Sketch files in Sympli Versions are stored in projects. Let’s create one! Watch the video or follow the text instructions below.
1. Creating a project
Click “Create new project” button and provide a project name.
Projects in Sympli Versions are basically folders on your Mac, similar to cloud drives. So right after the project is created the project directory is opened in Finder.
2. Adding new Sketch files to the project
Copy your Sketch file to the project folder or create a blank Sketch file via the context menu in the project’s folder:
Note the “?” status icon on top of newly added files. It means they only exist on your machine and not tracked in the cloud.
Sidenote: Learn more about file statuses.
To fix that, we need to add the file to the project, let’s open Sketch for this.
There is a Versions status bar below the canvas. Click the “Add file to Project” button or use CTRL+U keyboard shortcut.
This will bring up the sync dialog, Sympli Versions' interface for commits.
In the sync screen, provide a commit message. The more descriptive your message is, the more transparent your change is for your team!
3. Editing Sketch files
Keep editing the files as usual. Sympli Versions will keep track of the changes made to a file locally and in the cloud, and as soon as it detects any it will prompt you to synchronize.
The sync screen in this case will contain an overview of the changes:
To make sure that no accidental changes are being introduced, Sympli Versions comes with a powerful visual diff tool. Click on the change preview to open it.
With visual diffs, you can compare images side-by-side, or highlight changed regions using the changes navigator, hovering on a canvas, or by pressing “1”. You can browse the detailed information about the change by opening the property diff panel at the bottom of the screen.
Please note that it’s possible to stash the change and exclude it from the update by unchecking the checkbox to the right of the layer name. This change won’t be discarded and will remain in your local copy of the file, but it won’t be published to the cloud.
To close the diff tool and get back to the sync dialog, hit “<—” button in the toolbar or hit Esc.
Remember the detailed commit message before you upload the changes!