If I delete designs in Microsoft Designer, does that delete the saved photo from your computer? Are the two files connected?

Cynthia Dierks 80 Reputation points
2026-08-21T03:46:07.9466667+00:00

I don't know anything about Microsoft Designer other than I use it to crop and or adjust photos. Now that my Microsoft Designer file is full and I can no longer crop and save photos to my computer, if I delete the "designs" will that delete the saved photo from my computer? Sorry if this is a stupid question but as I said, I don't know much about Microsoft Designer.

Microsoft 365 and Office | Other
Answer accepted by question author

AI answer

2026-08-21T03:46:24.56+00:00

Deleting a design in Microsoft Designer deletes the Designer project stored in the cloud. It does not delete a photo that was already downloaded and saved on the computer.

The files are not the same file:

  • Designer projects are saved in Designer under My projects and count against Microsoft cloud storage.
  • Personal images uploaded to Designer are saved in OneDrive.
  • Photos downloaded to the computer are separate local files.

If the goal is to free up Designer storage so more photos can be cropped and saved:

  1. Open Designer.
  2. Go to My projects.
  3. Delete projects no longer needed.
  4. If needed, also check OneDrive for uploaded Designer files and delete those no longer needed.

Important:

  • Deleting a Designer project cannot be undone because Designer does not have a recycle bin.
  • Deleting files from OneDrive is different from deleting files saved on the computer.
  • If a photo exists both in OneDrive and on the computer, deleting the OneDrive copy does not delete the local computer copy.

So, deleting the designs in Designer should free cloud storage, and it should not remove the photo already saved on the computer.

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