Files, saving and export
Autosave, restore points, native files, image and PDF export, offline use, updates and limits.
Saving
Committed edits autosave on this device after a short delay; wait for the saved status. Save drawing downloads .simpledraw.json, an editable file with every page, image and lock. Open validates a native file before replacing your drawing, and New and Open offer to preserve unsaved work. PNG and SVG do not reopen as editable objects; an Editable PNG does.
Saving and history
The badge On your device at the top opens Saving and history:
- Keep this drawing on this device asks the browser to keep the app's storage when space runs low; without it a browser may clear the drawing of a site you have not visited for a while. The badge shows a filled dot once the browser agrees. Some browsers decide by themselves and may say no; the panel says which.
- Restore points are earlier versions kept on this device: one before the drawing is replaced (New, Open, a template replacing it, a restore), one every 10 minutes while you edit, and one before an agent's changes. Up to 30 points or 200 MiB are kept; the oldest go first. Choose one to preview it, then Restore (through the usual offer to keep unsaved work) or Delete. Only the editing tab can restore.
- Save to a file, where the browser can choose a file (Chrome and Edge), saves to a file you choose and remembers it, so the next save updates the same file; Update the file after every change keeps it current. Elsewhere it downloads a copy. Save as chooses a different file.
- If you have not saved a copy for a week while making changes, the app reminds you once.
On a computer where SimpleDraw is installed as an app, it can open .simpledraw.json, Excalidraw, draw.io and Mermaid files from the file manager.
Export
Export image downloads the page you are on as PNG, SVG or PDF at the chosen scale, with the paper background or transparent. PDF of all pages makes one PDF with a page for each drawing page that has something on it. Selection only exports just the selected objects (a selected frame brings the objects in it). The Frames panel exports one frame, cropped exactly to it.
- Editable PNG adds the whole drawing, every page, inside the PNG. It is still an ordinary picture, and Open reopens it for editing; a PNG without a drawing is refused with a message.
- Copy PNG and Copy SVG put the image on the clipboard to paste into another app; where the browser does not allow that, the image is downloaded instead and the status says so.
- In PDF and SVG, text is drawn as outlines, so nothing has to be installed to show it. Keep the native file if you need to edit text later.
- A video or looping GIF records flowing lines.
- An export is at most 8192 pixels a side and 16 million pixels; a larger one is refused before rendering.
The native file
A native drawing is JSON with the format beep.simpledraw and a version number (currently 23). Older versions open and migrate explicitly; a file from a newer version, or one with an unknown object type or property, is refused before anything changes, and your current drawing is kept. Document input never selects a program type: only the fixed list of built-in shapes and components is accepted.
| Limit | Value |
|---|---|
| Objects in a drawing | 2,000, across up to 50 pages |
| Drawing content | 6 MiB, plus up to 25 MiB of images; a file up to 40 MiB |
| Line or arrow | 100 points |
| Pen stroke | 4,096 samples |
| Table | 100 rows, 30 columns, 1,000 cells |
| Personal library | 100 entries, 32 MiB; each entry 100 objects and 8 MiB |
One editing tab
The same origin and path has one local drawing writer: the tab that edits. Opening the drawing in another tab shows it there read-only, and that tab follows each change the editing tab saves; you can pan, zoom, save a copy and export, but not edit. Choose Edit here to move editing to that tab: the editing tab saves its latest change first and then follows. When the editing tab closes, a following tab takes over by itself.
If storage is full or unavailable, download the native drawing first, fix the storage problem and retry. If saved bytes are unreadable, download them before explicitly replacing the recovery record. A file-only board must be downloaded to keep changes.
Offline use and updates
Offline use needs a successful online load and completed offline-cache installation first, over HTTPS (or loopback HTTP while developing). Reloading, editing and saving then work without a connection.
A new version downloads in the background. The next time you open or reload SimpleDraw it starts on the new version by itself when no other SimpleDraw tab is open. While you work, a notice says A new version of SimpleDraw is ready with Update now and Later. When something stops the update (an edit not yet saved, a text or shape you are still drawing, an open question, other SimpleDraw tabs), the notice says what, and Update now waits until it is resolved. After an update the status says so once, and Help (?) lists what is new and shows the version.
When something goes wrong
A refused action says why in the status line, in the interface language. If SimpleDraw itself fails, it stops and shows Something went wrong with a reference such as P-7KX3M2QD; Reload continues from the drawing saved on this device. Help lists the problem reports kept on this device (the latest 100) with their details and Copy report, so you can include one when you ask for help. Reports never leave your device unless you copy them, and Remove problem reports deletes them.