Saving on the Web

On the website, Save keeps your design in your online library, the same library you see on the website’s Library page and in MatterCAD’s Cloud Library on your computer. To get a file on your computer, use Export or the page’s Download button.

Save

Click Save in the toolbar, or press Ctrl+S (⌘S on a Mac). The button reads Save • while the design has changes that are not saved.

  • A design you can change is saved over its own copy in your library.
  • A design you can’t save over (one that isn’t yours, or one that isn’t an MCX design, such as an STL) is never written over. Save asks for a name instead and saves your own copy as a new MCX design.
  • A new design asks for a name the first time you save it.

When Save asks for a name, the Save As box opens with the design’s name filled in:

  1. Type a name in Name.
  2. Click Save.

The design is saved as a new design. Where it goes:

  • A new design you started with New Design on the Library page goes in that folder.
  • Any other design goes in the folder you opened it from on the website’s Library page, when you may add designs to that folder.
  • Otherwise it goes in My Designs. That is where it goes when the design came from Shared with Me or Purchased, from a locked or read-only folder, or when you opened its page from a direct link rather than from the Library page.

From then on Save saves that new design. The page’s address, title and Download button change to the saved design.

If the website refuses to save over a design, the Save As box opens with the reason, for example “You can’t save over this design. Enter a name to save your own copy.” Type a name to save your own copy.

Save As

Click the arrow beside Save and choose Save As, or press Ctrl+Shift+S (⌘⇧S on a Mac). The Save As box opens as above. Type a new name and click Save to save a copy. The copy goes where Save puts a new design: the folder you opened the design from when you may add to it, otherwise My Designs.

Export and Download

  • Export (in the Save arrow’s menu, and in the Bed menu) writes the design in another format, such as STL or 3MF. Your browser downloads each file it writes. See Saving and Exporting for the formats and options.
  • Download, in the page’s title bar, downloads the design’s file as it was last saved.

Unsaved Changes Found

While you edit, MatterCAD keeps a copy of your unsaved changes in this browser every few seconds. If the tab closes, the browser crashes or your phone drops the page before you save, your changes are not lost.

The next time you open the same design’s page in this browser, MatterCAD asks, in a box titled Unsaved Changes Found: “MatterCAD found changes to this design that weren’t saved. Restore them?”

  • Restore - Puts your changes back and opens the editor. They are still not saved: click Save to keep them. Discard Changes (when you press Done) still takes you back to the saved version.
  • Discard - Throws the copy away.

If you close the box without choosing, the copy is kept and offered again next time.

For a new design you never saved, the copy belongs to its folder: on the website’s Library page, open the same folder and click New Design to be offered it.

Good to know:

  • The copy is kept only in the browser you were using, on that computer or phone.
  • If the design has been saved since the copy was made (here, in another browser or in MatterCAD on your computer), the copy is older than the saved design, so it is thrown away without asking.
  • A browser keeps only a few megabytes for a website. A design larger than about 3.5 MB is too big to keep a copy of, so save it often.
  • Saving the design, choosing Discard Changes, or undoing back to the saved version removes the copy.