Keeping a Mark: what happens each year, and with Pro

Keeping a Mark works like this. You pay once to claim it, and the first year of keeping is included. After that year, keeping is free for every Mark you own while you have Pro; without Pro, each Mark has its own yearly keeping fee. If a year goes unpaid there is a grace period, then the Mark returns to the Market for someone else to claim. Whatever happens, the designs you have already exported stay yours.

Keeping exists because a Mark has exactly one owner at a time. While you keep it, nobody else can export with it. If a Mark could be held forever without any commitment, abandoned Marks would sit out of reach of people who would actually use them.

The year of a Mark, from claim to renewal

Keeping with Pro and without it

The arithmetic is simple to do for yourself: if you own several Marks, or design often enough to want full quality exports, Pro tends to be the tidier choice. If you hold one Mark and export rarely, yearly keeping may suit you. Gradiently free vs Pro lays out both plans in full.

What lapsing means for your designs

A lapsing Mark is still yours. During the grace period nothing is lost: the Mark stays in your Marks, nobody else can claim it, and renewing or starting Pro puts everything back exactly as it was.

Once a licence has ended, designing still works and your designs stay editable, but exporting with that Mark asks you to renew. That is the line to remember: the look keeps rendering, exporting needs a kept Mark. Files you exported while you held the Mark are yours to keep and use.

How to renew, or stop renewing

1. 1

   Open Settings › Marks you hold

   Every Mark you own is listed with the date its current year ends and whether it renews.

2. 2

   Renew from the reminder, if you prefer

   The reminder email carries a link. Opening it renews that Mark for another year in one step.

3. 3

   Turn renewal off for a Mark

   It stays yours until the end of the year you've paid for. After that it goes through the grace period and returns to the Market unless you change your mind.

4. 4

   Or keep everything with Pro

   Start Pro and every Mark you own is kept free from then on, including any that are lapsing.

If you know you are finished with a Mark, there is a faster route than letting it lapse. Release sends it straight back to the Market. Or pass it on: transfer it to someone for free, or list it at your price if you would like to be paid.

Cancelling Pro with Marks you own

Cancel Pro any time in Settings › Billing. Pro stays on until the end of the time you've paid for. Your Marks stay yours; each one moves to yearly keeping when its current year ends. Start Pro again later and they are all kept free again.

If a Pro payment fails, Pro and free keeping carry on for a short while as the payment is tried again. Update your card in Settings › Billing during that time and nothing changes. If it still isn't paid, Pro ends and your Marks move to yearly keeping, each on its own date.

What never changes while you keep a Mark

• The recipe. A Mark's look is fixed once published, so it never shifts under designs that wear it.
• The code. It names the Mark for good, whoever owns it. See what a Mark code means.
• The creator. Gradiently crafted the Mark, and that stays on its record whoever owns it.
• Your exported files. Downloaded designs are yours whatever happens next.

If you haven't claimed a Mark yet, how to find and claim a Mark walks through choosing one you'll want to keep for years.