Where Procreate art can be
Procreate keeps artwork inside the app on the iPad. Removing the app or losing the iPad removes that copy. A copy survives only where it was saved somewhere else:
| Where | How it got there | Can you open it without an iPad? |
|---|---|---|
| iCloud Drive, Google Drive, Dropbox, OneDrive | You exported .procreate files with Share or saved them to Files |
Yes. Download them and open them in toPSD |
| Your computer | You copied files over with AirDrop, Finder or a cable | Yes |
| Email or chat | You sent the file to someone, or to yourself | Yes |
| A full iCloud or computer backup of the iPad | Automatic device backup | Only by restoring the backup to an iPad, or with backup extraction tools |
| Only inside the Procreate app | Never exported | No, not without the device |
Check iCloud Drive first
Sign in at icloud.com on any computer and open iCloud Drive. Look for files ending in .procreate, including inside folders. If you ever exported artwork in the Procreate format and saved it to iCloud Drive, the files are there. Then do the same in any other cloud drive you use.
Open the files on any computer
Once a .procreate file is on your computer, drop it on the toPSD converter. You’ll see the full artwork and every layer. Save a full-size PNG for free so the art is safe in a format any computer opens, or a layered PSD to keep working in another app.
Nothing is uploaded, which matters when the files are years of personal work.
If you only have a device backup
An iPad backup isn’t a folder of .procreate files. Procreate’s help center says restoring a backup restores the whole iPad, not just Procreate, so anything newer than that backup is replaced. If you have a new iPad, restoring onto it and then exporting from Procreate is the supported route.
For people comfortable with technical tools, a free, open-source script called Procreate-Exporter rebuilds .procreate files from the Procreate folder of an extracted iPad backup. It runs on macOS and needs an iOS backup extractor to pull that folder out first. Once you have the rebuilt files, toPSD opens them like any others.
Keep this from happening again
Procreate doesn’t sync to iCloud, so the only copies are the ones you make. Export your important pieces as .procreate files to a cloud drive or computer from time to time. A second export as PSD or PNG means you can open the art even without a converter.