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Files and formats

The SimpleDiagrams document

Version 5 saves .simplediagram files. Everything your diagram needs lives inside: the artwork, imported images, backgrounds, library shapes, and your Quick Styles.

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

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.

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
  • Library/Application Support/SimpleDiagrams/Custom Libraries/Removed Libraries/ — libraries you've removed but not lost
  • 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.

Your licence key and trial clock live in the macOS Keychain, not in a file.

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 one exception is the Mac App Store version, where macOS itself handles purchases through the App Store.

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….