How to Download All Files From Frame.io Without Losing Client Feedback
The files are the easy part of leaving Frame.io. My runbook for moving live client projects mid production, covering open comments, originals, version stacks, statuses, share links and a parallel trial run.
Say your agency has 14 projects sitting in Frame.io, 10 of them finished and 4 of them live, and each live one is stacked up to MV3 with roughly ten open comments on it, which works out to about forty client notes and three reviews due this week. The part everyone searches for is how to download all files from Frame.io, and to be very honest that's the easy part, right, because Frame.io lets you download from the browser and has a desktop app, Frame.io Transfer, built for pulling down files, folders and whole projects.
What doesn't come down with the files is everything that made them a live project, the open comments the client left on MV3 last Tuesday, the review link sitting in their inbox, the status telling your editor whether a cut is waiting on the client or on you, and so on. If you cancel before all of that moves across, you end up asking a client mid round to repeat notes they already gave you, which is the fastest way I know to make them wonder why you switched at all.
So this is the runbook I'd hand an agency producer or lead editor who has already made the call, in the order I'd do it in my own agency, ending with one real project run in parallel on the 7-day free trial. If you're still deciding whether to leave, start with my honest take on whether Frame.io is worth it instead.
Why a mid production migration from Frame.io needs a plan
Moving a working agency out while the post-production schedule keeps running is a different problem from downloading a file. I think about it the way we move a database at PlayPause, right, you never switch the old one off before the new one has handled real traffic, so you run both, you compare, and only then do you cut over.
Go back to those 14 projects, because the 10 finished ones are basically a file transfer that only needs the masters archived, while the 4 live ones are a handover of files, comments, versions, links and people, and mixing the two groups up is where most migrations go wrong.
Money adds pressure too, since Frame.io bills per user from $15 per user per month while PlayPause is flat per workspace, as I break down on the PlayPause vs Frame.io comparison page. A looming renewal date is what pushes people into the rushed Friday cutover where client feedback gets lost.
The old subscription stays on until every live project has finished one full round in the new tool and every download has been checked against the original export.
Audit your Frame.io projects, links and open comments before you move
Before I download a single file I open one sheet with a row per project, and the columns are boring on purpose, right, the client, live or finished, the latest version, the unresolved comments, which share links are out and who holds them, the next review date and the owning editor. It's plain project management that takes an afternoon, and it stops you finding out three weeks later that a client was still commenting on an old link nobody watched.
The unresolved comments matter most, so I copy every open thread into the sheet with its version, timecode and text, then sort them into fixed in the next version, still to do, and parked because I disagree. That last group is the dangerous one, because a client who sees a note vanish assumes you ignored it, so argue it before you move, which I cover in pushing back on client feedback.
The same sheet lists everyone who needs access on the other side, down to the colourist you bring in twice a month, so does that make sense, right, the sheet is the migration plan and the download just follows it.
- One row per project marked live or finished
- Every unresolved comment copied with its version and timecode
- Every active share link and who holds it
- Latest version and next review date per project
- Everyone who needs access in the new workspace
How to download all files from Frame.io without losing originals
With the audit done, you know what you need, which for finished projects is the final master plus any cutdowns. For live projects it's the current version and the one before it, because half the open notes will say the logo was better last time.
The catch here is that Frame.io can only give back what somebody uploaded, and in a lot of agencies the editor uploads a compressed review export while the real master sits on their own drive. So ask each editor where every true master lives before you treat the download as your archive.
On the example agency the math looks like this, right, 10 finished projects at around 40 GB and 4 live ones at around 60 GB across the versions you keep comes to roughly 640 GB. I'd use a 2 TB drive rather than a 1 TB one, because a drive that fills halfway through the night leaves a folder that looks complete in the morning, which is a really really annoying thing to discover after you've cancelled.
For whole folders I run Frame.io Transfer overnight, one project at a time, into a local structure of Client, then Project, then Masters and Review, because the structure you download into is the one you end up living with.
The next morning, before I tick a project off, I compare the file count against the asset list in Frame.io, compare file sizes against the editor's own exports, and scrub each master at the start, middle and end, because a file that stopped halfway still has the right name.
Where the masters live afterwards is the part I'm pretty sure most people get backwards, right, because a review tool is where clients watch and comment, while your archive belongs somewhere you control for years. Finished masters go to your own storage and only live review files go into PlayPause, which matters most on Creator, where files expire after 30 days.
Bulk upload active projects and restack versions
The upload itself is quick, because bulk uploads of 100+ files at once work on every plan, so a whole project folder goes in with one drag. Check sizes before you pick a plan though, right, because Creator caps a single upload at 10 GB while Agency and Enterprise take Unlimited, so a team that reviews in heavy ProRes has its decision made for it.
Version stacks come with Creator and up, and restacking is where I slow down, uploading MV1, then MV2 onto the same card, then MV3, so the client sees the history in order, which is plain version control. If your Frame.io names were all over the place, fix them now with a sequence version naming convention.
Then I carry those forty open notes across by hand from the sheet. For instance, if the client asked at 00:01:12 on MV3 for the logo lockup to hold longer, I leave that note on the same frame in PlayPause, marked carried over from Frame.io, and reply once MV4 lands, so the thread reads as one conversation. Forty notes is about an hour of very very dull work, and on Agency and up I then play MV3 against MV4 side by side on the next call, right, so the client sees the fix instead of taking my word for it.
Recreate statuses, roles and member access
Editors are creatures of habit, right, so before anyone logs in I rebuild the custom statuses the team already used, In edit, Waiting on client, Changes requested, Approved, because changing the labels on the same day as the tool doubles the confusion.
Roles take about ten minutes, Owner for whoever pays, Admin for the producer running the move, Manager for the account managers who share links and chase clients, and Editor for the people cutting. Members are 10 on Creator, 50 on Agency and 150 on Enterprise, and clients never need to be members, since they comment from a link with no account and no install.
Freelancers are the interesting case, because Frame.io has no guest upload without an account, while on Agency and up a guest uploads a version with just a name and email, so an outside editor drops in a cut without taking a member slot, as I explain in requesting video files from clients. And since you're touching every client anyway, write their style rules into Playbooks, also Agency and up, so what lived in one editor's head finally lives in the workspace.
Resending share links to clients without confusing them
This is where migrations feel messy to clients, right, and the cause is almost always the message rather than the tool. The instinct is to email everyone about the new tool, when all the client wants is to press play on the next cut and say what feels off.
So I don't announce anything, and the new link simply goes out with MV4, with one line saying the review link changed and nothing else did. They open it in a browser, click the moment and type, and they find their Frame.io notes already on the frame with replies underneath, and you see what I mean here, that moment builds more trust than any email. My guide to onboarding clients to a review tool covers that first session.
Password-protected links and instant link revoking work on every plan. Links last 30 days on Creator, 90 days on Agency and never expire on Enterprise, which also has the custom share domain that Frame.io likewise keeps to its Enterprise tier. Then I check who-watched analytics, and if the client hasn't opened the new link within two days I send exactly one nudge.
every client gets news about a tool they never asked for and a reason to ask what changed
the client opens MV4, finds their old notes already answered on the frame and simply keeps reviewing
Reconnect your editors in Premiere Pro
Editors forgive a new review tool faster than a new way of reading notes, so I get Adobe Premiere Pro connected on day one of the trial. With the PlayPause Premiere Pro panel the editor pairs Premiere with a code, the comments show up inside Premiere, a click on one jumps the playhead to that frame, and a new cut uploads straight from the timeline, right, so nobody needs a browser tab open to read notes.
For editors cutting in DaVinci Resolve, Final Cut Pro or After Effects, let me be very honest, there is no native PlayPause panel, so they export the cut, upload it, and work through the frame-accurate notes back in the edit. Someone will suggest recorded walkthroughs instead, which I've weighed up in Loom vs Frame.io for video feedback, but mid migration I want every note pinned to a frame, and animation teams have their own quirks, covered in a Frame.io alternative for animation studios.
Run a parallel project during the trial before switching from Frame.io
Every plan starts with a 7-day free trial, and seven days is short, so I pick one live project whose next round lands inside the week, move it completely, and leave everything else on Frame.io, which turns the trial into a real client round instead of a demo.
By day seven I want four answers, whether the client left notes without asking how, whether the editor read them inside Premiere, whether the statuses showed the producer what was waiting on whom, and whether who-watched showed the client actually opened MV4. If all four come back yes, the other live projects move in one wave, and only after a last check of the downloads does the old subscription get cancelled.
Downgrading never deletes content, right, so I trial on the plan with the features I want to test, guest upload, version compare and Playbooks, knowing a later move down to Creator deletes nothing. At the end of the day it's the database move again, both systems running and one real round of traffic before the switch, and trust me on any level, a client never notices a migration done that way.
I would rather pay for both tools for one more week than ask a client mid round to give me the same notes twice.
Frequently asked questions
Can I download all files from Frame.io at once?
Frame.io Transfer, Frame.io's own desktop app, is built for whole folders and projects, and the browser is fine for a handful of files. I still go project by project rather than one giant pull, right, because it keeps the folder structure clean and the count and size checks easy, and Frame.io's help pages say what your account allows, so read them first.
Do my Frame.io comments come across when I switch?
Not with the media, because a file download gives you the file and the comments live inside the tool. That's why the audit sheet records every open note with its version and timecode before anything gets cancelled. For finished projects I keep the final approval next to the archived master, and for live projects I carry each open note across by hand onto the same frame in PlayPause.
How long does it take to migrate from Frame.io?
For the example agency, 14 projects with four live, I'd plan an afternoon for the audit, a night or two for downloads, a day to upload and restack, and the 7-day trial for the parallel round. What really sets the pace is the next client review date, so I schedule the whole move around that.
Which PlayPause plan fits a team leaving Frame.io?
Creator is $9 a month for 10 members, 100 GB and a 10 GB upload cap. Agency is $19 a month for 50 members, 250 GB, Unlimited upload size, guest upload, version compare and Playbooks. Enterprise is $27 a month for 150 members, 1 TB, links that never expire, white-label and a custom share domain, and all three are flat per workspace.
The full breakdown is on the PlayPause pricing page, and every plan starts with a 7-day free trial, so pick the one live project whose next round lands this week and run it on PlayPause while Frame.io is still switched on.
So yeah. That's my way of saying it.
Saumyajit co-founded PlayPause after years watching review and approval quietly eat creative teams' deadlines. He writes about the workflow side of video, feedback, versioning, and getting to a clean sign-off.
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