Files saving in Adobe and not .fig

Hey @sdill, sorry to hear this is happening!

How are you saving your files? Is this happening when you go from the Main Menu > File > Save local copy…?

Thanks so much for responding! What you described is exactly what I am doing, but it’s not saving as a .fig file! Do you know how to change the default setting? I can see no place to do that.

What is it saving as?

If you double click the file it wouldn’t open in Figma, you need to import it. https://help.figma.com/hc/en-us/articles/360041003114-Import-files-to-the-file-browser

Thanks - I need to get a Figma file out to another destination but it won’t save as a .fig file. It saves as Adobe and I can’t see a way to change the default back to .fig.

what do you mean by “It saves as Adobe”? There is no such file format as “adobe”. How do you tell that it’s “adobe”?

Maybe for some reason in Windows you have AdobeXD set as a default app to open .fig files? If yes then .fig files would have AdobeXD icon and clicking on them would try to open them in AdobeXD.

Bart_K - Yes, something like that has happened. Do you know how to reset the default?

Install Figma desktop app if you don’t have it yet and then right click on the exported .fig file and select “open with” option. Then select “choose another app” option. Figma should be on the list there. If not you should be able to browse your disk for the Figma executable in installation directory. It should also show you ability to always open this kind of files with selected app.

That’s not correct. At least on windows. If you make Figma desktop app the default app to open .fig files it will open the app and prompt you to import the file to your account. Just tried it a minute ago.

Edit:
Tried it also on macOS and it works the same. Opening .fig file will open desktop app and show prompt to import file.

oh cool that’s new

Woah. I never realized the desktop versions gives “Save as .fig” amnd the web gives “Save as Local Copy.” Strange.

Bart_K,
Thanks so much for this! It sounds like you know your way around Figma.

But - I’m trying to export files, not import. I think if I received a Figma file from someone maybe it would open. But my problem is getting the files out. They don’t save as .fig in Save a Copy. The default save is Adobe; do you know where the control is to change it back?

It is saving as .fig. But it is showing as Adobe XD if you have that installed since that’s the default app to open .fig files on your computer. If you change the default app to open .fig files on your computer to Figma they would be shown as Figma.

If that’s not the case, what’s the file extension that it saves as? As I already said there is no such file extension as “Adobe” so what’s the actual file extension?

By default Windows doesn’t show file extensions, but as @Gleb mentioned it’s most definitely exported as.fig file. Just change the default app for .fig file and it should show as Figma file, not Adobe XD file.

Do you have Figma desktop app installed on your machine? If not maybe that’s why it set Adobe XD as default for this file type. For example Adobe XD has set itself as a default app for .sketch files on my PC for some reason.

Bart and Gleb,

I do have Figma installed. Bart - were you able to change it?

So it is saving as a .fig until I try to move it, then it’s no longer .fig.

Here’s what it looks like as a path in a download:
“C:\Users\sueel\Downloads\Dill_apps_Art178.fig”

But on my computer it looks like this: Adobe logo Dill_apps_Art178
Where do I change the default?

You can pretty much tell Windows to open any app with any other app. Most of the time it won’t actually work, though.

Changing default app can be a little different depending on the version of the OS you have, but it should work similar to that:

1. Right click on the file you have problem with
2. Select “Open with” option
3. Select “Choose another app”
4. Then you should see a list with recommended apps. If Figma is not there click on “Browse your disk” option and navigate to Figma’s installation directory. There should be executable file which you need to select.
5. After that you should see option to “Always open with this app”
6. Confirm and it’s done

There is plenty of tutorials on youtube about that, see one of them if you still have problems with it.

What finally fixed it was deleting ALL the Adobe programs from my computer. Easy once I figured it out.

Thanks for all your help and suggestions; I know a lot more than I did!
Sue