We need some colleagues to work on the projects. Which seats should we purchase? Is it possible that the only option is the full seat at €800?
Also, we need to return (transfer back) a project to its rightful owner, who has a free account. When the project was originally transferred to us, we thought they would still be able to edit it, but it turns out a full seat is required. Therefore, we would like to transfer it back.
Luca
Hey
Which seat you purchase really depends on the needs of the collaborator. This is covered in detail in the article on managing seats in Figma, but there are four types: Full, Dev, Collab, and View. I recommend reviewing the article to see which best matches what you are looking to provide, since the price varies by seat type. Also, how long do you need collaboration for? You can pay monthly or yearly for seats, so if you’re only anticipating a short collaboration it might be more cost effective to pay monthly and then remove the seat.
Regarding the file, transferring the file back is essentially the same process as the original owner went through when transferring to you (as covered in our help article on transferring files and projects). Note that transferring files doesn’t actually move the file - it just changes ownership. Having said that, since the file was originally created by the person who transferred it to you, then changing owners should accomplish what you’re looking for.
Hi Adamsmasher, thanks for the detailed explanation and for your help.
I have to say, though, that the division into 4 different license types, each with its own pricing tier and feature limitations, feels quite restrictive for collaboration in a small team like ours. In practice, to make meaningful edits you essentially need a Full seat, which is fairly expensive, while the free version allows you to do almost the exact same things (just not in a business environment).
For a company like ours — a small software house — this becomes a limitation. We only have one actual designer, but around 8 people who still need to access and collaborate on the files when necessary. In this kind of setup, the licensing model becomes quite costly compared to our real usage of the platform.
Also, regarding transferring the file “back” to the previous owner, the error message indicates that the former owner must have a paid license in order to receive ownership of the file again. That’s the part that is currently blocking us.
Not a problem,
I can appreciate your position as a small software house where the number of seats has a much bigger impact financially. Before I touch on the file ownership concern, I want to better understand your usage of seats. For the 8 folks who collaborate with your designer, what type of collaboration do they participate in? It sounds like they aren’t just viewing and commenting but also directly editing as well. Is that correct? How much do they actually edit, though? If you find that some only make very occasional or light edits, they might be good candidates for another seat type where they could just leave a comment with suggested design changes.
For the file ownership change, it does require the other account to have a paid license. I’m curious… what prompted the original ownership change?
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