This feature is available on the Pro plan and above.

Find documentation for the Figma plugin in the corresponding article.

The Lokalise plugin for Figma Buzz connects your design and localization workflows, making it easy to preview, export, and import translated content directly inside Figma Buzz.

What you can do with the Lokalise plugin:

Export texts from Figma Buzz to Lokalise.
Create and name keys manually or use key naming patterns for bulk naming.
Add new keys to Lokalise directly from Figma Buzz.
Send screenshots to Lokalise for better context.
Match existing keys in Lokalise to texts in your design.
Import translated texts back into Figma Buzz.
Share key names with developers for implementation.
Generate localized design variants instantly.

Getting started

Before you begin

Please be aware that:

To install and use the plugin, you’ll need a Figma seat with Figma Buzz access.
Plugins are not supported in view-only mode.
In some organizations, only approved plugins can be installed — check with your admin if you’re unsure.

Installing Lokalise plugin for Figma Buzz

To install the Lokalise plugin, open your Figma Buzz project and click the Plugins icon in the side menu.

In the search box, type "Lokalise", find the plugin in the list, and click Run.

The plugin can open in either a side panel or a modal window; we recommend the modal view for better visibility and workflow comfort.

Connecting Lokalise account

When you launch the plugin for the first time, the setup wizard will appear. Click Connect Lokalise account to begin, then log into Lokalise and authorize Figma Buzz to access your projects.

Once connected, you’ll be able to start linking design texts with your Lokalise keys and translations.

Note that later you'll be able to reconnect a different Lokalise account in the plugin settings.

Setting up a Lokalise project

After connecting your Lokalise account, the next step is to choose or create a project to work with.

You'll see the following dialog

Choose a Lokalise team and project — select an existing project from the dropdown, or create a new one by choosing Create new project and entering a name.
Pick the base language — adjust the Translate from field to set your project’s source language.
Enable text formatting sync (optional) — turn on Sync text formatting if your designs include styled text (e.g., bold or italic words).
- When enabled, the plugin preserves inline formatting in translations. For example: “Welcome to the app” → Welcome to the <b>app</b> on Lokalise.
Set your key naming pattern — this controls how new translation keys will be named when exporting content to Lokalise.

Key naming pattern

You can name keys manually or define a custom naming pattern using the visual constructor:

Create key naming pattern constructor

By default, the pattern is: [row_name].[asset_name].[text_content]. You can adjust the separator to fit your workflow.

If you’re unsure which pattern to use, check with your developers — consistent naming makes implementation much easier.

Special notes on project setup

One Figma Buzz file can be linked to only one Lokalise project at a time.
If you disconnect it, all key links are removed automatically.
However, multiple Figma files can point to the same Lokalise project.
When selecting an existing project during setup, the Figma design language dropdown will only display languages that already exist in that project.

Adding target languages after creating a new project

If you select Create new project during the initial setup, the Lokalise project is created automatically right after setup is completed, before your first export.

By default, the new project will include only the base (source) language you specified. To work with translations in other languages, you’ll need to manually add target languages in Lokalise.

To add target languages:

Open your newly created project in Lokalise.
Find the Languages dropdown at the top of the page.
1. If the project is empty, you'll need to add at least one key for the dropdown to appear. You can add any temporary key manually by clicking the corresponding button.
In the dropdown, click New language.
Choose the target languages you want to include and click Add to confirm.

Once target languages are added, return to Figma Buzz. You’ll now be able to import and display translations for those languages.

Adjusting plugin options

After completing the initial setup, you can fine-tune your plugin settings at any time by clicking the Settings button in the plugin window.

You'll see the following dialog

Disconnect from a project — click the detach icon next to the project name to unlink the current Lokalise project.
Change the base language — use the Translate from dropdown to adjust the source language.
Sync text formatting (optional) — turn on Sync text formatting if your designs include styled text (for example, bold or italic words). The plugin will preserve inline formatting in the corresponding Lokalise translations.
Adjust key naming — update your naming pattern or switch to manual key naming if you prefer full control.
Switch Lokalise accounts — click Log out to disconnect your current Lokalise account, then sign in with another one if needed.

When you’re done, click Save to apply your changes.

Exporting content from Figma Buzz to Lokalise

Figma Buzz elements and Lokalise keys

When you first open the plugin, none of your Figma Buzz texts are linked to Lokalise yet.

Once you export them, the plugin creates corresponding keys in your connected Lokalise project. Each exported text element becomes a Lokalise key, containing:

A translation in the base language (from Figma Buzz), and
Empty values for translations in all target languages configured in Lokalise.

After export, each Figma text element is linked to its key on Lokalise. This link allows you to later update translations on Lokalise and pull them back into Figma Buzz — the plugin will automatically apply the correct translations to the linked design elements.

How to export

To export all texts from your Figma Buzz project to Lokalise, click Export all in the plugin:

If you only want to export specific items, hold Shift and click each element you want to include.

The selected elements will appear in the list. Click Export to upload them to Lokalise.

Adjusting selected elements

After selecting one or more Figma Buzz elements for export, you can review and adjust their settings in the element list.

Each selected element includes the following fields and options:

Text — the string that will be exported to Lokalise.
Plural — click this button to mark the key as plural in Lokalise.
Key name — shows how the key will be named in Lokalise based on your current naming pattern. You can edit the key name manually unless the element has already been exported and/or linked to an existing key.
Link to existing key — click this button to connect the selected element to an existing key in Lokalise. When exporting, the plugin will reuse this key instead of creating a new one.
If an element has already been linked to a key, you can unlink it by clicking on the same button:
Character limit — click this option to set a maximum character count for the key in Lokalise. Character limits are applied per key, not per translation.
Deselect — removes the element from your current export selection.

Once everything looks correct, you can proceed with the export to upload the content to Lokalise.

Adjusting export options

After you click Export or Export all, you’ll see the following dialog with several options to control how your content is sent to Lokalise:

View export options dialog

Update screenshots (create if none) — if enabled, the plugin will create new screenshots in Lokalise or update existing ones with the latest visuals from Figma Buzz.
- This is a very useful option as translators will have additional context for the texts, plus they'll be able to filter keys by screenshots easily.
Auto-link existing translations — automatically matches strings in Figma Buzz with existing keys and translations in your Lokalise project.
Create missing keys — creates new keys in Lokalise for any Figma texts that are not yet linked.
Merge duplicates — identifies duplicate texts in Figma Buzz and links them to a single key in Lokalise to avoid redundancy.
Add tags — allows you to assign tags (comma-separated) to new keys created during export.
Update linked translations in Lokalise — updates existing linked keys in Lokalise with modified text from Figma Buzz.
Apply custom translation status (New translations) — available only if Custom Translation Statuses (CTS) are enabled for your Lokalise project. When checked, you can select one or more custom statuses to apply to newly created translations. (CTS is available starting from the Pro plan.)
Apply custom translation status (Update translations) — also available only if CTS is enabled. Allows you to apply custom statuses to translations that are being updated during export.

When everything is set, click Export to begin the process. Once the export completes, open your Lokalise project to review and manage the created or updated keys and translations.

Your translation keys will automatically be linked to the corresponding screenshots if you've enabled the Update screenshots option earlier:

View exported key on Lokalise

Export options: Recommended practices

Use the following guidelines to choose the right export settings based on your project setup.

Scenario 1: I don't have any translation keys in my Lokalise project

Enable:

Create missing keys — adds all selected text elements as new keys in Lokalise.
Update screenshots — creates screenshots with highlighted text for each new key.

If your Figma Buzz project also contains identical text elements, additionally enable:

Merge duplicates — combines identical texts into a single translation key to avoid duplicates.

Scenario 2: I already have some keys in Lokalise, but also want to create missing ones

Enable:

Auto-link existing translations — matches Figma texts with existing translations in Lokalise.
Create missing keys — adds new keys for any unmatched texts.
Merge duplicates — (optional) links identical Figma elements to a single key instead of creating multiple new ones.

Scenario 3: I already have translation keys in Lokalise and just want to link them (no new keys or updates)

Enable:

Auto-link existing translations — links texts in Figma to existing Lokalise keys.
Update screenshots — creates or updates screenshots with highlighted text for each linked key.

Importing translations from Lokalise to Figma Buzz

After adding or updating translations in Lokalise, you can import them back into your Figma Buzz project to preview localized designs.

To do this, return Figma Buzz, open the Lokalise plugin, and click Import.

You’ll see the import dialog, where you can choose how to apply the translations:

View import dialog

Create new rows — generates new text layers in your Figma Buzz project for each imported translation.
- This option is required if you want to see your design in another language, since Buzz doesn’t allow switching the language directly within a single row.
Update existing rows — replaces the content of linked text layers in the current row with their latest translations from Lokalise.
- Use this if you just want to refresh the existing content without creating new language variants.

Once you confirm your selection, the plugin will pull the translations for all linked keys and apply them to your design automatically.

Creating new rows

You can create new rows in your Figma Buzz file based on your current design.

When you select Create new rows, two additional dropdowns will appear:

Which rows’ translations would you like to import
Which content would you like to import

View creating new rows dialog

When choosing what content to include in the import, you have several options:

Key names — creates a new row where all text elements are replaced with their corresponding key names from Lokalise. This option is especially useful for developers who need to see where each translation key is used.
- If you later rename a key in Lokalise and update the row in Figma Buzz, the new key name will be displayed automatically.
- However, note that this won’t work if you’ve unlinked and relinked the key to a different element after duplicating the row — due to technical limitations, renamed keys won’t update in that case.
Language translations — creates a new row where all text elements are replaced with translations from the chosen language.
All languages and key names — combines both approaches, creating rows for each target language along with key name references.

Once the import is complete, you’ll see the newly created rows listed in the side menu. Your original row remains unchanged.

Choosing rows in the side menu

For example, here’s a new row where the original text has been replaced with the key names from Lokalise.

When viewing these newly created rows, the plugin will only show the Update translations button, allowing you to pull the latest translations from Lokalise when needed.

Update translations button

Please note that these rows are view-only — you won’t be able to select individual Figma Buzz elements or modify their options. To make adjustments to element settings, switch back to your original row.

Updating the existing row

If you prefer to update your current design instead of creating new duplicates, choose Update existing rows from the dropdown.

View updating new rows dialog

Choose the row from the dropdown that you would like to update. You can then decide whether to update:

Only content — replaces text while keeping your original design unchanged, or
Content and design — updates both the text and its design elements.

Additional features

Placeholders support

You can add custom values for placeholders in your Figma Buzz designs, and even create new rows with placeholders replaced by those values.

The plugin currently supports the following universal placeholder formats defined in Lokalise:

Type	Examples	Description
String	`[%s]`, `[%1$s]`, `[%s:name]`	Inserts a text string
Integer	`[%i]`, `[%1$i]`, `[%i:name]`	Inserts an integer number
Float	`[%f]`, `[%.2f]`, `[%1$.2f]`, `[%.2f:name]`	Inserts a floating-point number

Adding values for placeholders

Create a new translation key containing placeholders in Figma Buzz, or import one from Lokalise.
If you want to use one custom value for all translations, import all translations first and then add values for the placeholders. Otherwise, add values separately for each language.
The plugin will automatically detect placeholders in your text.
Click on a placeholder to enter custom values.

Branching

The Lokalise plugin for Figma Buzz supports projects with branching enabled. When you select an existing project, you’ll see a Select project branch dropdown. This dropdown will only appear if your Lokalise project has more than one branch.

All export and import operations will be performed within the branch you’ve selected.
If you need to switch to a different branch later, open the plugin settings, disconnect the current project, and reconnect again — this time selecting the desired branch.

Plural keys support

The Lokalise plugin for Figma Buzz fully supports plural keys. To mark a key as plural, click +plural next to its name in the plugin.

After exporting to Lokalise, the key will display a “plural” badge, and you’ll be able to add translations for all plural forms supported by the selected language.

Learn more about language settings and supported plural forms in the Language settings article.

In Figma Buzz, you can choose which plural form to display for a given element. Simply click the element’s name in the plugin and select the desired form from the dropdown list:

Uploading translation files