Comment threads, Color Variables support, and a safety net for deleted documents — What's new in Cloud?

This year, we’ve been working hard to make Cloud an incredible place to collaborate. We kicked off by launching Cloud Inspector in January and individual asset exports in June, bringing free developer handoff in the browser to anyone, on any operating system. We’ve also been doing a lot of underlying work, including a major database upgrade, that paves the way for some exciting future updates.

Alongside some of the bigger updates and changes, we’ve focused on the small things, and rolled out a handful of updates that all add up to an easier, more delightful Cloud experience. Here’s what’s new in Cloud.

Seamless transition from your browser to the Mac app

We want to make the transition between collaborating in Cloud and creating incredible work in the Mac app as seamless as possible. That’s why we’ve made it easy to see all your Cloud documents right from the Documents window on the Mac app. With this update, we’ve flipped things around and made it easier to open documents in the Mac app right from Cloud in your web browser.

Opening documents in the Mac app from Cloud is easy. Simply click the Open in Sketch button at the bottom of the sidebar in any document’s overview.

You’ll also find the Open in Sketch option by hovering over any document’s thumbnail in the main documents view and clicking on the … button.

Or, if you’re in a single Artboard, you’ll see a new icon to the right of the zoom controls to open your document focused on that Artboard in the Mac app.

Better control of your version history

With Cloud, you get a full version history of your documents that you can easily review and even roll back to, at any time. When you hit Save on a Cloud doc, you’ll create a new version, adding to the timeline in the sidebar you’ll see when you view that document in your web browser.

That said, when you’ve been working on a project for a while, that number of versions can become pretty big. Not every version is helpful to have around –– especially older iterations of ideas you don’t want anyone else to accidentally end up using or referring to.

With that in mind, we’ve added the option to delete versions of your Cloud Documents. All you need to do is open your document in the browser, hover over the version you want to delete in the sidebar, click … and choose Delete Version.

A safety net for deleted documents

Not had your morning coffee? Accidentally deleted that Library document your team all rely on? We’ve all been there. And don’t worry, we’ve got your back!

We’ve recently introduced a new Trash feature to Cloud. Now, rather than deleting your documents permanently right away, you’ll send them to the Trash.

To restore any document in Trash, all you’ll need to do is click on the document’s preview and choose Restore. You can also hover over the document’s preview in the Trash, click … and select Restore document.

Documents will stay in the trash for up to 90 days. After that we’ll automatically delete them permanently. For more on deleting and restoring documents, read our documentation.

Support for Color Variables in Cloud Inspector

In version 69 of the Mac app, we introduced Color Variables. Now, Cloud Inspector supports them as well, making it incredibly simple for anyone to copy the color value and variable name for any Color Variable in their document, in whatever format they might need it –– making developer handoff a breeze. To copy a Color Variable’s name and hex value to your clipboard, all you have to do is hover over it and click the copy icon that appears next to it.

Need a specific format like Obj-C or Swift? That’s easy as well. Just click on the name of that Color Variable and hover over the value that appears. From there, click on the arrow that appears to change to your desired format, and click the Copy icon.

More organized conversations

When you’re discussing the finer points of a design, conversations can move quickly, making it difficult to keep track of specific discussions and details — especially if you’re all chatting in single stream of comments.

Previously, we introduced mentions to specifically call out a person and send them a notification. Now, we’ve (literally) taken it one level further with threads. Threads are great for keeping conversations organized. For example, you can start a thread to focus specifically on the shape of a button, while the conversation continues elsewhere about the color scheme or copy, making your activity feed easy to scan and find what you need.

To start a thread, click the reply link underneath it the comment you’d like to start one on, type your comment and press ⌘+Enter to post it.

A better way to manage notifications

Along with threads, we also took the time to rethink the notifications you receive about new comments on Cloud documents. Previously, your notification options were limited to a document level. This can be helpful, but when you’re working on a large document with a lot of people, getting notifications for every comment can be overwhelming.

Now, you’ll have the option to subscribe to notifications not just on the document level, but for specific threads and even Artboards (or groups of Artboards) as well. So, you’ll be able to tune into the conversations you’re directly involved in, and cut out the noise whenever it makes sense.

To receive notifications for a specific Artboard, choose Follow this Artboard from the drop-down menu in the sidebar in a single Artboard view.

Notifications for specific threads works exactly the same. Click on the X Replies link a comment to see the Thread, then click on the Follow this Thread option in the drop-down menu.

For more on managing notifications in Cloud, make sure to read our documentation.

These updates are all live in Cloud right now, and we hope they make collaborating on designs even easier. We always appreciate your feedback, so if you run into any issues or have any questions, please get in touch. Oh, and make sure to stay tuned for some more exciting Cloud updates coming your way soon!