---
title: From Paper
description: Copy tokens or layers in Paper and paste them into Archetype. Review what comes over, then add it to your brand.
---

> Source: https://www.heyarchetype.com/docs/import/paper

[Paper](https://paper.design) has no file to save out, so you bring a design system over from it by copying and pasting. Copy in Paper, press ⌘V in Archetype, and you review everything before it is added. The paste only adds. Nothing your brand already has is changed or removed.

There are two kinds of copy, and you can paste both, one after the other:

- **Tokens**, from Paper's **Theme** panel: every color, radius, spacing, font family and text style in the file.
- **Layers**, from Paper's canvas: the artboards or frames you select, which come in as components, along with the tokens they use and their photos.

## Paste from Paper

:::steps
### Open the importer
Go to **Settings → Import** and press **Import** on the **Paper** row. The page is titled **Import from Paper**.

### Copy in Paper
For tokens, open the **Theme** panel, select all with ⌘A and copy with ⌘C. For components, select artboards or frames on the canvas and copy with ⌘C.

### Paste in Archetype
Press ⌘V on the importer page. Archetype reads the copy straight away. There are no pages to choose.

### Review and add
Everything the copy holds is listed by kind, with what your brand already has marked **Already yours**. Uncheck anything you don't want, then press the button that names what it will add.
:::

You can also paste layers from Paper straight onto **Components**. Press ⌘V anywhere on the page, not in a field, and a drawer opens with a short review of what you copied.

## What comes over

| Kind | What Archetype reads |
| --- | --- |
| Colors | Tokens named with a step, such as `color-blue-500`, become color scales. Every other color becomes a color token, pointing at a scale's shade when it has the same value |
| Typography | Each text size token, with the line height, weight and letter spacing tokens that share its name, becomes a text style in the font family its name starts with |
| Spacing and radius | `spacing-…` and `radius-…` tokens |
| Components | Every frame named like `Button / Primary`: the part before the slash is the component, the part after it the example. A state at the end, such as `Primary · Hover`, becomes that example's hover state. If nothing is named that way, each copied layer becomes a component of its own |
| Photos | Image fills, fetched from Paper and added to your asset library, then linked into the components that show them |

Colors in a component that are bound to a Paper token stay bound: they point at the matching token in your brand once the import lands. Borders, shadows, gradients, text runs and SVG icons come over as they are drawn.

These are the names Archetype uses when it hands your brand to Paper ([Paper](/docs/agents/paper)), so a kit taken to Paper and copied back comes in as itself.

## What doesn't come over

- **Modes.** Paper has no theme modes yet. Only each token's value comes in.
- **Container, breakpoint and opacity tokens.** Your brand has no place for these yet. The review lists them under **Not imported**.
- **A weight or line height on its own.** Type comes in as whole text styles, so a loose weight, line height or letter spacing token is left out.
- **Logos.** Copied layers come in as components. Add logos on **Assets**.
- **Templates.** Pasting on **Templates** takes Figma copies only for now.

Paper's copy format is Paper's own. Archetype was checked against Paper Desktop's copies in October 2026. If a paste isn't recognised, the page doesn't change; try copying again in Paper.