The Marker System

What Are Markers?#

Markers are a naming convention for Figma text layers that tell Sheets2Figma where to place data. By prefixing a layer name with * followed by a column name, you create a mapping between your spreadsheet and design.

Basic Syntax#

*ColumnName

The * prefix signals that this layer should receive data. The rest of the name must match a column header in your spreadsheet.

Example#

Spreadsheet:

Figma layers:

• *ProductName → "Widget Pro"
• *Price → "$29.99"
• *Description → "Premium widget"

Case Sensitivity#

Markers are case-sensitive. The marker name must exactly match the column header:

• ✅ *ProductName matches "ProductName"
• ❌ *productname does NOT match "ProductName"
• ❌ *Product Name does NOT match "ProductName" (spaces matter)

Multiple Markers Per Frame#

You can have multiple markers within a single frame. Each marker maps to a different column:

Frame "Card 1"
  ├── *Name → "Sarah Chen"
  ├── *Role → "Product Designer"
  ├── *Email → "sarah@company.com"
  └── *Avatar → (image from URL)

Markers in Nested Layers#

Markers work at any nesting depth. The plugin searches the entire layer hierarchy of each selected frame:

Frame "Card"
  └── Content Group
      ├── Header
      │   └── *Title → receives data
      └── Body
          └── *Description → receives data

Row Assignment#

When you select multiple frames, each frame gets the next row of data:

• Frame 1 → Row 1 (Sarah Chen)
• Frame 2 → Row 2 (Marcus Rivera)
• Frame 3 → Row 3 (Anna Kowalski)

If you select more frames than there are rows, the extra frames will be skipped. If there are more rows than frames, only the first N rows (matching the frame count) will be used.

Best Practices#

1. Keep column names simple — Name, Price, Image are better than Product Name, Unit Price
2. Use camelCase for multi-word names — productName instead of product_name
3. Test with a small dataset first — sync 2-3 rows to verify markers work before running a full sync
4. Document your markers — keep a note of which markers map to which columns