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Files and formats

The SimpleDiagrams document

Version 5 saves .simplediagram files. Diagrams made in the app carry their artwork, imported images, backgrounds, downloaded library shapes, and Quick Styles inside the file.

That's the important part. Send someone a diagram made in the app and it arrives complete. No missing links, no "can you also send me the logo".

A document made by another tool can instead place a library shape by reference. In 5.0.15, a reference to a shape that isn't bundled with the app appears as a dashed placeholder. The app keeps the reference when you save, but it does not yet resolve it into embedded artwork.

Saving

Standard Mac behaviour, because it's a standard Mac app:

Command Shortcut
Save Cmd+S
Save As… Cmd+Shift+S
Duplicate —
Rename… —
Move To… —
Revert To ▸ Last Saved / Browse All Versions… —

The app autosaves in place and keeps Versions, so macOS's time-machine-style version browser works. If you've made a mess, Revert To ▸ Browse All Versions… will get you out of it.

The status bar tells you where you stand: Saved, Edited, or Imported — save to convert.

Duplicate has no shortcut

Cmd+D duplicates the selected shape, not the document. The document-level Duplicate is in the File menu without a shortcut, deliberately — shape duplication is the thing you do a hundred times a day.

Opening files

File ▸ Open… (Cmd+O) accepts:

File ▸ Open Recent keeps your last 10, with Clear Menu at the bottom.

Library and palette files

Extension What it is
.sdlibrary A version 5 shape library package
.sdlp A version 3/4 library plugin — still imports
.sdcp A version 3/4 colour palette — still imports

Double-click a .sdlibrary or .sdlp in the Finder to install it.

Some newer libraries, such as those that come with shape data or let you choose their starting colours, need SimpleDiagrams 5.0.5 or later. An older version tells you to update rather than importing part of the library.

What you can export

PNG, PDF and SVG. See Exporting and printing.

Limits

Generous, but they exist so a runaway file can't take the app down with it:

Thing Limit
Pages per document 100
Objects per document 100,000
Connectors per document 200,000
Quick Styles per document 32
Favourites 512
Size per imported asset 16 MB
Total assets per document 100 MB

Where things live

The app is sandboxed, so its own files sit in a container:

~/Library/Containers/com.simplediagrams.desktop/Data/

Inside that:

  • Library/Application Support/SimpleDiagrams/Custom Libraries/ — your libraries
  • Personal Shape Data.json, Personal Shape Geometry.json and Personal Shape Paint.json in the Custom Libraries folder — your own changes to downloaded and built-in libraries: extra fields and connection points, plus starting colours for downloaded libraries that allow it. Back these up with your libraries.
  • Library/Caches/SimpleDiagrams/ — thumbnails, safe to delete

Your documents go wherever you save them. The app only ever touches files you've picked yourself — that's what the sandbox guarantees.

In the direct build, your licence key and trial clock live in the macOS Keychain, not in a file. The Mac App Store build has neither.

Privacy, briefly

The app has no network access at all. Not restricted, not opt-in — the capability isn't in the build. It can't phone home because it has no way to phone anything.

There's no account, no telemetry, no analytics. The Mac App Store version is paid for in the App Store before you install it, so the app itself never deals with purchases.

Imported images have their metadata stripped, so a photo won't carry its GPS coordinates into a diagram you send someone.

The full privacy policy is in the app under Help ▸ Privacy Policy….