If your Silhouette Studio library is missing, won't sync, incomplete or completely gone...I think we can all agree, it's time to stop waiting on Silhouette to "fix" the issues. I got you...along with a whole lot of doubt we'll ever see a true, wide scale fix from Silhouette SyncGate 2024.
Every (wo)man for himself here...well except here because there are things you can do to try to recover your library or at the very least make changes to how you save, store, and manage your first so you can get back to using Silhouette Studio minus the library. (And totally avoid it in the future!!)
Introducing the Silhouette Library Restoration Guide!
This tutorial is going to be a little different than how I usually write tutorials. It will just be steps instead of explanations with a bunch of photos as there are a lot of different scenarios we need to get through.
Before we begin let's get some housekeeping out of the way...
What is Silhouette Syncing?
Syncing is when your Silhouette Library or Silhouette Cloud account tries to connect to the Silhouette Server. This is for things like automatic downloads or updating your cloud library across multiple devices.
Stopping the attempt to sync and getting your files OUT Of the library to avoid any type of dependance on the library are the key right now.
Do I Have to use the Silhouette Design Store or Library?
NO!!! Not only do you not need to use the Silhouette Studio library, you also don't need to use the Silhouette Design Store. If you have purchases in the Design Store that you can't access in the Silhouette library, the only way to get them right now is to individually download from your Silhouette Design Store account.
At the bottom of this post I will link to additional resources on how to get and use files without the Silhouette Design Store OR the Silhouette Library.
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Determine If You Can Sign Into Your Silhouette Studio Library
- Launch Silhouette Studio and go to Library at the top right
- Is your name at the top of your library?
- Yes? Great! You're signed in. Skip to the "If You Are Signed In" Section
- If you launch Silhouette Studio and you get a window that says syncing or too many devices, you can not sign in. Skip to the "If You Can't Sign In" section
If You Are Signed In
- Click your name at the top of the library
- Check the Box to Work Offline
- This will stop your library from trying to sync to the Silhouette server
- If you can not check the box to work offline because it's grayed out, check if anything in your library is visible. If not skip to "Extracting Your Library" section
- Check if your library is intact or visible.
- If some or all of your library files are visible continue with the "Extracting Your Library" section
- If your library is not intact skip to "Checking for Library Snapshots" Section
Extracting Your Library
- Click Library tab (Do NOT go to File menu > Library)
- Click your Name
- If your name is not visible go to the "If You Can't Sign In" section
- Click “Export User Created Files”
- This will create an exported Silhouette Studio library file folder system with your files ON your computer so you can access them there
- If this option is not available, be sure you are using a version of Silhouette Studio that is V4.4.552 or higher.
- If you don't have that option it may be that you're on an older version of Studio. If that is the case, skip to the "Library Extraction Tool" section
- If you are on V4.4.552 or higher and this option is STILL not available, skip to Checking for Library Snapshots" Section
Checking for Library Snapshots
- Click Library tab
- Click your Name
- If your name is not visible go to the "If you Can't Sign In" section
- Click Settings
- Click Library Snapshots
- Check if you have any snapshots from mid May 2024 or earlier
- If you do not have any Library Snapshots from May 2024 or earlier, skip to the "Extracting Your Library" section
- Click Browse to preview a library snapshot
- If you find a Snapshot where your library is intact click "Revert"
If You Can't Sign In
- If you cannot sign into your library close Silhouette Studio
- Disconnect your computer from the WIFI network (as if you were in airplane mode)
- Relaunch Silhouette Studio
- Click Library
- Click Work Offline. If you don't have this option, skip this step and move to the next bullet point.
- From the Library menu check if “Export User Created Files” is available
- This will create an exported Silhouette Studio library file folder system with your files ON your computer so you can access them there
- If this option is not available, skip to the "Library Extraction Tool" section
- From the Library menu > Click Settings
- Click Library Snapshots
- Check if you have any snapshots from mid May 2024 or earlier
- If you do not have any Library Snapshots from May 2024 or earlier, skip to the "Library Extraction Tool" section
- Click Browse to preview a library snapshot
- If you find a Snapshot where your library is intact click "Revert"
- Close Studio
- Reconnect to your WIFI
- You can use Silhouette Studio without going into your library at all
- If you were able to click Work Offline you can keep WIFI on when working in Studio
- If you could not click "Work Offline" option, keep WIFI off while working in Studio
Library Extraction Tool
- This is the last option to try to extract your library if you can't sign in or if you have no way to extract your library and no available library snapshots.
- Extract your library using the MAC and PC compatible extractor tool. This tool was developed by a former Silhouette America developer to extract your files from the Silhouette Studio library when the user is unable to access the library
Protect Your Silhouette Designs for the Future
Check out this video for how to create your own design file system once you get your files out of your Silhouette Studio library.
Options and Alternatives to the Silhouette Design Store
You also don't need to use the Silhouette Design Store.
If you're tried of being double charged. Not being able to use your credit, can't find Silhouette free files or not being able to download in bulk..THERE ARE BETTER OPTIONS!!
There are other, better Silhouette design store options like So Fontsy where your favorite designers also sell their cut files, fonts and templates. All of these same digital items can be instantly downloaded, come with a free commercial use license, and can be easily used in Silhouette Studio AND other programs. So Fontsy also offers weekly freebies you can grab as well as a monthly subscription that is a great alternative option to the Silhouette Design Store subscription!
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