Documents, canvases and templates

A Rivoli Diagrams document holds one or more canvases and behaves like any other macOS document: autosave, versions, rename and revert all work the way you expect.

The document format

New documents are saved as .rivolidiagram: a single file that holds each canvas, each AI conversation and any embedded images as separate pieces inside it. Saving after an edit rewrites only the pieces that changed, so a large document keeps saving quickly, and images are stored as-is rather than expanded into text.

Documents saved by earlier versions end in .diagram.json: one plain-JSON file, readable and diffable in a text editor or a version-control diff. Those keep opening, and keep saving as themselves; nothing is converted behind your back. To move one to the new format, use File ▸ Save As… and pick Rivoli Diagram in the format popup. To keep a document in plain JSON, pick the JSON entry there instead: the popup offers those two, and the extension you end up with decides the format. Rivoli Diagrams also opens plain .json files that contain a diagram.

Multiple canvases

One document can hold several canvases: think of them as pages or artboards. The canvas bar along the bottom shows one chip per canvas:

• Click a chip to switch to that canvas.
• Click + to add one.
• Double-click a chip to rename it inline.
• Right-click a chip for Rename…, Duplicate and Delete.

Each canvas has its own layers and contents. Canvas size, units and rulers are document-wide and the grid is a property of the window, so changing any of them changes it for every canvas rather than just the one in front of you. Export and print act on the active canvas, and the export dialog lets you pick a different one when the document has more than one.

Templates

File ▸ New from Template… (⇧⌘N) opens the gallery. The built-in templates are:

Template	Contents
Blank	An empty canvas to start from scratch.
Flowchart	Start / process / decision / end skeleton.
Org Chart	A CEO with two reporting levels.
Network Diagram	Internet, router, switch and hosts.
Mind Map	A central idea with radial branches.
Swimlane Process	A lane-per-role process with steps already placed.
Table	A single table to fill in.
Sample Flowchart	A worked validate-and-save example flow.

Note

Choosing a template replaces the contents of the current window rather than opening a new one. Save your work first if the window already holds a diagram you want to keep: or press ⌘N for a fresh window before opening the gallery.

The gallery is also offered once automatically, on the first blank window after launch.

Saving, autosave and versions

Rivoli Diagrams uses the standard macOS document system, so the whole File menu behaves natively:

• Save (⌘S) and Save As… (⇧⌥⌘S).
• Duplicate (⇧⌘S): a copy in a new window.
• Rename… and Move To… act on the file in place.
• Revert To ▸ Browse All Versions… steps back through autosaved versions.
• The dot beside the title, and the status bar’s right-hand label, show whether there are unsaved changes.

Documents are also autosaved as you work, so an unexpected quit does not lose your diagram.

Open Recent

File ▸ Open Recent lists documents you have opened or saved recently, with Clear Menu at the bottom to empty the list.

Window tabs

Because each document is a normal macOS window, Window ▸ Show Tab Bar lets you merge several open diagrams into one tabbed window, and Window ▸ Merge All Windows gathers them all at once.