Most documents are saved to livediagram's servers so you can reach them from any device and share them. Offline Mode is the opposite choice: a document saved only in the browser you made it in, that is never stored on the server. It suits private, local-first work, or simply wanting a document that physically never leaves your machine.
Creating an offline document
Offline Mode is chosen per document, so you can keep normal documents and offline ones side by side.
- If you haven't signed in, your new documents start offline (on a deployment with sign-in; a guest-only self-host saves to the server by default). Nothing you try out is sent to our servers until you choose to share it, sync it, or sign in and move it to your account (or use the AI assistant on it). The Location step on the New Document screen shows Local Browser already picked, and the links that create a document straight away (a template from the home page, Start Blank) make an offline one too. Pick livediagram instead if you would rather it went to the server now.
- Once you've signed in, new documents go to your account. To make one offline, pick a template on the New Document screen, go on to the Location step, choose the Local Browser tile ("This device only"), then click Create. A warning under it reminds you that the document is not backed up or synced.
- The document is written to your browser's own storage (IndexedDB) and opens like any other. A Local only badge next to its name in the editor, and the matching Local only pill wherever it is listed (Explorer lists and cards, search results, the Explorer panel and the Trash), mark it so you always know which documents are local-only. Hover or focus the pill to read that the document lives only in this browser and that clearing this browser's site data deletes it; click it (in the Explorer lists, the Explorer panel and the Trash) to come back to this guide. The Explorer sidebar's This browser row lists them all.
An offline document is not synced and not backed up. It lives only in this browser: clearing your site data, or the browser reclaiming storage, will delete it. Keep anything important on the cloud, or export a copy.
What's different
An offline document is a normal document: every editor feature works, including shapes, arrows, layers, tabs, themes, undo/redo, and export. Only the features that need the server are unavailable, because there's no server copy to power them:
- Sharing needs a document on the server. Opening Share on an offline document tells you so and offers Sync Document: press it and the document uploads, and the Share options appear in the same dialog, with no reload. Embeds are unavailable until it is synced, for the same reason.
- Live collaboration and teams don't apply; an offline document is yours alone. Comments still work, but only you see them.
- The AI assistant works while you're online (it reads your current canvas), but not with no connection.
- Images you add are stored inside the document, so it stays fully local.
- Add a Tab to Another Document is unavailable for an offline document in either direction, and Duplicate makes another offline copy rather than uploading one.
- In the Explorer it shows a fixed offline picture instead of a thumbnail, because there is no server copy to draw one from.
Moving to and from your account
You can change your mind at any time, from the document's ⋯ menu in the Explorer.
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When you sign in with offline documents in this browser, we offer to move them to your account. Every one is ticked; untick any you want to keep offline, then Move. Not Now leaves them where they are, and we only ask again when there are more.
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Sync Document uploads an offline document to the cloud. It becomes a normal document, shareable and (when you're signed in) reachable from your other devices, and the local-only copy is removed.
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Take Offline does the reverse: it downloads a cloud document into this browser and then removes it from your account and every other device. Because that deletes the server copy for good, we ask you to confirm first.
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A tab it shares with other documents (see Add a Tab to Another Document) stays in those documents, and this browser keeps its own copy. From then on the two are separate: edits on one side no longer reach the other, and syncing the document back brings your copy in as a new tab beside the original.
Take Offline is deliberate and irreversible on the server side: once a document is offline it exists only in the browser you took it offline in. If it was shared, taking it offline also revokes the share links, and a team document leaves the team library. For the owner it is a move, not a delete, so it skips the Trash; a teammate taking a team document offline sends the team's copy to the team Trash. An offline document you delete goes to this browser's own Trash.
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