# What does the Auto-update checkbox do?

> It pushes every change you make straight to the chart on the canvas, so you stop pressing Update SVG. It appears only when you are editing a chart that is already in the file.

## Before you start

- A chart already on the canvas, selected and open in the editor.

> **Note:** Each update keeps the chart exactly where it is — position, rotation, name, its frame and its place in the layer list are all preserved, and the size only changes if you changed Width or Height yourself.

> **Careful:** Every tick rebuilds the layer, so any Figma-side work inside the chart is wiped repeatedly. Turn auto-update off before you start restyling sublayers or attaching prototype links.

> **Tip:** It follows the format you inserted with. On a PNG chart each update re-renders the image at twice the pixel density, which takes a moment longer than the SVG path.

## Steps

1. Select an inserted chart so it opens in the editor. Auto-update sits at the right-hand end of the tab bar, next to the shuffle and theme controls — it is not there when you are building a new chart.
2. Tick it. Now edit your data or your settings and watch the canvas: about half a second after you stop typing, the chart redraws in place.
3. Leave the chart selected on the canvas while you work. Auto-update writes to whatever is selected, so if you click away onto another layer it stops and reports that no chart is selected.
4. Untick it whenever you want to go back to updating deliberately. It starts off every time you reopen a chart, so it never surprises you at the start of a session.

_Topics: auto-update, update, live_

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Install Figma Charts: https://www.figma.com/community/plugin/1345221583582136577/figma-charts

More Figma Charts help: https://systergon.com/figma-charts/help