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.