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Sharing documents and prototypes

Sharing gives a person, identified by their email address, a level on one document, folder or project. Anyone who doesn't already reach the item through its folder, project or workspace needs it before they can open the document or its prototype in the preview. Also called: invite, add collaborators, share link.

Opening the Share dialog​

Where: Dashboard → right-click a document, folder or project → Share. In the editor and in the preview → Share in the header.

  • The dialog belongs to one item. The editor and the preview share the open document; the dashboard context menu shares the item you clicked and is unavailable while several items are selected.
  • The Share button above the file list shares the folder or project you are in, not the selected item. Everyone you add there gets access to everything inside it (inheritance).
  • The list shows direct access only: the item's owner, the people added to this item and its pending invitations. People who reach it through a parent folder, the project or the workspace are not listed.
  • Inviting people, changing levels and removing people takes Edit & Share on the item, direct or inherited, or owning it. For everyone else the dialog opens read-only: it shows the list and "Only owners and users with share permission can invite or edit members."

A project's dialog also has Visible to (Invite only projects).

Choosing a level​

The dialog offers View, Edit and Edit & Share (what each level allows).

  • A new invite starts at Edit. Every address you enter gets the level shown next to the email field. To send a prototype to a stakeholder, switch it to View before you press Send Invite.
  • View is enough for a prototype. A person with View opens the preview, uses the prototype and adds comments. The editor opens for them too, in Read only mode.
  • A guest with Edit or Edit & Share on anything in the workspace occupies a seat; with View they do not (seats).
  • View on a document does not lower a higher level the person has through the folder, the project or the workspace (inheritance).

The same list changes a level later, and Remove takes the person off this item (what removing leaves behind).

Invitations​

Send Invite does one of two things for each address:

  • Members of the workspace get access at once. They appear in the list and receive an email with a link to the item. There is nothing to accept.
  • Everyone else gets an invitation, including people who already have an account and guests of the workspace. The row reads Invite sent, and access starts when the person accepts. The menu on that row offers Re-send email and Revoke invitation.
note

An invitation is valid for 5 days. After that its link shows Invitation Expired; send a new invitation.

An invitation is tied to the address it was sent to. Someone who opens it while signed in under another address sees Wrong Account with a Switch Account button and cannot accept it, so a forwarded invitation gives nobody else access.

For a document, both paths end in the editor, not in the preview: the email to a workspace member links to it, and Go to Document on the accepted invitation opens it. Send a stakeholder the preview's address as well.

There are no public links and no "anyone with the link" setting, and the Share dialog has no link to copy. A link is the address of the editor or of the preview. It works only for a person who is signed in and has access to the document, direct or inherited: share the document first, then send the link.

  • For a prototype, copy the address of the preview from the browser. It names the artboard the prototype starts on (preview). To open a prototype on the same artboard every time, whatever is selected, mark that artboard as a preview entrypoint.
  • In the editor, Copy link in a layer's context menu (Ctrl + L, also with nothing selected) copies an editor link to the current page, zoomed to the selection if there is one, and Copy link to page in a page's context menu copies an editor link to that page.