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Projects and collections

Last updated on 07 May 2024
10 min read

Keep your Workspace organised by assiging Sketch documents to projects and collections.

Projects are similar to folders. Use them to group together documents by client, status, year, project name, or any other kind of structure that suits you.

Collections meanwhile are groups of documents that are always inside a project. Like projects, you can create collections using any taxonomy you like.

Projects have their own sharing and privacy settings, so you can choose who in your Workspace has access to a project, and whether or not they can edit the documents inside it. Collections always have the same sharing and privacy settings as the project it’s in.

Organizing with projects

Creating a project

Organizing documents with projects

Watch lesson

Click on the + icon next to the Workspace name in the sidebar of the Workspace window to create a new project. Type a name for your project and press enter to confirm it. If you want to create projects with restricted access, you can do so in the web app. You can also create projects when you save your document.

Click on the + next to the projects heading in the sidebar. Here, you can give your project a name (Emoji are supported, but not Markdown) and set your share settings. By default, all projects will be visible to all Workspace members unless you restrict the Workspace share settings to No Access. Hit to finish. You should now see your project in the sidebar ready to move documents into.

Moving documents to projects

From the Workspace window, drag a document onto a project to move it there. You can drag and drop documents from the All Documents tab to any project in the sidebar or from a project to another project. You can also Control-click on a thumbnail and select Move to Project to move documents around your Workspace.

Drag the document you want to move and drop it onto its project folder in the sidebar. You can also hover over a document’s thumbnail and click on the Three dots icon to bring up its options. From there, choose Move. In the window that appears, select the project Folder closed you want to move the document to from the drop-down menu then click Move Project in the dialog that appears.

How to move a document to a project in the web app.

How to move a document to a project in the Mac app.

Moving documents to other Workspaces

Only Admins can move documents to other Workspaces. They’ll also need to be an Admin or an Editor in the Workspace they are moving documents to.

To move a document to another Workspace, hover over its thumbnail and click Three dots > Move > To Project. In the Move Document modal, choose Other Workspaces from the drop-down menu, then pick the Workspace and project you want to move your document to. We’ll ask you to confirm whether you still want to keep sharing the document with everyone that was previously invited or not.

How to move a document to a project in another Workspace

You’ll also see expired Workspaces in the Other Workspaces tab, but you won’t be able to move documents to those Workspaces until you reactivate them.

You can’t move documents from your private My Drafts to another Workspace — you’d first need to move the document to a project, or to All Documents. Further, you can only move documents to projects in other Workspaces using the web app.

Removing documents from projects

Right-click on a document’s thumbnail and choose Remove from Project. Check you’re happy with how this may affect access to your document in the modal, then click Remove to confirm.

Removing a document from a project, will move it to All Documents.

To remove a document in the web app, hover over a document’s thumbnail and click on the Three dots. Choose Remove from Project from the menu, then click Remove Document to confirm.

When you remove a document from a project, it will be moved back to All Documents.

How to remove a document from a project in the web app

Renaming projects

Right-click on a project’s name in the sidebar of the Workspace window and choose Rename. Type a new name and press Enter to confirm.

To rename a project in the web app, hover over a project name in the sidebar or document’s thumbnail, then click on the Three dots that appears next to it. Choose Rename from the menu, give your project a new name, then click Rename.

How to rename a project in the web app

Pinning projects and documents

Pin important projects and documents to ensure they’re always at hand when you need them. Other Workspace Members can’t see what you pin — so feel free to arrange them in a way that makes sense to you.

Pinning projects

Open the Workspace Window, right-click on a project in the sidebar and select Pin Project. You’ll find pinned projects at the top of your list of projects in the sidebar. Follow the same steps to Unpin a project.

How to pin a project in the Mac app

Find the project you want to pin in the sidebar, click Three dots and select Pin Project.

How to pin a project in the web app

Pinning documents

To pin a document, right-click on it in the Workspace Window and select Pin Document. Once it’s pinned, you’ll find it at the top of the list or grid in the All Documents tab. Follow the same steps to Unpin a document.

To pin a document, click the Three dots and select Pin Document. Follow the same steps to Unpin a document.

Archiving projects

Archiving projects is only available for customers in our Business plan

Admins in your Workspace can Archive projects you no longer need to see or access frequently. Archived projects no longer appear in the sidebar or All Documents view, but you can always unarchive them to bring them back.

How to archive projects

Find your project in the sidebar in the Workspace window, right-click on the project, select Archive and confirm your decision in the modal that appears. You can find archived projects in the Archive tab at the top of the sidebar in the Workspace Window. You can still view and edit archived documents and projects.

How to archive a project in the Mac app

Find your project in the sidebar, click the Three dots, select Archive and confirm your decision in the modal that appears.

You’ll find archived projects in the Archive tab at the top of the sidebar in the Workspace Window. You can still view archived documents and projects and edit them in the Mac app.

How to archive a project in the web app

How to unarchive projects

To unarchive a project, find it in the Archive, right-click on the project and select Unarchive. When you unarchive a project it will go back to the sidebar in the Workspace Window.

To unarchive a project, find it in the Archive, click Three dots and select Unarchive. When you unarchive a project, it will appear in the Workspace window’s sidebar again.

Deleting projects

Control-click on a project’s name in the sidebar of the Workspace window and choose Delete Project…. In the confirmation dialog, choose Delete Project to send the project and all its documents to the Trash — we’ll delete any project that has been in the Trash for 90 days, but up until that point, you can easily restore them.

To delete a project in the web app, hover over a project name in the sidebar, then click on the Three dots that appears next to it. Alternatively, Three dots near the the project’s name at the top of the page. Choose Delete from the menu, then click Delete Project to confirm. The project, along with its documents, will be moved to Trash. We’ll delete any projects that have been in the Trash for 90 days, but up until that point you can easily restore them.

Organizing with collections

Creating a collection

Open the Workspace window, choose a project and click the New Collection icon Collections. If you want to instantly add multiple documents to a new collection, first select them from the Workspace window, then choose New Collection from Selected from the New Collection drop-down.

You can also create a new collection when you save a new document: choose a project, then click on the New Collection button.

Use the Create Collection button inside any project, or drag one document over another. You can then give your collection a name and description, which can include links and paragraph breaks.

You can add more documents to a collection by selecting them in the Create a Collection dialog. You can also the search bar to quickly find specific documents to add.

Adding documents to an existing collection

To add documents to an existing collection, you can do either of the following:

  • When you save a document for the first time, select the project and collection you want to save your document in the Save dialog.
  • Drag and drop documents into collections in the Workspace Window.

To add documents to an existing collection, you can do any of the following:

  • Drag and drop any document in a project onto an existing collection.
  • Hover over a document’s thumbnail, click on Three dots and select Move > To Collection.
  • Inside a collection, click Manage Collection and select documents you want to add.

Removing a collection

In the Workspace Window, right-click on a collection and choose Remove.

Removing a collection does not delete its documents. Any documents in a collection you remove will move back to their parent project.

Hover over a collection’s preview, click on Three dots and choose Remove.

Removing a collection does not delete its documents. Any documents in a collection you remove will move back to their parent project.

Editing a collection

Right-click a collection’s preview and choose Rename.

Hover over a collection’s preview, click on Three dots and choose Edit to update the collection’s name and description. You can also copy a link to share with others or move all its documents to another collection.

Moving documents between collections

You can move documents between collections within the web app. The Mac app does not support these actions at this time.

Hover over the collection’s preview, click Three dots and choose Move All Documents. Once you’ve moved all documents, Sketch will give you the option to delete the collection if you want to.

Inside a collection, hover over the document’s thumbnail, click Three dots and choose Move. Next, choose whether you want to move the document to another collection in the same project — or to a different project.