Copying and pasting between projects

Copying and pasting between projects lets you reuse elements, layouts, styles, interactions, and other content, saving you time and helping maintain consistency across sites.

Pasting between projects

You can copy any element or group of elements from any of your projects and paste them into another project. All nested elements, styles, assets, settings, and interactions that are retained.

To reuse elements and components in another project:

1. Copy from one project (CMD + C on Mac or CTRL + C on Windows)
2. Paste into another (CMD + V on Mac or CTRL + V on Windows)

Yes, it’s that simple.

You can also undo the paste action by pressing CMD⌘ + Z (Mac) or CTRL + Z (Windows).

Must know

You cannot copy from projects in read-only mode.

Troubleshooting

If you're receiving either of these errors: "couldn't read native clipboard data" or "clipboard is empty", check the following:

• You're copying the element from the actual project in the Designer and not from read-only mode.
• You don't have a system preference set up on your computer that overrides the default copy/paste function. That is, CMD + C & CMD + V on Mac or CTRL + C & CTRL + V on Windows have their defaut functions and aren't ovveriden with custom shortcut keys. If these shortcut keys do have custom functions, make sure to delete them if you wish to use copy/paste between projects.

Class name and style conflicts

What if there are classes in the destination project that have the same name as classes in the source, and there’s a conflict? Here’s how we handle that..

Same class name, different styles

If the classes from the source and the destination project have the same name but different styles, Webflow will add a number to the pasted elements’ class name (e.g., “classname 1”, “classname 2”, and so on).

Same class name, same styles

If the classes from the source and the destination project have the same name — ignoring any numbers added at the end (for example “class name”, “class name 2”, “class name 3” etc.) — and the exact same styles, Webflow will merge the pasted classes with the existing class in the destination. This cuts down on the number of duplicate styles in your destination project.

For example, let’s say you’re pasting a button with the class “Button” from Project A into Project B. Project B has a class called “Button 3” that’s identical to “Button” from Project A. Webflow will notice that the classes are the same, and simply apply Project B’s “Button 3” class to the pasted button.

Interaction names and actions conflicts

We’ll also do our best to combine interactions that are identical. But of course, it can be more complicated than this. Here’s a closer look at how we treat conflicts in interactions.

Same name, different actions

If there is an interaction in the destination project with the same name as an interaction you’re pasting — but it has different actions — the pasted interaction will have a number added to the name to indicate it’s a duplicate (i.e., “interaction name 2”, “interaction name 3”, and so on).

Same name, same actions

Similar to how we treat conflicts in class names, if an interaction in the destination project has the same name as an interaction you’re pasting — ignoring any numbers added at the end (for example, “interaction”, “interaction 2”, “interaction 3” etc.) — and the same actions,we’ll recognize these as the same and merge the pasted interaction with the existing interaction in the destination.

Exceptions and edge cases

In some cases, some settings or content will not make it to the destination project.

Custom fonts

When you paste a text element that has a custom font family applied to it, the font family will use a fallback font if the custom font isn’t added in the destination project’s settings.

If you need to use the same custom font, make sure to add that custom font to the destination project before pasting your element.

Link settings

When you paste an element from another project, link settings for elements that link to a specific page or a section within a project will be reset — unless that section is pasted in at the same time.

Form notification settings

When you paste a form element from one project to another, the pasted form will adopt the form notification settings of the destination project.

Maps API key

If you want to paste a map element from one project to another, you’ll need to add your Google Maps API key to the destination project. All other settings will be carried over from the source to the new project.

Inherited text styles

Pasted text elements will inherit styles from parents as normal — which means that if a pasted element does not have styles set for a particular attribute, but those styles are set at the parent level in the destination, they will take effect on the pasted elements.

Base HTML tags

When you paste in elements from a source project that have styles applied to their base HTML tags (i.e., when you’ve styled “all H1 headings” or “all paragraphs”) those styles will not copy over to the destination project when pasted.

CMS connected elements

Pasting an entire Collection List will simply paste an empty Collection List element, since Collection data does not get copied over to the new site. But, here’s a handy workaround for reusing layouts in Collection Lists.

Pro tip — Reusing layouts in collection lists and on collection pages

• If you want to reuse a layout that you’ve built for a Collection Item, add a div to the Collection Item, nest all the elements within the Collection Item inside of that div, then copy and paste that containing div to the new project.
• The pasted elements will not be connected to any CMS data (for example, an h1 headline will become an h1 that just says “Heading”), but all your classes will be copied over and ready for reuse in any part of your new project.
• You can use this same approach to reuse layouts on Collection Pages as well.

Symbols

Elements that are saved as Symbols in the source project won’t be Symbols in the destination project. If you want to save them as Symbols again, simply press CMD + SHIFT +A (Mac) or CTRL + SHIFT + A (Windows).

Color swatches

When you paste a class that has a color saved as a swatch (either regular and global) in the source project, the color will not appear as a swatch in the destination project.

Best practice

• After pasting a class, make sure to save the color as a swatch or a global swatch if you intend to use this class with multiple elements.