New users can’t see all project files and folders despite having editing access

Hey ​@Albbeson, thanks for reaching out! 

This may be related to how folder permissions work under the recent Projects → Folders update. 

One thing that'd help me narrow it down, when you gave this new user access, did you invite them directly to the team/plan itself, or did you also invite them to the top-level folder(s) separately? And on one of the folders showing up empty, could you check what the Who has access dropdown (via the Share button) shows for it?

For background on how folder access is structured now, here's our doc on File and folder permissions.

Once I know how the invite was set up, I can tell you whether this is expected under the new model or something worth a closer look on our end.

Hi Figma Support,

I'm experiencing an issue with file and folder access in my Figma team.

Initially, I was using my personal Figma account to work in a team on a Professional plan. I then created a new Figma account using my work email address, added it to the same team, and assigned it a full seat.

However, after doing so, I noticed that my work account cannot see all the files in many of the folders. Some folders appear to be missing files entirely.

I tried using my personal account to manually add my work account to all of the affected folders, but some files are still missing even after granting access directly.

I also made my work account an admin of the team, but this did not resolve the issue either.

Could you please help me understand why some files are still not visible to my work account, and how I can make sure the two accounts have consistent access to all files and folders in the team?

Thank you for your help.

Hey ​@Hui11, thanks for the extra detail!

A couple of different things are probably happening here:

1. Folders missing content for your work account. This lines up with how folder access changed in the recent Projects → Folders update. Folders now either inherit access from the team, or are limited to specific people who've been directly invited. Any folder that was set to "invite only" before the update is now in that limited state, so a newly added team member won't automatically see it. They need to be added to that specific folder. Sounds like you've already handled this by adding your work account directly.
2. Files still missing even after adding your work account to the folder. This is most likely because those specific files are sitting in your personal account's Drafts space rather than in a shared folder. Drafts are private to whoever created them by default, even within a team, so folder-level access doesn't apply to them at all.

To fix that, from your personal account, open each of those files and either:

• Move the file into one of your shared folders (it'll then follow the folder's access, so your work account picks it up automatically), or
• Open the file's own Share button and invite your work account to that file directly.

More detail here: Updates to how drafts work and File and folder permissions.

If you move or share those files and your work account still can't see them, I’d recommend to opening a request through through our Support hub so we can take a closer, account-specific look.

Hi, I’m experiencing the same issue.

The new user was invited directly to the team, accepted the invitation, and is now shown as an active team member. All of our folders are set to “Anyone in {Team Name} can edit.”

However, the user can only see some folders and files. Some folders appear empty, while other files and folders are visible as expected. When I search for the user in the folder’s Share dialog, their name does not appear, even though they are already a team member.

Existing members can access the content normally. At the moment, the only workaround is to invite the new user directly to each affected folder or file, which is difficult to manage.

Could you please investigate whether inherited permissions are not syncing correctly for newly added team members?

Hey, ​@Banku 👋 Thanks for your post. That sounds unexpected. Have you already opened a request through through our Support hub so we can take a closer, account-specific look? IF not, or if you have trouble opening one, let us know and we can help. Best — Jaycee

I’m also experiencing this issue! So annoying.

I was added to an old team (I left due to my organization guidelines and then come back) as a full member and now I can see all the folders but not the projects. Even when I see projects, I have to ask to edit even when I was the original project creator!

Any tips would be nice. Thanks!

Hey angel.hayashi, thanks for adding this here! 

Figma recently renamed "projects" to "folders," so you may still see the older term in a few older mentions or bookmarked links, but the two refer to the same thing.

As for the access issue, here's what's most likely going on: when you left the team, you lost any direct role you held on folders that were set to limited access (only specific people invited, rather than the whole team) and that includes an owner role. Rejoining the team gets your general team-level access back, but whether your old role on a specific folder comes back automatically depends on whether that folder still has anyone else with an owner or edit role on it. If it does, you'd need to be added back directly rather than it defaulting to you, which is likely why you're seeing Ask to edit even on folders you originally made.

A couple of things worth checking:

1. On one of the folders you can't edit, click Share and look at the Who has access list. That'll show you whether anyone currently holds edit or owner access.
2. If someone's listed there, ask them (or a team admin) to add you back directly.
3. If no one shows up with access, use Ask to edit from the folder, that'll notify whoever can grant it, typically a team admin.

More background here: File and folder permissions and Request to edit a file.

If you work through that and you're still locked out of folders you created, open a request through our Support Hub with the specific folder link(s). That'll let us take a closer, account-specific look at what happened when you left and rejoined.

This needs to be sorted out asap! We had new people joining our team and when we added them to full members to our team (show as “member” and have full edit rights), the new members cant see 95% of our figma files, even though they were added to our Figma team the same way as previous members. The only files they could see after joining our team, are random files where someone had accidentally set “Anyone can access” as it’s permission.

All our folders have the “[our team]” as the permission, but all the files inside old folders seem to have “People invited to file” as the permission, and the people list everyone in our team BEFORE the folders migration.

As of now, we have been converting every critical file manually from “People invited to file” → “[Our team]”, but this would take weeks (or months) to do for all old files as there is no way to mass-edit the permissions.

We need a fix to this ASAP! There is no way we can manually change all files one by one, as I don’t understand why the folders don’t automatically include new members OR why they did not convert to [our team] in the migration. This is a big screw up by Figma.

Hey ​@Lauri_Incrosnatu Thanks for your feedback. I opened a support ticket for you. I opened a support ticket for this. The ID is 2095087 and the email subject line is New team members can't see files inside team folders after FMR migration. Please keep an eye on your email (and spam folder if necessary) for the email and any replies from our team. Thanks! — Jaycee

Jaycee I got it and replied with all the details. Any chance you guys had time to look at this? Let me know if you need any further info.

Hi, ​@Lauri_Incrosnatu I updated the ticket to match your urgency. I also added additional notes and context for the agent. I’ll keep an eye on things until we see a resolution. — Jaycee

We’re having the same issues described here; only the original Admin can see all the projects in a Folder, the rest of the team (even if part of the Who can Edit list) can not.

Hey ​@Rafael Grullón, thanks for flagging this here!

What you're describing (only the original admin seeing everything in the folder, while teammates on the Who can Edit list still can't)  lines up with a few other reports in this thread. So I'd like to help narrow down what's going on for you specifically.

A couple of things worth checking first:

1. Open the affected folder and click Share. At the top of that list, look at the Who has access row. Does it show your team or plan name, or does it say People invited to folder?
2. If it says People invited to folder, that folder's access is limited to only the people listed directly on it. A teammate's team-level "Can edit" role won't extend to that folder automatically. They'd need to be added directly to that folder's share list (or the setting switched back to inherit from the team) to see it.
3. If your teammates are already listed directly on that folder's share modal with Can edit and still can't see it.

For more on how folder-level access and inheritance work together, here's our guide to File and folder permissions.

Since checking the specific folder and accounts involved needs more than what I can see from the forum, I'd recommend opening a request through our Support Hub with a link to one of the affected folders. That'll let us dig into the account details and confirm whether this needs further investigation on our end.

I took some time and collected three example folders from our own Figma environment that showcase the problem. This information has already been sent to support by email.

I've also simplified and anonymized them below for this forum, referencing the real examples, in the hope that it helps get this issue resolved even quicker. Even though these images are simplified, all three examples are real, taken from our own Figma.

New user "Jerry Seinfeld" added to the Acme Inc team from the admin panel. Has full edit rights and shows as "Member" in the confusing users list next to the team dropdown.

Example 1

• Old project "folder," created years ago
• Uses Figma's default access settings for both folders and files
• In this specific folder, the new team member "Jerry Seinfeld" was automatically added to the collaborators list and can access all files inside this folder.
• We did not need to do anything. Works the same as it used to when adding a new team member to our Figma.

Example 2

• Old project "folder," created years ago
• Uses Figma's default access settings for both folders and files
• New team member "Jerry Seinfeld" was NOT automatically added to the collaborators list and does NOT see any files inside this folder.
• In folders like this, we've had to change each file permission from “People invited to file “ → “Acme Inc” one by one so that new team members will have access to the files.

Example 3

• New folder, created after the Projects → Folders migration
• Uses Figma's (new) default access settings for both folders and files
• New user "Jerry Seinfeld" can automatically see and access all files.

I know this is a lot to process, but the key questions are:

• Should new team members automatically appear on the collaborators list of old folders?
• Why did the new team member appear in the collaborators list for Example 1, but not Example 2?
• If you've changed the logic so that new members no longer appear in the collaborators list of old folders, and Figma's previous default permission on all the files inside our old folders has remained unchanged through the migration, how are we supposed to get new members access to all our old files, given there's no way to mass-edit permissions? We have hundreds of old folders and thousands of old files, and changing permissions one by one by hand isn't feasible.