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Migrate your design systems to Creative Cloud Libraries

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  1. Adobe XD User Guide
  2. Introduction
    1. Release updates
    2. Common questions
    3. Design, prototype, and share with Adobe XD
    4. Color Management
    5. System requirements
      1. Hardware and software requirements
      2. Adobe XD, Big Sur, and Apple silicon | macOS 11
    6. Workspace basics
    7. Change app language in Adobe XD
    8. Access UI design kits
    9. Accessibility in Adobe XD
    10. Keyboard shortcuts
    11. Tips and tricks
  3. Design
    1. Artboards, guides, and layers
      1. Get started with artboards
      2. Use guides and grids
      3. Create scrollable artboards
      4. Work with layers
      5. Create scroll groups
    2. Shapes, objects, and path
      1. Select, resize, and rotate objects
      2. Move, align, distribute, and arrange objects
      3. Group, lock, duplicate, copy, and flip objects
      4. Set stroke, fill, and drop shadow for objects
      5. Create repeating elements
      6. Create perspective designs with 3D transforms
      7. Edit objects using Boolean operations
    3. Text and fonts
      1. Work with drawing and text tools
      2. Fonts in Adobe XD
    4. Components and states
      1. Work with components
      2. Work with nested components
      3. Add multiple states to components
    5. Masking and effects
      1. Create a mask with shapes
      2. Work with blur effects
      3. Create and modify gradients
      4. Apply blend effects
    6. Layout
      1. Responsive resize and constraints
      2. Set fixed padding for components and groups
      3. Create dynamic designs with stacks
    7. Videos and Lottie animations
      1. Work with videos
      2. Create prototypes using videos
      3. Work with Lottie animations
  4. Prototype
    1. Create interactive prototypes
    2. Animate prototypes
    3. Object properties supported for auto-animate
    4. Create prototypes with keyboard and gamepad
    5. Create prototypes using voice commands and playback
    6. Create timed transitions
    7. Add overlays
    8. Design voice prototypes
    9. Create anchor links
    10. Create hyperlinks
    11. Preview designs and prototypes
  5. Share, export, and review
    1. Share selected artboards
    2. Share designs and prototypes
    3. Set access permissions for links
    4. Work with prototypes
    5. Review prototypes
    6. Work with design specs
    7. Share design specs
    8. Inspect design specs
    9. Navigate design specs
    10. Review and comment design specs
    11. Export design assets
    12. Export and download assets from design specs
    13. Group sharing for enterprise
    14. Back up or transfer XD assets
  6. Design systems
    1. Design systems with Creative Cloud Libraries
    2. Work with document assets in Adobe XD
    3. Work with Creative Cloud Libraries in Adobe XD
    4. Migrate from linked assets to Creative Cloud Libraries
    5. Work with design tokens 
    6. Use assets from Creative Cloud Libraries
  7. Cloud documents
    1. Cloud documents in Adobe XD
    2. Collaborate and coedit designs
    3. Coedit documents shared with you
  8. Integrations and plugins
    1. Work with external assets
    2. Work with design assets from Photoshop
    3. Copy and paste assets from Photoshop
    4. Import or open Photoshop designs
    5. Work with Illustrator assets in Adobe XD
    6. Open or import Illustrator designs
    7. Copy vectors from Illustrator to XD
    8. Plugins for Adobe XD
    9. Create and manage plugins
    10. Jira integration for XD
    11. Slack plugin for XD
    12. Zoom plug-in for XD
    13. Publish design from XD to Behance
  9. XD for iOS and Android
    1. Preview on mobile devices
    2. Adobe XD on mobile FAQ
  10. Troubleshooting
    1. Known and fixed issues
      1. Known issues
      2. Fixed issues
    2. Installation and updates
      1. XD appears as not compatible on Windows
      2. Error code 191
      3. Error code 183
      4. Issues installing XD plugins
      5.  Prompt to uninstall and reinstall XD on Windows 10
      6. Issues with preferences migration
    3. Launch and crash
      1.  XD crashes when launched on Windows 10
      2.  XD quits when you sign out of Creative Cloud
      3. Issue with subscription status on Windows
      4. Blocked-app warning when launching  XD on Windows
      5. Crash dump generation on Windows
      6. Crash log collection and sharing
    4. Cloud documents and Creative Cloud Libraries
      1. Issues with XD cloud documents
      2. Issues with linked components
      3. Issues with libraries and links
    5. Prototype, publish, and review
      1. Unable to record prototype interactions on macOS Catalina
      2. Issues with publish workflows
      3. Published  links do not appear in browsers
      4. Prototypes do not render correctly in browsers
      5. Commenting panel suddenly showing up on shared links
      6. Unable to publish libraries
    6. Import, export, and working with other apps
      1. Import and export in XD
      2. Photoshop files in XD
      3. Illustrator files in XD
      4. Export to After Effects from XD
      5. Sketch files in XD
      6. Third-party apps not visible in Export
Alert:

Work with linked assets

The linked asset workflow that allows you to reuse colors, character styles, and components across local and cloud documents will be supported until September 2021. Going forward, Creative Cloud Libraries will be the only way to publish and share linked assets across documents in XD, and so you may wish to migrate your existing design system to a Creative Cloud Library before September 2021.

Changes starting September 2021

  • You will no longer be able to link cloud documents to reuse assets. 
  • Existing local and cloud documents that have linked assets will no longer propagate updates when edits are made to assets. 
  • Copying and pasting a Component that is not published to a library will result in an unlinked copy of the component. 
  • Creative Cloud Libraries will be the only way to publish and share linked assets across documents in XD.

Why is Creative Cloud Libraries an alternative?

We introduced the ability to link assets across documents to enable reuse of components while keeping changes in sync across documents. However, design systems are much more than just Components. It consists of different types of assets organized in a way that makes it easy for everyone on the team to use and contribute back to. As design systems mature, teams grow and complexity of projects increases, teams need a more robust solution to help build consistent experiences at scale.

To help teams with this goal, we introduced Creative Cloud Libraries in XD. Using libraries, you can build design systems that allow you to share more than just components.

Features

Linked Assets

Creative Cloud Libraries

Linked components across documents.

Supported

Supported

Linked colors and character styles are supported for linked assets.

Supported

Supported

Linked audio files and other asset types.

Not Supported

Supported

Invite users with view and edit permissions to a design system.

Not Supported

Supported

Publish a design system publicly for anyone to make a copy or use.

Not Supported

Supported

Gating updates when publishing changes to a library.

Not Supported

Supported

Organize your design system with groups and tokens.

Not Supported

Supported

Bridge design to development with design token and code hinting.

Not Supported

Supported

Create a library that can be shared with a team.

Not Supported

Supported

Reuse assets from other Creative Cloud apps like Photoshop and Illustrator.

Not Supported

Supported

How do I migrate my linked assets to Creative Cloud Libraries? 

You can migrate your existing linked assets to Creative Cloud Libraries in a couple of steps. Before you start the migration process, it is important to ensure that you inform your team about this so that they don’t make edits to the source document or the consuming documents during this period. Migrating your design system should only take a couple of minutes.

  1. Save your source document as a cloud document.

    If the source document for your linked assets is a local document, you need to save it as a cloud document. You can only publish a library from a cloud document. If your source document is already a cloud document, skip to step 2.

  2. Prepare your document to publish a library

    Before publishing a library, ensure that the cloud document doesn’t contain copies of components from another local or cloud document. If it does, make sure to either convert them to a local component or remove them before publishing a library. This will ensure that the library published contains assets from a single document instead of referencing multiple documents.

  3. Access the Libraries manager

    From the Document Assets panel, click the Publish icon to open the Libraries manager. From here, you can publish your design system as well as push updates when you make edits to the document and want to update the library.

  4. Publish your library

    Click the Publish button to create a library that contains all your documents assets containing the document’s assets like colors, character styles, components and audio files. 

    publish library
    Navigate from Document Assets panel and publish from the Libraries manager

    Depending on the number of assets, publishing the library the first time might take a few minutes. The progress indicator in the Libraries manager will indicate when the library has finished publishing. Make sure no other editors are actively updating the document while it's being published as a library.

  5. Invite other to use and contribute to the library

    Once the library is published, you can invite users using their email address with either view permission or edit permission. Make sure to invite anyone who was previously using linked assets from this document.

    User with view permissions

    If you invite a user with view permissions, they can use this library to reuse the assets. They can’t make changes to the library. 

    User with edit permissions

    If you invite a user with edit permissions, they can use and make edits to the library. To make edits to a library, a user must have edit access to the library and the cloud document. Make sure to invite the user to the cloud document to edit.

  6. Accept the invite to the Library

    Users invited to the library in the previous step will be notified through an email or in Creative Cloud desktop app about the library. Once they accept the invitation, they can access the library from XD. It is essential that any user who was previously using linked assets from this document to accept the invitation to the library else the assets will show up with a broken link that’s represented with a red badge. Once you accept the invitation, it will take a couple of minutes for the library to sync and show up for the first time. When a user accepts the invitation, all the linked assets should automatically be relinked to the new library.

  7.  Test your design system

    An easy way to check if you have successfully migrated your linked assets to a library, is by opening any document that contains these linked assets. If the user of that document has accepted the invitation to that library, the linked assets should now be referencing the new library. If it's not then it will show up with a red badge which indicates it is broken. 

    Next, ask any user with edit permissions to the library to make a change and publish an update to the library. If other users see an update in their library panel, it indicates you’ve successfully set up your design system with Libraries.

Migrate your Linked Assets to Creative Cloud Libraries (Video)

Here is a step-by-step video walkthrough to help migrate your existing linked assets to Creative Cloud Libraries.

Why do my assets show up with a red badge?

If your assets have a red badge, it indicates that the link is broken. You can follow the steps below to resolve this:

  • Ensure the owner of the library (previously the source document for the linked assets) has invited you to use the new library. 

  • Ensure you have accepted the invitation to the library. Once you accept the invite, the links should automatically resolve and your assets should be linked to the library. Check for the invite in your email or Creative Cloud desktop app.

Related resources

Design Systems with Creative Cloud Libraries 

Work with Creative Cloud Libraries in XD 

Working with design tokens in XD 

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