How to Export from Procreate: PNG, PSD, PDF and Layers

Getting art out of Procreate looks like one Share button, but the format you pick decides whether your layers survive, whether your background comes along, and whether the file opens anywhere at all. Freya covers the whole export story in three short lessons across her Procreate Masterclass and the Take Off challenge, and the rules are easy once you've seen them laid out.

Which format keeps what

Procreate, PSD and TIFF keep all your layers. These are the working formats. A .procreate file reopens in Procreate exactly as you left it, and a PSD carries your layers into Photoshop. Export one of these whenever the piece isn't finished, or whenever future-you might want to edit it.

One warning from the Masterclass lesson matters more than anything else here: save layered formats to Files, not to Photos.

"When you share Procreate, PSD, and TIFF formats, the files will include all the layers. ... When you share the files, I recommend you save to Files. If you save to Photos sometimes the layers are gone. They are compressed into normal photos."

Freya, in the Get Your Art Out of Procreate lesson (054), Procreate Masterclass

In the lesson she proves it round-trip: share a .procreate file to Files, reimport it from the On My iPad tab, and every layer is still there.

JPEG is the everywhere format. Flattened, compact, readable by every app and social platform. This is what you post.

PDF is the document format. Any computer or phone can open it, which makes it the right choice when you're sending work to someone whose software you don't know, or dropping art into anything document-shaped.

PNG is the transparency format, and it has one trick worth spelling out.

Export a PNG with a transparent background

Stickers, logos, overlays, anything that needs to sit on another background starts here:

1. Open the Layers panel and turn off the Background color layer (the checkbox on the bottom layer).
2. Go to Share and choose PNG.
3. Save the image and check it: the checkerboard-free, background-free artwork is ready to drop onto anything.

That's the entire technique. JPEG can't do this, it has no transparency, so the background toggle only matters if you pick PNG.

Share Layers: every layer as its own file

Below the image formats, Procreate has a second export section most people never open: Share Layers. Instead of one flattened picture, it exports each layer separately, and Freya's layer-sharing lesson shows the two versions she actually uses.

PDF turns your layer stack into a multi-page document, one page per layer. Pick your quality, save to Files, and you get a flippable record of how the painting was built. Freya suggests it for work presentations, and it's also a lovely format for teaching or process posts.

PNG files is the one she loves: every layer exports as its own transparent PNG. All the steps of your painting, each without a background, ready to recombine, animate or reuse. If you've ever wanted to lift one element out of a finished piece, this is the clean way.

Moving files: Files, cable, Drive, AirDrop

The Take Off lesson rounds out the picture with where exports can go, and a few quirks worth knowing before a big file is on the line.

Files (On My iPad) is the only offline destination and the default safe harbor: Share, pick a format, Save to Files, choose the Procreate folder. Freya's organizing tip applies to every destination that follows: save each file into the folder of the app you made it in, so nothing goes missing between apps.

A cable to your Mac is Freya's recommendation for large files. Your iPad appears in the Finder sidebar; open its Files tab, find Procreate, and drag files out, or drag them back in to import. No upload wait, no compression surprises.

Google Drive is her cloud pick: share to the Drive icon, choose the account and folder, upload. You need to be signed in, and if the icon doesn't show up in the share sheet, resetting the app usually brings it back. Importing is just Gallery, Import, and choosing Drive as the location; larger files take a moment, and every layer arrives intact.

Dropbox works but asks for a description and an email address on every share, which is why she rarely uses it. AirDrop happily sends PSD files to a Mac, with one caveat from the lesson: on very large files, layers sometimes don't survive the trip, so check the received file before deleting anything. And going the other direction, a PSD AirDropped from computer to iPad arrives as a flattened image only.

If an app you want to share to isn't in the share sheet at all, scroll to the More icon, tap Edit, and add it with the plus sign. Freya adds WeTransfer this way in the lesson.

A habit that saves finished work

Put the rules together and you get a simple routine: keep a .procreate or PSD in Files (or on your computer) as the master, and export a JPEG or PNG for wherever the art is going. The master keeps every layer; the flat file is disposable.

These three lessons sit in the workflow chapters of Freya's Procreate Masterclass, alongside canvas setup, layer management and the time-lapse export that pairs naturally with sharing finished work. The free lessons on the foundation course page show the same hands-on style, one setting at a time, on a real painting. Export something today, even a sketch, and you'll never lose layers to the Photos app again. 🎨