Eagle for Designers: Visual Asset Library and Organization

Eagle is a desktop app for organizing visual assets: design inspiration, downloaded images, icon sets, stock photos, fonts, and project files. Think of it as a visual file manager with tagging, smart folders, and instant preview for 90+ file types. Designers use Eagle to build personal libraries of resources they reference across projects.

Key Specs

How Designers Use Eagle

Eagle solves the “where did I save that reference?” problem.

For Design Inspiration Libraries

Save images from the web using Eagle’s browser extension. Screenshot competitor apps. Drag and drop inspiration into categorized folders. When starting a new project, browse your library by color, tag, or folder to find relevant references.

For Icon and Asset Collections

Organize icon packs, UI kits, stock photos, and texture collections. Eagle previews SVGs, PNGs, and even Sketch/Figma files without opening the source app. Search your library instead of hunting through download folders.

For Project-Specific Resources

Create folders for each project with collected references, client assets, and moodboards. When the project ends, archive the folder. Your resources stay organized and findable for future similar projects.

For Quick Visual Search

Eagle’s color filter finds images by dominant color. Need a blue illustration for a presentation? Filter by blue. Need photos with warm tones? Filter by orange/red. Faster than scrolling through thousands of images.

Eagle vs. Alternatives

Choose Eagle if: You want a powerful, affordable asset manager with excellent preview support and one-time pricing.

Choose Inboard if: You prefer a simpler interface and don’t need as many file types. Similar concept, slightly different execution.

Choose Adobe Bridge if: You’re deep in Creative Cloud and want tight integration with Photoshop, Illustrator, and Lightroom.

Choose native file management if: Your needs are simple and you don’t want another app.

Getting Started with Eagle

Build your library in 15 minutes.

Step 1: Install Eagle and the browser extension

Download Eagle from eagle.cool. Install the browser extension (Chrome, Firefox, Safari, Edge). The extension lets you save images from any webpage with one click.

Step 2: Import existing files

Drag folders from Finder/Explorer into Eagle, or use File > Import. Eagle catalogs everything and generates previews. Start with a folder of references or downloaded assets you already have.

Step 3: Organize with folders and tags

Create folders for categories (Inspiration, Icons, Stock Photos, Project-Name). Add tags for cross-cutting attributes (style:minimal, color:blue, type:illustration). Use smart folders to auto-collect items matching certain criteria.

Eagle in Your Design Workflow

Eagle sits alongside your design tools as a reference library.

• Before Eagle: Bookmarks, downloads folder chaos, lost references
• During design: Browse your Eagle library for inspiration, drag assets directly into Figma or Photoshop
• After projects: Archive project references, grow your library over time

Common tool pairings:

• Eagle + Browser extension for capturing web inspiration instantly
• Eagle + Figma drag assets from Eagle directly into your design
• Eagle + Dropbox/iCloud for syncing your library across computers
• Eagle + CleanShot X for capturing and organizing app screenshots

Common Problems (and How to Fix Them)

“My library is too big and slow”

Eagle handles large libraries (100,000+ files) but performance depends on your computer. Store the library on an SSD, not a spinning hard drive. Close other apps if Eagle lags. Consider splitting into multiple libraries if one becomes unwieldy.

“I’m not consistent with tagging”

Start simple. Use a few broad tags and add more as patterns emerge. Don’t over-engineer your taxonomy upfront. Eagle’s search is good enough that moderate tagging still yields results.

“Syncing with cloud storage is slow”

Large files (PSDs, videos) take time to sync. Eagle works best with smaller reference images. For huge project files, consider keeping them outside Eagle or using a library-per-project approach that you don’t sync.

“Eagle can’t preview my file type”

Eagle supports 90+ types but not everything. For unsupported formats, Eagle shows a generic icon. Request support via Eagle’s feedback channel, or use the source app for those files.

“Should I use Eagle or just keep files in folders?”

If you browse visually and collect lots of references, Eagle saves time. If you have a few files in well-named folders and rarely need to search, folders are fine. Eagle’s value increases with library size.