How can I import and export Photoshop files into and out of Pencil?
Pencil works with Photoshop in both directions. You can import a .psd file directly into Pencil to keep building on it, and you can export a Pencil creative back out as a layered PSD to finish in Photoshop. Neither direction needs a plugin or a separate conversion step.
Do I need the Pencil Photoshop plugin?
No. Both directions work natively. To bring a Photoshop file in, you import the .psd straight into the Files Library. To take a creative out, Pencil produces the .psd for you on export.
From 1 October 2026, the Pencil Photoshop plugin is no longer supported, and the .pencil import option goes away with it. Anything you already imported with the plugin stays in Pencil, unchanged. If you have .pencil files saved, import the original .psd instead.
How do I import a PSD file into Pencil?
You can bring a Photoshop file straight into Pencil and carry on working with its layers.
Start the import from the Files Library. Open either the Works or Templates tab, depending on whether you want the file to land as a work or a reusable template, then use the New work button.
You can then choose whether to start from scratch, start from a template, or import a work from another app like Photoshop.
You can then select Photoshop from the list of available apps to import from.
A preview panel opens. Your artboards are listed on one side, with the layers of the selected artboard on the other, so you can review the file before bringing it in.
Use the Keep Editable toggles to decide how each layer comes across:
Editable. The layer can be adjusted in Pencil after import, like any other layer.
Locked. The layer keeps the exact appearance of the original. Turn the toggle off for any layer that uses Photoshop effects Pencil does not support, so its look is preserved.
You can also mark any image layer to add it to your asset library during import, making it available across your other works and templates.
When you confirm the import, your design opens in the editor, with each artboard brought in as a separate format. You can graduate a work to a reusable template at any time using the Create Template option in the three-dots menu on the work.
Matching layer names across artboards. Pencil links a layer across formats by its name. For a layer to link, its name must match exactly in every artboard that uses it. A layer split in two in one artboard, or carrying an extra word in its name, arrives as a separate, unlinked layer. Unlinked layers do not update together when you edit across formats, and that shows up most sharply in Feed Variations. Check your layer names in Photoshop before you import, and rename any that differ.
Fonts: Pencil matches each text layer to a font in your Brand Library by name. Where a layer's font is not found, the import applies a fallback in place of the original typeface, so upload the fonts used in your file to your Brand Library before you import.
Matching the name exactly. The name Pencil looks for is the font name Photoshop shows in the layer's character properties, for example GoogleSans-Medium or Poppins-Bold. The match is exact. It is sensitive to capitalisation, word order, punctuation and any spacing inside the name. Only spaces at the very beginning and end are ignored.
Close variants. Weights, widths and optical sizes each arrive as their own font file, even where the family name looks similar. A layer set in Poppins-SemiBold is not covered by uploading Poppins-Bold. Check the exact name in Photoshop before you upload.
Variable fonts. The editor renders variable fonts, and a PSD import carries the axis settings from your file through with it. Upload the variable font file to your Brand Library before you import, as you would any other font. One variable font file covers the whole family, so you do not need a separate file for each weight. There is more on this in using font files.
If a font is not applying. The signs of a name mismatch are a font that looks correct in the thumbnail preview but reverts when you open the creative in the editor, and the fallback appearing in your exports. It can also affect creatives you did not think used the font, where the unmatched name sits on a layer you are not editing. If your uploaded font name matches the name shown in Photoshop exactly and the font still does not load, contact support so we can look at that specific font.
Hidden layers. Hidden layers are imported and stay hidden. Toggle them on in the editor whenever you need them.
How do I export a creative as a PSD file?
Pencil supports PSD as a static export format, so you can take a creative built in Pencil and continue working on it in Photoshop with its layer structure intact.
When is exporting to PSD useful?
PSD export is the right choice when you want to:
Hand a Pencil creative to a designer or external partner who works in Photoshop.
Apply a final pass of retouching, compositing, or production polish in Adobe.
Use Pencil for the heavy lifting (concept, scaling, copy variants) and Photoshop for the last-mile production craft.
If your goal is simply to share a flat preview of the creative, for review, social posting, or media upload, a PNG, JPG, or WEBP export will be lighter and faster. PSD is the right format when you need editable layers downstream.
Exporting a creative
PSD export is available from two places: from inside the Pencil editor while the creative is open, and from the export action in your works list or grid view without opening the creative.
Open or select your creative. Either open it in the editor, or find it in your work view and choose the export action.
Click Export.
Select PSD from the static export format options.
Choose your text-handling option. Either keep text as editable text in the exported PSD, preserving font, size, colour and position, or vectorise text on export. Vectorising locks the text into outlined shapes so it renders identically anywhere, but it is no longer editable as text in Photoshop.
Confirm and export. Pencil generates the PSD file and makes it available for download. Your export also appears in Export History for re-download later.
What does the exported PSD contain?
The exported PSD preserves the layer structure of the Pencil creative. Each editable layer in Pencil arrives in Photoshop as its own layer.
Text layers arrive as either raster or vectorised outlines, depending on the choice you made at export time.
Image layers arrive as raster layers, each with its own positioning. Any masks applied in Pencil are preserved as native Photoshop layer masks.
What happens when my creative has multiple formats?
If your creative has more than one format (for example a one-by-one hero plus a nine-by-sixteen vertical and a sixteen-by-nine horizontal of the same ad), Pencil exports each format as its own PSD file, all delivered together inside a single zipped folder. You receive one PSD per format, named per format inside the archive.
What are the limitations?
Static only. PSD export is for static creatives. Video creatives, whether Pencil-native or imported into Pencil from After Effects, cannot be exported as PSD.
File size. Very large or print-resolution creatives produce correspondingly large PSDs. If the file is intended for digital handoff, consider exporting at the smallest resolution that meets the downstream need.