How to share draft file without having to buy full seat

Hi ​@Max Aigner, thanks for reaching out! 

From your screenshot, it looks like you’re trying to share a Design file, is that correct? 

If so, since you only have a collab seat, you’re being prompted to upgrade to a full seat because sharing a Design file from your drafts is akin to sharing a design file from a team project, which you need full access to Figma Design in order to do.

When a Design file is created in drafts, a full seat is required to move it into a project within the team to make the file available for collaboration with others. Hope this helps explain! 

Thanks for the reply, but this UX is honestly a mess. It’s extremely misleading to call something a “draft” and treat it like a team file behind the scenes, especially when users on the Free plan can share drafts freely. The fact that “Drafts” on a paid plan silently become billable unless you upgrade to a Full seat is not clearly communicated anywhere.

It would be far more transparent if users could see what kind of draft they’re working in — or at least receive a warning before clicking Share that it will trigger billing.

Am I missing something, or how would one usually go about giving a client view access to a design, while on the professional plan with a collab seat, or is this simply not possible without upgrading to a full seat?

For now, I’ve moved my work to a free personal account, because there, I can simply share the design with my client. It’s an interesting business strategy to remove useful features on the paid plan, while making them available on the free plan. Feels like it incentivises paying users to churn. 

Thanks for the feedback, Max! 

 On October 15, 2024, we rolled out the new drafts experience where each team now has its own Drafts space. (More information on that here.)

To clarify again, it’s not possible to share Design files with a Collab seat, because sharing a Design file from the team’s drafts is the same as sharing a design file from a team project, which you will need full access to Figma Design in order to do.

I hear you and understand how this is causing unnecessary friction for you and your team collaboration. I’ll pass your feedback onto the team for future consideration.