Balsamiq

Mockups for Desktop does not currently natively provide a way to bundle multiple wireframes together into projects.

This document shows you how to overcome this limitation by using some best practices and other standard software tools already at your disposal.

One Project = One Directory#

A best practice to organize mockups is to create a folder/directory for each project, as shown in the screenshot below:

Within each project folder, we recommend storing all the BMML files together, like so:

Naming Convention to keep mockups sorted#

A best practice for keeping your mockups in order is to use a naming scheme like this one:

Skipping from 10 to 20 allows you to insert new pages in between later if you need to, without renaming everything (just call the new page 15_something).

Once you use the naming convention above, opening all mockups in order is simple: double-click on the first one to open it in Mockups for Desktop, then right-click on the tab and select "Open Others in Same Folder":

This will open all the mockups in your folder, in alphabetical order!

We realize this is a bit of a hack. Once we have full project support, this pain will go away. Hang in there! :)

The Project Assets folder#

We also recommend creating a subfolder called "assets", in which to store images that are used across your mockups.

You may also use this subfolder to store PDFs, PSDs and any other file related to the project.

Mockups for Desktop is designed to work with the best practices outlined above. For instance, the software will list all the images it finds in the assets subfolder in the Image Property Inspector pulldown menu automatically:

Mockups for Desktop also gives you an option to automatically copy images you bring in from other sources into the assets subfolder for you:

Balsamiq Mockups for Desktop also supports an Account Assets folder, useful for sharing assets between different projects. Read all about it here: Sharing Images, Symbols and Icons Between Projects using Account Assets.

Sharing your Projects#

When it comes to sharing your projects, the first question to ask yourself is: do they need to make changes to my wireframes, or just review them and comment? If the answer is the latter, perhaps exporting the project as a linked PDF is the best option. See this FAQ for other info about how to create a "Mockup Viewer".

If instead you'd like others to make changes to your wireframes, using the best practices outlined above will make it very easy.

To share a whole project, simply select the project folder and create a ZIP archive of it, using your archiving tool of choice (both Windows and OS X come with pre-built compression tools, in the right-click menu):

Once you have a zip ready, you can send it to other stakeholders by emailing it to them or save it on a shared disk, or using a file-sharing tool like DropBox.

When your collaborators receive the project, they can just unzip the .zip file you sent them and get to work.

More ways to collaborate#

We mentioned DropBox before. It's a free service (up to 2GB) which lets you share a folder on your computer with anyone you choose. It works extremely well and is what we at Balsamiq use to collaborate amongst ourselves and when working with external contractors.

Mockups for Desktop works extremely well when paired with DropBox. Here's a video that shows you how to quickly share your work with clients.

and here's another that shows you how to achieve near-real-time collaboration on Mockups for Desktop by storing your files in DropBox:

Another option is to look at our Plugin Versions of Balsamiq Mockups: they all provide easy ways to share and collaborate by storing your wireframes "in the cloud". All of our plugin licenses come with free Mockups for Desktop licenses as well.

We are also working on a web application called myBalsamiq. It supports projects natively and it aims to be the best way to do wireframing with remote teams. Check it out!

Looking Ahead#

We hope this quick tutorial helps you better manage and share projects in Mockups for Desktop.

We plan on creating a new version of Mockups for Desktop which supports projects natively, but it will rely on the same folder structure outlined above, so if you start using it now, it will "just work" when Mockups for Desktop PRO(jects) comes out next year.