What Adobe actually did
In 2023 Adobe announced that XD was in maintenance mode: no new features, only fixes. It stopped selling XD as a single-app subscription, so new users can only get it as part of the Creative Cloud All Apps plan. People who already have XD can keep using it, and Adobe’s own community forums are full of designers and clients asking where to download it and what happens next.
Do my .xd files still work?
Yes. An .xd file is a ZIP package holding the design as structured data (each artboard’s layers, the shared components and styles) plus the embedded pictures. It doesn’t expire or phone home. What is at risk is your ability to open it as XD becomes harder to get, and cloud documents, which live in Adobe’s cloud rather than as files you hold.
Three things worth doing now
- Turn cloud documents into local files. In XD, open each cloud document and use File › Save As and choose Local document. Or download them from assets.adobe.com under Cloud documents. A real .xd file on your own drive is the thing you can keep.
- Make a format-proof copy. Export every artboard as PDF and PNG, and the important ones as SVG. Even if every XD reader disappeared, those open anywhere. This page does it without XD.
- Write down the design system. Colours, character styles and the text in every screen are what you need to rebuild a design elsewhere. The handoff sheet exports them as spreadsheets and a tokens.json file.
Where to go next
Most XD users moved to Figma; others to Penpot (open source), Sketch (Mac only) or Framer. None of them opens .xd files directly. See moving an XD design into Figma for the honest options, from paid converters to free SVG export.
Opening .xd files without XD
For viewing, inspecting and exporting, you don’t need XD: drop the file on this page. It draws every artboard with components resolved, shows layers, sizes, colours and fonts, and saves SVG, PNG and PDF, all in your browser, without uploading. Photopea, a free browser editor, also opens many .xd files as editable Photoshop-style documents, which is handy if you need to change a picture rather than read a design.
If you’re the client
If a designer sends you an .xd file, you can review it here. If what arrives is a link or a tiny file that won’t open, it’s a cloud document: ask them to send a local copy or a PDF.