Settings¶
SimpleDiagrams ▸ Settings… — Cmd+,.
It's a short window. That's on purpose.

Library and Panels¶
| Setting | Default | What it does |
|---|---|---|
| Show shape tooltips | Off | Hover a shape in the Library panel to see its name. |
| Show shapes in use | On | Adds an In Use section listing shapes already on the current page. |
| Show shape counts | On | The "N shapes" number beside each library heading. |
| Panel appearance | Follow System | The Tool Palette and other panels follow your Mac's light/dark setting by default; choose Light or Dark to override it. |
| Library background — Light | #F5F5F5 |
The Library's surrounding background when panels use Light appearance. |
| Library background — Dark | #292A2A |
The Library's surrounding background when panels use Dark appearance. Dark shape cells use a lighter #424343 base colour. |
Both colour controls start at the app defaults and apply immediately. Restore Library Backgrounds restores both colours. These choices affect the Library, not the artwork or exported diagrams.
Reset Workspace… puts every panel back where it started — position, size, order, and the tool palette placement. It asks first, and it doesn't touch your diagrams or your Library display choices.
Use it when you've dragged something somewhere strange and can't undo your way out.
Connectors¶
| Setting | Default | What it does |
|---|---|---|
| Show ending buttons on a selected connector | On | Select a connector and a small button appears beside each end. Click it to pick that end's ending. |
| Show endings when right-clicking an endpoint | On | Right-click the start or end of a connector and that end's endings are at the top of the menu. |
| Delete connectors when deleting shapes | Off | Deleting a shape also deletes every connector attached to it. |
The first two are shortcuts. With either one off you can still change endings from the Shape Properties panel, or from Start Ending and End Ending in the right-click menu. See Connectors.
With Delete connectors when deleting shapes off, a connector is its own object: deleting a shape leaves its connectors where they were drawn, no longer attached to anything, and you delete a connector by selecting it. Undo puts the shape and the attachment back. The setting changes Delete only. Cut, Copy and Duplicate always act on just the shapes and connectors you selected.
Marker¶
| Setting | Default | What it does |
|---|---|---|
| Show grain in marker ink | On | The slightly uneven, papery surface inside a marker stroke. |
| Darken the edges of marker ink | On | The darker rim where ink gathers at the edge of a stroke. |
| Pool ink where the marker rests | On | The darker spot where the tip lands, lifts or lingers. |
These change how every marker stroke looks on this Mac, on the canvas and in exports. They don't change your diagrams. Turning the grain off speeds up diagrams with lots of large marker strokes. See Pencil and Marker.
Troubleshooting¶
| Setting | Default | What it does |
|---|---|---|
| Verbose logging until restart | Off | Records more detail while you reproduce a problem. Resets when you quit. |
Routine failures are recorded locally. Nothing is uploaded automatically — the app has no network access at all.
Export Diagnostics… writes a SimpleDiagrams-Diagnostics.json file you can send me
if something's gone wrong. Before it saves, it tells you exactly what's in there: app
and macOS versions and event codes. No diagram content, no file names, no personal
information.
That's the lot¶
There isn't a fifth section. Most things that would be preferences in another app are per-document settings instead, which means they travel with the file:
- Grid look, spacing and whether it shows — View ▸ Grid Settings…
- Page size and DPI — Page ▸ Output Size…
- Background — Page ▸ Background…
- Default fill, stroke and text colours — click a colour chip with nothing selected
Panel positions are workspace preferences, rather than document content. Drag a panel or use Window ▸ Panels ▸ [panel] to show, hide, dock, or float it.