17

Best way to work collaborative in Sketch?

6 years ago from , Freelance UX Designer

Hey, I'm working together with several UI/UX Designers and we all LOVE sketch for years now, but we still dont have a proper solution for working in sketch TOGETHER.

Without having overwriting issues or having 20 files, which need to be merged in the end and having a lack of consistency. We worked in Figma, which solves THAT problem, but it has a lot of other problems, therefore we stick to Sketch...

What are your solutions for collaborative work in Sketch?

22 comments

  • Levon Cross, 6 years ago

    Lately our team has been using an app called Abstract App currently in private alpha. (Edit: I know you mentioned you can't wait months, but they seem to be rolling private alpha out pretty quickly)

    It allows for multiple designers to create branches of our master sketch file, commit changes, then merge upon completion. It is good for tracking work and version control. When 2 or more designers merge there is also a really nice conflict resolution that will allow the user to choose what is the correct version.

    Example: If 2 designers change the same symbol it will be flagged and it will display the visual difference for the user to choose the correct version to be merged back to the master sketch file.

    Image title

    8 points
    • Joe ShoopJoe Shoop, 6 years ago

      This seems like a much 'safer' solution than Figma's 'everybody can edit everything all the time' approach.

      0 points
    • Ollie BarkerOllie Barker, 6 years ago

      Their video rips of Bill Wurtz :/

      https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mh5LY4Mz15o

      0 points
      • Andy LeeAndy Lee, 6 years ago

        What video are you referring to? I didn't see one on their website

        0 points
    • Joseph Decker, 6 years ago

      It seems to have problems with Symbols, which they are fixing as we speak. When you change a symbol and want to merge, it will show all the artboards where the symbol is placed.

      It is currently based on artboards and not on objects, as far as I know.

      0 points
    • Daniel Cunha, over 5 years ago

      I'm working with this app and I'm impressed with the concept in meanwhile they need to improve a lot till they have a stable version. But for an Alpha version it's pretty well done. Congrats to Abstract team!

      0 points
  • Paco Lara, 6 years ago

    Abstract, is the product is so good as they say it´s going to be an amazing tool.

    1 point
  • s0fa potato, 6 years ago

    sign up for Picnic, they're working on a Sketch collab tool for exactly this issue: http://picnic.design/

    1 point
  • Andrew Richardson, 6 years ago

    We worked in Figma, which solves THAT problem, but it has a lot of other problems, therefore we stick to Sketch...

    What problems did you find with Figma that prevented you from switching to that?

    1 point
  • Timothy AchumbaTimothy Achumba, 6 years ago

    Abstract.

    1 point
  • Lucas GuarneriLucas Guarneri, 6 years ago

    We currently have a main file called "Library iOS". Then each designer has its own version, for instance "Library iOS Lucas", "Library iOS Ahmed" to work in. Whenever something's final, he/she copy/pastes it in the main "Library iOS" file.

    This system + Invision Craft Libraries works but it's not ideal.

    I'm looking forward to seeing Abstract (git for Sketch) in action, along with the next version of Sketch.

    1 point
    • Chris LüdersChris Lüders, 6 years ago

      hmm yea, im really looking forward to picnic.design, but theyre in private alpha and i cant wait MONTHS for a solution. Youre describing a way like in this article. But thats not really a solution for us...

      0 points
      • Lucas GuarneriLucas Guarneri, 6 years ago

        We're still looking for a better workflow. Also we would love to drop Confluence for dev hand-offs.

        I'm still waiting for the tool that does it all (and works with Sketch of course).

        0 points
    • Ryan GanssRyan Ganss, 6 years ago

      Similar process here – definitely could be better, but our team has a Library file with all of our atoms, organisms, and page types in it (loose atomic design). Designers copy the Library file and design new pages with the newest Library available. We use tags in finder (dropbox folder) to flag the files that each of us are working on. I've tried time and time again to keep everything in a craft library on our dropbox and have all the designers synced into it, but have had issues with updating components, errors, updates, etc. It was just easier to use one single Sketch file as a starting point.

      I'm with you. I can't wait for a more elegant solution.

      3 points
  • Bhavya Aggarwal, 6 years ago

    I have never done it myself, but recently came across this article on how git should be used by designers : https://blog.avocode.com/blog/why-should-a-ui-designer-try-using-git It gets into details of how to implement as well, might be worth a try.

    0 points
  • Ravi Shanker, 6 years ago

    There's also Plantapp. Been testing it in private beta & its pretty simple & good.

    0 points
  • Hanu ManHanu Man, 6 years ago

    Just try Figma

    0 points
  • Billy CarlsonBilly Carlson, 6 years ago

    Our team has the same problem. I felt Abstract was too much for what we need. Figma does have a great solution, but i'm sticking with Sketch. So, we're still out of luck using. :/

    0 points
  • Trev MorrisTrev Morris, 6 years ago

    Sketch + Git + Google Drive + Invision Craft shared Libraries.

    0 points
    • Clay MacTavishClay MacTavish, 6 years ago

      Interesting. Could you elaborate?

      1 point
      • Trev MorrisTrev Morris, 6 years ago

        A mixture of uses and varying success; some are failsafe, some are risky.

        • Drive - failsafe for storing 1 "master" file that only I have editing privileges for, this contains all the components we need for a particular design system/client/brand.

        • Github - just like you'd update CSS/HMTL and push, the same thing happens for Sketch files (gives a visual comparison of what has changed) and can track those changes against users.

        • Invision Craft plugin — biggest risk at current build state. Using the shared components feature (folder in drive that designers point their own Craft plugin at to sync). I can then manage components and changes will update across every machine using it. We have run into problems here where nested symbols break but have a couple of workarounds to solve this (drag the 'missing' symbol from the component library onto current page in Sketch).

        I realise this was about being 'collaborative', but all this 'I can work on the same design as you at the same time, lol let me write my name here and chat lol' is a waste of time. I design on my mac, in my own Sketch file - I don't need to share an artboard with another designer, just the components we're designing. We've used Invision/Google Docs/Marvel to annotate designs and suggest changes but really, nothing beats printing out docs/placing on massive screen and chatting about it as a team and writing feedback on post-its etc.

        1 point
    • Suleiman Leadbitter, 6 years ago

      Yes, please. This sounds interesting although maybe a little convoluted

      1 point