Uploading files and splitting multi-plate 3MF files

This guide covers getting files into SimplyPrint - by drag-and-drop or the file picker - which file types are supported, and the plate splitter that turns a multi-plate 3MF into separate files you can name, tag and print individually.

This is part of the file manager documentation.

In this guide

• Uploading files
• Supported file types
• What happens after upload
• Sliced .3mf and .gcode.3mf files
• Splitting a multi-plate 3MF
• 3MF files on plans with Projects
• Naming plates automatically
• Ultimaker .ufp files
• Related articles

Uploading files

There are two ways to upload:

• Drag and drop one or more files anywhere onto the Files page. A drop overlay appears to confirm SimplyPrint is ready to receive them.
• Click the upload button in the toolbar (the upload icon) to open your system file picker and select files.

Files are uploaded into whichever folder you currently have open, so open the destination folder first. You can upload several files at once - each gets its own progress bar in the uploads card, and you can retry or cancel an individual file if it fails.

Supported file types

SimplyPrint is built for 3D printing, so it accepts the file types that matter for printing rather than any file. You can upload:

What happens after upload

As soon as a printable file lands, SimplyPrint reads through it to pull out details like print time, filament usage, temperatures, the slicer used and more. You may see a purple progress bar while this runs - it usually takes a couple of seconds. The results power the print details, cost estimate and printer-compatibility checks shown in the file detail panel. To dig into exactly what is parsed, read the Gcode Analysis feature.

Every uploaded file counts against your cloud storage. See Files and cloud storage for how space is used.

Sliced .3mf and .gcode.3mf files

When you slice in Bambu Studio or OrcaSlicer, the sliced output is often a .3mf (sometimes named .gcode.3mf). That is expected, not an error: a sliced 3MF is a container that holds the model, the settings and the generated gcode together, and it is what SimplyPrint itself produces for Bambu Lab one-click prints.

Whether that file can print depends on the printer:

• Printers that read a sliced 3MF directly can print the .3mf as-is. These are all Bambu Lab printers, the QIDI Q2, and Creality, Anycubic and Flashforge printers connected through the SimplyPrint Client, except the models listed below.
• The Anycubic Kobra X and Kobra S1 models, and the Creality K2 Plus, need plain gcode, even through the SimplyPrint Client. SimplyPrint does not send them a sliced 3MF.
• Other printers (for example a Flashforge on Klipper, or most Klipper, OctoPrint and Prusa setups) need plain gcode too.

To get plain gcode, use one of these:

1. Slice in the SimplyPrint Cloud Slicer, which hands the right format to your printer for you.
2. In OrcaSlicer, turn off Use 3MF instead of G-code in the printer settings, then slice and export again.
3. From a sliced 3MF you already have, open it with a zip tool (rename a copy to .zip if your computer won't open it) and take the plate's gcode from the Metadata folder, for example plate_1.gcode. Upload that file.

Check: the file shows as printable for your printer in the file detail panel.

If you tried to send a sliced 3MF and the printer rejected it, that is almost always the cause: the printer needs plain gcode, so re-export as gcode rather than renaming the file.

Splitting a multi-plate 3MF

Slicers like Bambu Studio and OrcaSlicer can save one 3MF file containing several plates - effectively several separate prints packed into a single file. When you upload a sliced 3MF that holds more than one plate, SimplyPrint detects them and offers to split the file into separate files, one per plate, instead of treating the whole thing as a single job. A 3MF that isn't sliced yet is not split: it is kept whole so the slicer can lay out its plates.

The plate splitter shows a card for each plate with its thumbnail. From here you can:

1. Choose which plates to keep - click a plate to pick it or drop it, or tick All at the top to pick every plate.
2. Name each plate - click the pencil next to a plate's name to rename it, so the resulting files are easy to tell apart.
3. Save - click Save N plates. The picked plates are saved as individual files.

If you upload several multi-plate files at once, SimplyPrint walks you through them one at a time, showing "File 1 of 3" and so on at the top so you can split everything in one go.

3MF files on plans with Projects

On the Print Farm and Enterprise plans, which include Projects, a 3MF can be imported as a Project instead of a plain file:

• A 3MF saved by a slicer as a project (models, plates and settings, not sliced) is imported as a Project. That keeps its plates, printer and filament slots, which a plain model file would lose.
• A sliced 3MF with several plates opens the plate splitter as usual. A banner at the top, Keep all N plates as a project, has a Create project button if you want to keep the plates together instead of splitting them.
• A sliced 3MF that only holds gcode, such as one from Bambu Studio's Export plate sliced file or Export all sliced file, stays a normal printable file. SimplyPrint decides this from what is inside the file, so renaming it from .gcode.3mf to .3mf changes nothing.

If a file that only holds gcode was turned into a Project anyway, contact support and send the file, so we can see why.

There is no setting to turn Projects off for an account. On other plans, a 3MF is uploaded as a model or a printable file, as described above.

Naming plates automatically

Instead of naming each plate by hand, click Naming in the plate splitter and set a Pattern that fills in every plate name at once. Patterns use variables wrapped in placeholders, including:

• the original filename
• the plate number
• the plate name (if the slicer embedded one)
• the total number of plates
• any custom field values you fill in

So a pattern like the filename followed by the plate number produces consistent, predictable names across all plates. If your role may edit organisation settings, tick Save as default to have your pattern pre-filled next time.

You can also set custom-field values right in the splitter, and they apply to every plate you save, which keeps things like an order number or project code consistent across the whole set.

Ultimaker .ufp files

Ultimaker .ufp files are packaged printables, similar in structure to a 3MF. SimplyPrint recognizes them automatically - they decode, show a 3D preview and thumbnail, and print just like any other printable file, with no extra steps from you.

Related articles

• The file manager
• The file detail panel
• Folders and shared folders
• The Gcode Analysis feature
• Files and cloud storage
• Adding items to the print queue

Updated on: 27/10/2026