Help centre · Getting started

Saving and projects

How your work is saved in the browser or in the cloud, what happens offline or in a conflict, version history, project files and deleting.

Stori3D saves as you work. Where it saves depends on whether you're signed in: without an account your project lives in this browser, and with one it lives in the cloud and opens on any device. Ctrl (⌘ on a Mac) shortcuts are written as Ctrl below.

Work in the browser

You can model without an account. Your scene autosaves in this browser, and the app bar says Saved in this browser. You can turn this off under Settings → Editor → Autosave.

Work kept only in the browser has limits. Another browser or device can't see it, and clearing your browser's data removes it. To keep it safe, sign in and save it to the cloud, or download a project file (see below).

Save to the cloud

Click Sign in in the app bar and sign in with Google or an email address and password. Then:

File → New project makes a new project in the cloud from the start.
File → Save to cloud puts the scene you're working on into the cloud. The Projects panel has the same button.
Ctrl+S saves straight away.

Once a project is in the cloud, each change is saved within a moment and reaches anyone else who has it open. The app bar shows where things are: Saved to cloud, Unsaved changes…, Saving to cloud… or Couldn't save to cloud · will retry.

Open your projects from the Projects panel or File → Cloud projects…. Each project's menu has Open, Rename, Duplicate, Move to (between your own space and a team) and Delete. Duplicate makes a new project from the latest save. Its version history, comments, share links and files stay with the original.

Start from a template

Choose File → Project templates…, or the template button in the Projects panel.

Save as template keeps the open project as a starting point in your library: its levels, walls, sheets, title block, finishes and views. It's there on any device you sign in on.
Click a template to start a new project from it: one of yours, one your team shares, or one of the built-in ones. When you're signed in, the new project is saved to the cloud straight away.
A template's menu has Share with your team, Rename… and Delete. Projects started from a template are copies, so changing or deleting the template leaves them as they are.

Work offline

If your connection drops, carry on. The app bar shows Offline · will sync when back online, and your changes go up when you're connected again, merged with what others did meanwhile.

After a minute and a half offline, your changes are kept only in the open tab until you reconnect, so keep it open. Closing it asks first.

If you and someone else changed the same thing while you were offline, Stori3D asks what to keep. Everything else you both did is kept either way.

Keep theirs takes their change there, and the rest of yours still goes in.
Keep mine keeps your change there.
Save mine as a version takes theirs, and puts your offline work in version history to restore later.

Resolve a conflict

Two people working on the same project at once don't conflict: see Sharing and review. A conflict can still come up when you come back to a project and this browser has changes that never reached the cloud, and the project has been saved elsewhere since. Stori3D asks which version to keep:

Keep this device's version replaces the cloud copy with yours.
Load cloud version discards the changes on this device.

Nothing is overwritten without asking. If you're not sure, save a named version first (below).

Use version history

Open File → Version history… on a cloud project.

Automatic versions are taken every half hour while you work, and the latest 30 are kept.
Named versions are kept until you delete them. Type a name under Name this version, such as "Sent to client", and click Save version. Name one before big changes or when you send drawings out.
Restore puts a version back. The current state is kept as a version first, so you can change your mind.
The delete button next to a version removes it.

Save a project file

A project file holds the whole project in one .stori3d.json file, for a backup or to send to someone.

File → Download project file… saves one to your computer. When you're not signed in, Ctrl+S does this too.
File → Open project file… (Ctrl+O) opens one.

Opening a file disconnects the scene from any cloud project you had open, so it can't overwrite it. Save it to the cloud afterwards if you want to keep it there. More in Project files.

Delete a project

In the Projects panel, open the project's menu and choose Delete. The project is removed from the cloud for good, along with its versions and comments, and its view-only link stops working. In a team, it's removed for everyone in the team. If it's the project you have open, the scene stays on this device.

Deleting can't be undone, so download a project file first if you might need it again.

To show a project to someone without an account, use File → Share view-only link…. See Sharing and review.

Still stuck? Contact us, or ask in the app: Help → Contact support.