All drafts created in the last 2 years have disappeared after account update

Hi ​@KB56 - happy to help try to figure out what happened.

First: you mentioned you are on a student account. Is it possible you have 2 Figma accounts? One associated with your student email, and another under a separate personal?

Can you provide the names of any of the drafts that are missing? You can PM them to me, and I’ll see what I can do.

Hi ksn, thanks for your reply. 

I have one Figma account under my personal email that is registered in association with an online educational program. 

Unfortunately I did not note all the names of the drafts (there were many) in a separate document somewhere… 

Hey ​@KB56, I’m taking over for ​@ksn and will be helping you from here.

To cover some grounds, please check if:

• The file is in your deleted folder (Open your drafts > click the deleted page). If so, right-click the file to restore it
• The file may have been moved by a teammate who was also on that file. 

We do need a URL to locate the files. You may be able to find the URL from:

• Your web browser’s history.
• Any past conversations where you might have shared the file with colleagues.
• The ‘File > Recently Closed’ menu if you are using the desktop app.

To better assist you with this issue providing the URL(s) of the missing drafts would be incredibly helpful for further investigation.

I appreciate your help!
 

Hi Gayani_S,   

-No missing files in the deleted folder. The items in the deleted folder are also only those from 2 years prior.

-Zero teammates on my drafts

-Since I had not opened the files over the holidays, there are no recent URLs to those drafts in my browser history. 

What is strange is that the thumbnails of the drafts were there immediately prior to accepting T&C’s and changing passwords. Something about these actions wiped everything going back 2 years.

Hey ​@KB56, thanks for confirming this! 

I did take a look on our side, and I can see that the account associated with kXXXX@pXXXXX.com is currently on the Free Starter plan, not the Education plan. Based on that, it does look very likely that there are two Figma accounts involved here. One tied to your education email and another tied to your personal email. 

I’d recommend logging out completely and then trying to sign in using your education email to see if those drafts appear there. 

Let me know if you’re able to find your drafts in your education account! 

Hi Gayani,

I was never issued an educational email with the online bootcamp Skillcrush. Skillcrush does not issue individual student email addresses. There was a notification sent from Figma that free plans would be limited (and that could explain deleted files), but the email said not to worry if the customer account is associated with one of these online bootcamps (and therefore an education account)

Hey ​@KB56, apologies for the delayed response! 

For context: Figma currently offers two free plans, the Starter plan (free) and the Education plan (also free, but with Professional features). When you first reached out, you mentioned you were using a “Free (Student) account”. 

If there is an Education plan associated with your account, it would be tied to a specific email address. If you’re comfortable sharing that email, I can try to check whether your missing drafts might still be there. You’re welcome to send it to me via DM and just let me know here once you’ve done that.

Thank you, 

Gayani 

Hi Gayani, I am sending you a DM with the email address associated with this account.

Hey ​@KB56, sorry for the delayed response! Unfortunately, I am not able to find an account under your old email address. If you find a URL of the file I can investigate further! 

Hi Gayani, There has only ever been one single account. I simply **updated** to a new email address for the only account I have ever had with Figma. The files going back two years are still completely missing.

Will temporarily upgrading to a paid membership help get this resolved on the back-end?

Hey ​@KB56, apologies for the delayed response! 

A bit of context that may help:
On the Starter plan, you’re limited to one team and one project, with file limits inside projects (3 Design/Sites files, 3 FigJam files, etc.). However, drafts themselves are unlimited on the Starter plan. 

Given that, this likely isn’t related to plan limits. 

If you’re considering upgrading, here’s what the Professional plan includes:

• Unlimited files and projects for one team

• Access to core Figma products (Design, FigJam, Slides, Draw, Sites, Buzz, Make, Dev Mode)

• Advanced prototyping and developer handoff tools

• Team libraries and unlimited version history

• AI tools and advanced diagramming

• Advanced sharing options (project-level controls, prototype-only sharing, viewer restrictions, password protection)

• Flexible billing and seat management permissions

It’s a great option for professionals or small teams who need stronger collaboration and control. But again, it won’t recover missing drafts.

I’d love to get you connected to our support team to investigate this but for that you’ll need the URL of the file. 

I had no reason to save URL’s for files, and it sounds like this would not be helpful even with a paid plan.  Figma has given no notice at any point that no matter what the tier of membership, URLs needed to be frequently saved in case Figma mysteriously disappears files. This is not solved.