Components

Why Use Components

Components let you maintain consistency across your designs. Edit the main component once and its instances inherit the change, except for properties you override on an instance.

Components serve as the foundation for building design systems.

Creating Components

Any standard design element — a frame, shape, or text — can be converted into a reusable component.

1. Select the element
2. Press Cmd/Ctrl + Option/Alt + K or click Create Component at the top of the properties panel
3. The element is now your component origin, marked with a magenta bounding box when selected

Using Components

Simply copy the component origin on the canvas to create an instance.

A component instance is marked with a violet bounding box when selected.

You can also insert an instance from Components in the left panel. Search by name, then click or drag the component onto the canvas.

Overrides and detaching

Edit an instance’s fill, size, or text to override that property for that instance. Other properties continue to follow the origin. For example, changing a button label to Save preserves that text when you change the origin’s label, while a font-size change at the origin still reaches the instance.

Use slots for content that users need to insert into an instance. Layers inherited from an origin cannot be freely reparented inside the instance.

Select an instance and click Detach instance in the properties panel to disconnect it from its origin. To start again with the origin’s current values, insert a fresh instance from Components.

Detaching keeps nested instances and variable references linked to their sources.