Pencil imports Figma designs natively. You paste a link to a Figma section, and Pencil brings it in as a work or a reusable template with its layers intact. There is no plugin to install and no file to export first.

No. Import works from a Figma link.

Pencil reads your design through Figma's API using your own Figma authorisation, so you connect your account once before your first import. Nothing is downloaded from Figma and nothing is uploaded to Pencil.

Where to connect. Go to Settings, open Integrations, find the Figma card and click Connect. If you start an import before connecting, Pencil prompts you and takes you straight there.

Any role can connect. Once Figma is enabled on your workspace, you can connect your account whatever your role. You do not need admin rights.

One connection per person, per workspace. Your connection is yours alone, so a colleague in the same workspace connects their own account. If you work across more than one Pencil workspace, connect again in each.

Use your organisation's Figma account where you can. Figma applies rate limits to free accounts, which can interrupt importing. On a paid Figma plan you should not run into them.

Copy the section link in Figma. Right-click the section you want and choose Copy link. Pencil imports a section, so a link to a single frame or to a whole file is not accepted.

Start the import in Pencil. In the Files Library, open either the Works or Templates tab, depending on whether you want the design to land as a work or a reusable template. Use the New button and choose Import Figma file.

Paste the link. Paste your Figma link into the Import from Figma dialog and click Import. Pencil checks the link, then shows progress while it reads your design.

Review before it lands. A review step opens before anything commits, listing what Pencil found and flagging anything worth a look, grouped by type. Confirm to bring the design in, or cancel to stop without changing anything.

You can graduate a work to a reusable template at any time using the Create Template option in the three-dots menu on the work.

Sections become templates or works. The section you linked comes in as one item in your library.

Frames become formats. Each frame inside the section arrives as its own format, so a section holding a one-by-one, a nine-by-sixteen and a sixteen-by-nine gives you a three-format creative.

Layers stay editable. Layers come across as layers, including those nested inside groups and frames, so text remains text and shapes remain shapes.

Masks are preserved. Pencil reads masks as Figma defines them, applying a mask to the layers it covers. Deeply nested masks are flagged at the review step.

Hidden layers. Hidden layers are imported and stay hidden. Toggle them on in the editor whenever you need them.

Pencil matches each text layer to a font in your Brand Library by name. Where a layer's font is not found, the import applies a fallback in place of the original typeface, so upload the fonts used in your design to your Brand Library before you import.

Matching the name. The name Pencil looks for is the font name shown on the text layer in Figma. Match it as closely as you can, including capitalisation and any punctuation or spacing inside the name.

Close variants. Weights, widths and optical sizes each arrive as their own font file, even where the family name looks similar. A layer set in Poppins-SemiBold is not covered by uploading Poppins-Bold. Check the name in Figma before you upload.

Variable fonts. The Pencil editor cannot render variable fonts, so a text layer set in a variable font does not display correctly after import. Use a static font file instead. There is more on this in using font files.

Import time follows the complexity of your design, so the more sections and frames it holds, the longer it takes. There is no fixed size limit, though a very heavy section can time out on Figma's side under load. If that happens, split the design into smaller sections and import them separately.

No, as the integration runs in only one direction. You can, however, take a creative out of Pencil and keep working on it in Photoshop by exporting it as a layered PSD.