Cloud documents
Learn how to work with and collaborate on cloud documents
In Lunacy, you can work with local and cloud documents. You can tell them apart by the icons next to their title:
Local documents live on your computer. You can access and edit them even when offline.
Cloud documents are stored on Icons8 servers. They’re accessible and editable from any computer that has Lunacy installed and is connected to the internet.
Other advantages of cloud documents include:
- Collaboration and file sharing. Collaborate with other designers over the same project in real time or demonstrate your work to clients. Also, in observer mode, you can watch what other users are doing in real time.
- Version history. Track the different versions of your document. You can save versions manually or use the ones Lunacy saves automatically after every 100 actions. This isn’t available for local documents.
- You can always save them as local documents if you need to.
Creating a cloud document
To create a new cloud document:
- In the menu bar, click File → New Cloud Document.
- Press
Ctrl + Shift + N
/⌘ + Shift + N
. - On the Home tab, click New Cloud Document.
Opening a cloud document
To open a cloud document:
- Go to the Home tab.
- Find your document in the Recent or My Cloud sections and click it.
Sharing a cloud document
You can share cloud documents using both public and private links:
- Public documents are accessible to everyone with the document link.
- Private documents are accessible through private one-time links only. You’ll have to generate a personal link for every user you want to invite to the document.
To share a cloud document:
- In the upper-right corner of the canvas, hover the cursor over the Share button to open the panel with sharing options.
- In the dropdown menu on the left, choose whether you want to generate a private or public link.
- Next to Anyone with the link, select what other users can do with the document:
- Can edit. This option grants full access to the document, except they won’t be able to delete it.
- Can export. Users can view and export selected objects or the entire document, as well as inspect the code of the elements in the document. For instance, you can grant export access to developers.
- Can view. With this access level, users will be able to view the content in the document and copy elements to their own documents.
- Click Generate and copy link and share it.
When invited users access your document, their avatars show up next to the Share button. You can individually modify their access level, temporarily ban, or remove them from the list:
Personal settings override the Anyone with the link setting.
Joining a document shared with you
Once you’re invited to the document, open it by copying its link and pressing Ctrl + V
/ ⌘ + V
anywhere in Lunacy.
Alternatively, you can paste the link into your browser. This will either redirect you to Lunacy or prompt you to install it on your device.
Documents shared with you appear in the Recent section of the Home tab, so you’ll be able to access them anytime.
If you don’t need it anymore, you can remove it from the Recent section or leave the document entirely by selecting the option on its context menu in the Home tab:
You can also remove yourself from the document in the Share panel.
Saving cloud documents as local .sketch files
To save a local version of a cloud document:
- In the menu bar, select File → Save as.
- Choose the destination folder and click Save.
Deleting a cloud document
To delete a cloud document:
- Go to the Home tab.
- In the Recent or My Cloud sections, find your document and right-click it.
- Select Delete in the context menu.
Deleted documents migrate over to the Deleted section of the Home tab, where you can either restore or permanently delete them. Be careful with this option.
Note: On the free plan, deleted documents are stored for 30 days. Older documents get archived and cannot be restored. If you need a longer storage period, consider our paid plan options.
Observer mode
Use the observer mode to follow the activities of other users on the canvas.
To activate it, simply click the user’s avatar in the top-right corner. You will see a colored frame around the canvas, indicating that you’re now observing the chosen user:
Click the user’s avatar again to exit observer mode.
Note: You will only be able to view the user's activities on the canvas. You won't be able to see what they do in the side panels.
Version history
Lunacy automatically saves a version of your cloud document after every 100 actions.
You can also save versions manually:
- In the menu bar, select File → Save to version history.
- Press
Ctrl + Alt + S
/⌘ + ⌥ + S
.
There several ways to view a document’s version history:
- With the document open, select File → Show version history in the menu bar.
- With the document open, right-click the document tab in the top bar, then select Show version history on the context menu.
- On the Home tab, right-click the document and select Show version history on the context menu.
A panel with the list of document versions will appear on the right side of the interface:
Hover the cursor over the required version and click to open it. The versions will open as local temporary files that you can save to any folder on your computer and then import back to cloud.
You can sort document versions here by the method they were saved: click the All, Auto, and Manual buttons at the top of the panel.
For additional options, open the version history context menu by right-clicking a version. Using the menu, you can rename, open, copy the link to, or delete document versions:
Note: Free users can access up to 30 days of version history. To unlock the full history of any existing cloud file, subscribe to a Personal Cloud plan.
Apart from cloud documents, you can expand your collaboration options with teams and unlock additional features with our paid plans.