Files

Files is your team's library for everything you print from: customer artwork, dielines, logos, fonts, and the files your other apps make. You keep your own folder structure, a re-upload becomes the next version instead of a duplicate, and properties such as the customer stay with each file.

What Files does#

Files keeps one library of customer files for the whole team, in folders you choose. Drag in a folder from your desktop or file server and its structure comes with it. Upload a file whose name is already in that folder and it becomes the next version of that file.

• Folders and uploads. Whole folders, with their subfolders and empty folders, in one drop. See Folders and uploads.
• Automatic versions. Every version is kept, and you can restore any of them. A file that hasn't changed doesn't make a new version. See Versions.
• Stored once. Identical files anywhere in your team are stored once, so copies and restores use no extra storage. See Storage.
• Properties. Your own fields, such as customer, SKU or substrate, on every file, with defaults per folder. See Properties and tags.
• An API. Scripts and other systems can organise files and move a whole archive into Files. See Files API and Move your customer archive to the cloud.

Files accepts any kind of file. For PDFs and images it also reads the pages, sizes, inks and resolution, and makes previews.

Where to find it#

• Sidebar. Files is the first item under Work. Press g then f to jump there from any page with the sidebar.
• New menu. New › Upload files opens the library, where Upload or a drop takes single files or whole folders. New › New folder opens the library with the New folder dialog.
• Team home. The Files card shows how much storage your team uses of your plan (the same meter as in Files, see Storage), the five files changed last, each opening in its folder, and Upload files. Recent activity lists what people uploaded, versioned or restored in Files (a whole drop is one line), next to the approvals events.
• Get started. The checklist on the team home starts with Store your files. It is ticked once someone on the team uploads a file to Files, in the browser or through the API. Files that other apps put in Files don't tick it.

The library#

The page has the folder tree on the left, the files in the middle and the side panel on the right.

• Folder tree. Click a folder to open it, or its arrow to show its subfolders. Recent lists the files your team changed last, across all folders. Trash holds what you deleted. The storage meter sits at the bottom of the tree.
• Grid and list. View in the toolbar switches between cards and a list. A card shows a preview, the name, the version (v3), the preflight result, up to 6 spot inks and up to 5 properties your team chose to show. The list adds the size, modified date, pages and trim size.
• Sort. Sort orders by name, date or size. Names sort the way people count: "Label 2" comes before "Label 10".
• Search. Type in the box at the top. This folder searches the open folder and its subfolders; All files searches the whole team. Every word you type must appear somewhere in the name, and spaces, hyphens, underscores and dots count alike, so "jar label" finds "jar-label_01.pdf". Results from more than one folder show which folder each file is in. Filters narrow the list further (see Properties and tags).
• Status bar. The bottom line shows what is selected, the size of the open folder and how uploads are going.

A new file shows Processing until Files has checked its content, and can be downloaded once it is ready. A new folder starts empty: drag files onto it, or use Upload. An empty team's library suggests a structure such as "Customers / customer name / job" and offers Add print-shop properties (see Properties and tags).

Select and act#

Click a card to select it, Shift-click to select a range, and ⌘-click (Ctrl-click on Windows and Linux) to add or remove one. With the keyboard, Tab moves into the grid or list and the arrow keys move between cards; Shift with an arrow extends the selection. With a selection, the toolbar offers Move, Copy, Properties, Download and Trash (as icons when the window is narrow), and the side panel offers Edit properties and Download ZIP. Right-click a card for Quick look, Download, Copy link, Rename, Move to…, Duplicate and Move to trash, and on a folder Folder defaults…. On a PDF that is ready, the menu also has Send for proof and Preflight (see ).

Drag cards onto a folder in the tree, the breadcrumb or a folder card to move them there. Hold Alt (Option on a Mac) while you drop to copy them instead. A copy uses no extra storage.

File details#

Select a file to see it in the side panel on the right. The panel has four tabs:

• Details: a large preview (click it, or press Space, for Quick look), the current version and where it came from, the size, when it was modified and who added it. For a PDF it also shows what Files read from it: the pages, the trim size, whether it has a dieline, whether it uses overprint, its layers, its spot inks and its preflight result, with Open report once the current version has been checked. For a die drawing (CF2, CFF2 or DXF) it shows the Ups, the Shape (or Shapes: each distinct shape with how many ups it has), the Layout (such as 3 across × 2 around), the Die size, and the Cutting rule, Creasing rule and any perforation, scoring or partial-cut rule, in millimetres (see Files). For a PDF or an image, Prepress shows where the current version stands in the 1-up editor: each page you prepared, its print-ready file (size, bleed, when it was built) or what it needs, such as a die check, with Open in editor, Save print-ready as new version and Download print-ready (see Files and images). Where used lists the records in other apps that use the file, such as proof rounds in Approvals and screening jobs, each once, with a link. An artwork is listed through its proof rounds, one line per round that uses a version of the file.
• Versions: every version, newest first. See Versions.
• Properties: the file's property values and tags. See Properties and tags.
• Activity: what happened to the file, when and by whom.

The panel header has Download, and a menu with Copy link, Rename, Move to…, Duplicate, Upload new version… and Move to trash. Copy link copies a permanent address that opens the file's folder with its panel open, even after the file moves.

Die drawings#

Files reads CF2, CFF2 and DXF die drawings when they arrive, finding the ups the same way Tools & dies does when you import a die (see Importing dies). The card and the preview show the whole die: knife lines dark, creases blue, and perforations, scores and partial cuts each in their own colour. The rule lengths count a knife line that two ups share once, and leave out a frame drawn around the die. When the drawing stops Files from finding the ups, for example because it has no knife lines, the details show its size and its rule as drawn, without ups.

A die drawing Files can't read is still stored and versioned as usual, and its details say why:

• the file doesn't say whether it is in millimetres or inches (its preview is still drawn);
• the file is larger than 20 MB (no preview);
• the drawing took more than 3 seconds to read (the details say some were left out).

To count the ups of such a die, import it in Tools & dies, where you can choose its units (see Importing dies).

Send a file to your other apps#

For a PDF that is ready, the panel header and the right-click menu also have:

• Send for proof: the current version becomes the next proof round in Approvals, of the artwork that already proofs this file, or of a new artwork named after it. Nothing is copied or emailed: the proof uses the same bytes. Open in Approvals in the message shows the artwork's row, where you share it or invite reviewers (see Proofs and Files).
• Preflight: checks the current version with your team's default preflight profile. The file shows Checking… until the result is in (the card updates by itself), and Open report opens the report (see Running preflight).

Approvals, preflight and screening can also choose files from Files themselves. A proof, a report or a screening job keeps the exact version it was made from, whatever happens to the file later.

Open in 1-up editor (also a double-click on a PDF or an image) opens it in the 1-up editor: die, bleed, trapping, preflight and 3D, with its print-ready file kept next to the version. The team home's Prep a 1-up picks a file from Files and opens it there too.

Imposition jobs, estimates and marks take files from Files too: see Jobs and artwork, Takeoff: tracing parts and Order data in marks. Each keeps the version it was given.

Download#

Download saves a file's current version under its original name. Each row of the Versions tab downloads that version. Downloads always save the file; Files never opens a file inside the browser tab.

Select several files or folders and press Download ZIP in the side panel to get one ZIP of their current versions, with the folder structure kept. A ZIP holds up to 10,000 files and 5 GB. Files builds it in the background and starts the download when it is ready. A ZIP is kept for 2 days.

Trash#

Trash moves the selection to the trash. Everything you trash in one go is one entry in Trash, and a trashed folder takes its subfolders and files with it. Trashed items still count toward storage.

• Restore puts everything in the entry back where it was. A folder that no longer exists is made again. If something new now has the same name, the restored item gets " (restored)" added to its name.
• After 30 days trashed items are deleted for good; each entry shows the date. Team admins can Delete for good one entry, or Empty trash, at once.
• Files other apps still use are kept. A file whose version is still used by a proof or a job isn't deleted, and its entry says "Kept: another app still uses a file in here". Files checks again every night.

Trashing a file never changes a proof, job or estimate that uses it. They keep the version they were made with.

Activity#

Files records who uploaded, versioned, renamed, moved, copied, downloaded, trashed and restored each file and folder, and every property change with its old and new value. Each entry says where the change came from: the web app, the API (with the name of the key), another app or the system. Other apps add their own entries: Used in an app (for example "Approvals: Carton 200, proof round 2", or a screening job), Sent for proof when reviewers are emailed a proof of the version, and Preflighted with the result. Activity is kept for 2 years.

Settings#

Files settings, the gear in the header, has three tabs. Every member can see them; only team admins can change them.

• Properties: your team's property definitions (see Properties and tags).
• Storage: the meter, the breakdown and the largest folders (see Storage).
• Automation, with two switches that are on for a new team:
• Preflight PDFs when they arrive: every PDF of up to 250 MB that arrives in Files is preflighted with your team's default preflight profile, and the card shows Checking… and then the result. Drops of more than 200 files are not checked automatically: they stay Not checked, and you can check them one at a time with Preflight in the panel. Files that Approvals or imposition store are checked by those apps instead (see Running preflight).
• Prepare new versions automatically: when a new version arrives for a PDF or an image you prepared in the 1-up editor, the new version gets the same die, ink mappings, bleed and traps, and its print-ready file is rebuilt. If the cut path changed and the die can't be found again, the version is marked for a die check instead (see Files and images).

Who can do what#

Everything in Files belongs to the team, and every member sees every folder (see roles).

Folder-level permissions and guest access aren't supported.