How to back up your design files

A designer’s backup problem has two halves. There are the working files, which are large, layered and often the only copy of months of decisions, and there are the exports, which are what clients and colleagues ask for again two years later. Both tend to sit on one fast laptop, on a project drive in a drawer, or in a shared folder that no one person looks after.

This guide looks at the usual ways designers and creative teams back up their files, where those habits break down, and how to keep working files and exports in Fabric, stored off your machine and searchable by what the work looks like.

How designers usually back up their files

External SSDs per project or per year are common. They’re fast and portable. They’re also single copies unless duplicated, and finding a logo from a 2022 job means knowing which drive it’s on and plugging it in.

Dropbox or Google Drive shared folders work well for small studios and give the whole team the same files. Large working files can be slow to sync, and when the synced folder is set to keep files locally, a few big projects fill the laptop. Version names multiply: brand_final, brand_final_v2, brand_final_USE_THIS.

Browser-based tools such as Figma keep files in their own cloud with version history, which covers a lot. The work still lives inside one account, and assets exported from it end up scattered across downloads folders and email. What is digital asset management? covers the larger version of this problem for studios and brand teams.

Step 1: Set up the Fabric drive on your design machine

Put the Fabric desktop app on the machine you design on; it runs on Mac, Windows and Linux and mounts Fabric as a virtual drive, so it shows up in Finder or File Explorer next to your other locations. You can save from your design software straight into it, and drag existing project folders in like any other move.

Files on the drive take no space on your computer and stream when you open them, which matters with large layered files and video assets. Fabric as a cloud drive explains how streaming works across devices.

Step 2: Back up working files, exports and local copies

Bring in past projects first. Drag folders into the Fabric drive or the web app, or click Upload a file; uploading handles large numbers of files at once. Fabric stores working files from any tool as files, so your source files and their exports can sit together in one project folder.

For Figma work, save a local copy of important files from Figma’s file menu and put it in the project folder in Fabric, next to the exports. That gives you a copy outside the Figma account. Design file formats explained covers which formats are worth keeping for the long term.

For ongoing work, set your export location to the project folder on the Fabric drive. Each PNG, JPG or PDF you export is then backed up as it’s made, with no separate step at the end of a job.

Step 3: Find past work by color, subject and similarity

Fabric processes each image as it arrives. It creates embeddings, writes a short summary, extracts attributes such as concepts and colors, and suggests tags. Search then covers what’s visually in an image and any text in it, so “poster with a mountain and orange sky” can find an export from years ago.

To search by color, paste a HEX code from a brand palette or pick one with the color picker. To find work in a similar style, select an image and run a similarity search; for images it considers composition, color and subject. It helps when a client asks for something “like the one we did before” and you need to find the three earlier concepts they might mean.

Step 4: Share the backup with your team

A studio can work from one shared drive through the desktop app, so each designer opens the latest files from the same place. Roles and permissions can be set at space and file level, with viewer, commenter, editor and admin roles, so freelancers can be given access to one client’s folder only.

When a project goes to review, share the file with commenter permission. Commenters can draw on an image and attach a comment to the drawing, and each comment can be marked completed once it’s handled. How to manage brand assets covers keeping approved versions separate from drafts.

Step 5: Deliver finished work from the same place

When a job is done, publish the deliverables folder as a web page and allow downloads so the client can take the final files. Editing the source in Fabric updates the published version, so a corrected logo replaces the old one on the same link.

On the Pro and Team plans you can add password protection and link analytics, and on Pro you can publish on your own domain. Team plans are on the plans for teams page.

Frequently asked questions

What’s the best way to back up large design files?

Save them to a cloud drive that doesn’t need to keep a full copy on your laptop, and keep a second copy on an external drive for anything critical. The Fabric desktop drive stores files in Fabric and streams them when opened.

Can I back up Photoshop and Illustrator files to Fabric?

You can store working files from any tool in Fabric as files, using upload or the desktop drive. Visual search and color search apply to images such as your PNG and JPG exports.

How do I back up my Figma files?

Save a local copy from Figma’s file menu and store it in Fabric alongside your exports. That gives you a copy outside your Figma account.

Will keeping design files on the Fabric drive fill up my laptop?

No. Working files kept on the Fabric desktop drive stream from Fabric when you open them, so they don’t occupy space on your laptop’s SSD between sessions.

Can I search my design archive by color?

Yes. Paste a HEX code or use the color picker in search to find images with that color.

How do I find designs similar to one I already have?

Select the image and run a similarity search. For images it looks at composition, color and subject.

Can clients leave feedback on backed-up designs?

Yes, through a shared link with commenter permission. They can draw on the image and attach a comment. Published links are view-only, with downloads if you allow them.

Can my whole studio work from one backup?

Yes. The desktop app lets a team work from a shared drive, with access controlled by roles at space and file level.