styles created in the current file and any styles shared via the team library indicated by round thumbnails. The square thumbnails are color variables. Figma orders styles in the style panel accordingly:
    • Alphabetically by team name
    • Alphabetically by file name
    • Individual styles appear in the order they were created. Learn about grouping and reordering styles.
  4. Use the All libraries dropdown to filter your styles and variables to those created in a specific library.
  5. Search and select the style you want to apply to the selected object(s). The style picker can be viewed as a  list or  grid.

ui3-list-grid (1).png

Tip! If you aren't able to access styles from the properties panel, they may not be shared to your team library yet. Learn more about managing and sharing styles.

Use the color picker

You can also use the color picker to apply colors from styles to objects. This is handy for situations when you want to:

  • Create a custom color that matches some of a style's properties. For example, use a color from a style at only 50% opacity.
  • Apply a color style to an object or layer in a place that doesn’t support styles.

The color picker allows you to switch between colors in the file (document colors) and from libraries added to the file. Click the On this page  dropdown to select a palette from an added library.

ui3-on-this-page (3).png

Caution: When you select a style from the color picker, you are only setting the color, not applying a style.

Switch between styles

You can change the style that is applied to an object from the right sidebar.

  1. Select the object(s) you'd like to update.
  2. In the right sidebar, click on the style next to the relevant property.
  3. Use the style picker to search for and select the new style.

Detach a style

When you detach a style from an object, that object will keep its existing properties. You can then make changes to those properties, as desired.

This is useful when using existing styles as the basis for future styles or iterations.

To detach a style from an object:

  1. Select the object(s) you'd like to remove the style from.
  2. In the right sidebar, hover over the relevant style.
  3. Click the  detach style icon when it appears.
  4. You can now make any changes you want to the object, independent of the style.

Tip: You can also edit any local style that's applied to an object by selecting the style to open the style picker, hovering over the style, and clicking .

Share styles with libraries

When you enable a library for a team or add it to an individual file, Figma includes styles from that library in the style picker.

You can use any styles you have can view access to. You can only edit the style itself if you have can edit access to the original file.

Was this article helpful?

Yes
No
Give feedback about this article

Related Articles

  • Start designing with UI kits
  • Get started with Apple's UI kit
  • Review and accept library updates
  • Detach an instance from the component
  • Create and insert component instances
  • Blog
  • Best practices
  • QR code generator
  • Color wheel
  • Colors
  • Color picker
  • Color palettes
  • Color palette generator
  • Color contrast checker
  • Font Library
  • Templates
  • Developers
  • Integrations
  • Affiliate program
  • Resource library
  • Reports and insights
  • Support
  • Status
  • Legal and privacy
  • Modern slavery statement
  • Climate disclosure statement
  • COMPARE
  • Sketch
  • Adobe XD
  • Framer
  • Miro
  • COMPANY
  • Events
  • Customers
  • Careers
  • Newsroom
Expand