Cloud sync, offline work and devices

flowss saves your work as you go, first in your browser and then, while you are signed in, to your account so it follows you to every device. There is no save button to remember and nothing to switch on. This page explains exactly where your work is kept, what cloud sync carries and what it does not, when it runs, how it settles changes made on two devices, the size limits that apply, every message the sync banner can show, how Study syncs separately, what works without a connection, and what to do when a browser runs out of space.

At a glance

Where your work is saved

Every studio writes what you are working on to your browser's storage a moment after each edit. The Library keeps its index of all your documents there too, along with your Vault checkpoints and your version histories. Browsers give each site roughly 5 MB of this kind of storage, and flowss shows you how much it is using in the Library's Storage panel (see "When the browser runs out of space" below).

Cloud sync then copies that work to your account. The browser copy is what you edit; the cloud copy is what the next device starts from.

Working while signed out

The studios ask you to sign in before they open, but the Library, the Flow console, the template gallery and these docs work without an account. Signing out also leaves your work on the device you signed out from. Either way, work that is only in this browser is not backed up, and the header says so:

Hover the notice for the full explanation. Clicking the notice takes you to sign in and then back to the page you were on. The × beside it ("Hide this notice for this session") hides it for the rest of this browsing session in this tab; it comes back on a later visit because the risk is still there. Where signing in would not back up a studio's work (Study and Scholar), the notice drops "sign in to back up", is not a link, and its tooltip says "Signing in does not back up work in this studio."

The first time you save work while signed out, flowss asks the browser to keep this site's storage rather than clear it to free space. Some browsers ask you to confirm; Chrome usually decides on its own. If the browser agrees, the tooltip says "This browser has agreed not to clear it to free space, but clearing site data still deletes it."

Tip: Signing in is the backup. The first time you sign in on a device that no other account has synced on, the work already saved there is merged into your account rather than replaced, so nothing you made while signed out is lost. (On a device another account has used, see "Shared computers and switching accounts" below.)

What cloud sync carries

While you are signed in, your workspace is copied to your account and brought back on every device you sign in on.

Two kinds of work are kept in your account in their own way rather than through workspace sync:

• Cloud projects are shared workspaces stored on the server. They open from the Library or the Studio's Collaborate panel and are saved to the project as you edit, not to your personal workspace. See Sharing and permissions.
• Evidence projects are kept in your account when you save them in Evidence, and appear in the Library's Cloud chip. See Evidence.

What does not sync

See Version history and undo for each history and how long it is kept.

When sync runs

You never press a sync button for the workspace. It runs at these moments:

A new device never overwrites your account with its empty workspace: sends wait for the first fetch to answer, and the server refuses a send from a device that has not yet seen the cloud copy, which then fetches and merges first. If a send fails because of the network, it is tried again at the next change or check, and only a run of failures raises a warning.

While you are signed in, the Flow Dock's Continue and Journey lists and Vault changes also reach your other open devices within moments.

Signing in on a new device

1. Sign in with the same method you used before. See Creating an account and signing in.
2. flowss fetches your cloud copy and brings it in: your Studio figures, each studio's document, your Library and your Vault.
3. If this device already held work of yours (for example, from before you signed in), the two are merged as described in the next section, so neither is lost. If the device's work belongs to a different account, it is replaced instead; see "Shared computers and switching accounts".

Open the Library to see everything. If a /library?doc= link was what brought you, the Library waits for your other devices' documents to arrive before deciding whether the document is there.

When two devices change the same work

Sync merges rather than overwrites. Each part has its own rule:

When both copies of a studio's document are kept, a toast tells you where each went. The document is named by what it is: "Weave board", "Science canvas", "BPMN diagram", "Lab source", "Sketch document" or "Research figure" (Figure).

• "Your document was changed here and on another device. Both are kept: the cloud copy is open now, and this device's copy is in the Vault." The Vault copy is titled "*document* — this device's copy", for example "Weave board — this device's copy".
• If that studio is open in the tab when the other device's copy arrives: "Your document was also changed on another device. Both are kept: this one stays open, and the other device's copy is in the Vault." The Vault copy is titled "*document* — copy from another device".

Where only the view moved on both devices (Weave's position or Science's zoom), this device's view is simply kept; that is not treated as a conflict.

Restore either one from the Flow Dock's Vault section or the Library's Vault band. See Version history and undo.

When the Vault cannot hold the second copy

If the Vault has no room for the second copy without removing one of your checkpoints, or the document is too large for a checkpoint, nothing is overwritten. The other device's copy stays in the cloud, and the sync banner explains that this device's copy is not backed up until there is room:

• "*Document* changed here and on another device, and the Vault has no room for a second copy without removing another one. The other device's copy is kept in the cloud; this device's copy is NOT backed up until you free some Vault space." Delete a checkpoint you no longer need, and the next sync settles it.
• "*Document* changed here and on another device, and is too large for the Vault to keep a second copy. The other device's copy is kept in the cloud; this device's copy is NOT backed up until one of the two is saved as a file." The banner then offers Keep both — save one as a file. Clicking it downloads one copy as a .json file and puts the other in place, with a toast naming the file: "This device's document was saved as file. The other device's copy is open here now." (or, when that studio is open in the tab, "The other device's document was saved as file. This one stays open and is backed up again from the next sync.").

Shared computers and switching accounts

flowss remembers which account the work on a device belongs to. If a different account signs in on that device, the work there is not merged into the new account. Instead it is replaced by the new account's own cloud copy, so one person's documents can never end up in another person's account.

Warning: Work on a shared device that was never synced to its owner's account is replaced when someone else signs in there. Before handing over a device, sign in so your work syncs, or use Export library… in the Library to keep a file.

Study follows the same rule in its own way: on a device whose Study data belongs to another account, Study sync pauses and offers a choice (see below).

Shared projects pause personal sync

When you open a cloud project (for example from a Library card or an invitation link), the Studio is editing the project, not your personal workspace. While it is open, your personal workspace sync pauses, so the project's figures are never written into your own workspace and yours are never published into the project. Personal sync resumes when you leave the project. See Live collaboration.

Size limits

Sizes are measured the way the server counts them, so documents with many non-Latin characters or emoji use more of the budget than their length suggests.

The sync banner

When something about saving or syncing needs your attention, a notice appears at the bottom left of the page (at the top centre on studios with the island layout). It stays until the problem is fixed, not just for a few seconds. Hide it with Hide sync warning; it comes back if the problem changes or recurs.

Study syncs on its own

Study keeps your decks, cards, review history, course progress and Study preferences, and syncs them separately from the workspace, through its own connection. It needs a signed-in account and a plan that includes Study (Starter and up). Study sync starts in a tab once you have opened Study or Scholar there, and keeps running in that tab afterwards.

Reviews you take offline on two devices are merged, not chosen between, and review history only grows. Study's own Cloud sync card, under Progress → Your data, shows where sync stands, how many reviews are waiting to go up, and a Sync now button. It also says what is not synced yet: pictures on cards, Scholar exam plans, and the goal streak's record of past goals.

Study sync refuses to run when:

• The device's clock is more than five minutes off. Merges are decided by change times, so Study asks you to correct the clock first.
• The device's Study data belongs to another account. Sync pauses rather than mixing two people's decks. To study the signed-in account's data here instead, choose Replace this device's Study data…; Study shows what will be removed and asks you to confirm with Replace this device's Study data or keep it with Keep it.
• Study data is over 4,000,000 bytes. "Your Study data is size — larger than the 3.8 MB sync limit, so decks, cards and progress are NOT being synced (reviews still are). Export a copy from Your data, then delete or split a few large decks to bring it under the limit."

Study's failures show as their own notice, headed "Study sync:", separate from the workspace banner. On a Study page it offers Details and what to do; elsewhere it links to Study ("Open Study — Progress, Your data has the details"). The × hides it until the problem changes. See Study.

Note: The signed-out notice in Study and Scholar says "Signing in does not back up work in this studio." For Scholar that is accurate. For Study, signing in on a plan that includes Study does sync your decks and progress as described above.

Working offline

flowss installs a small offline helper in your browser. It keeps public page shells and static files so a lost connection is explained rather than shown as a browser error, and it never stores your private documents or account data.

When you navigate to a page that is not available offline, flowss shows a page headed Connection paused — "Your next idea can wait a moment." It says "This page isn't available without a connection. Reconnect and use your browser's refresh button to return to it." and "Keep any open work in its tab: a studio that is already open keeps working. Opening a studio needs a connection." It offers Open Library and Try home, and notes that AI generation, cloud saves, collaboration and online rendering need a connection, and that local drafts belong to this browser, so you should export a backup before clearing site data.

A similar help page lives at /offline, headed You're offline: it says an editor that is already open keeps working but opening one needs a connection, asks you to export important local work before closing the tab, and links to Open home and the Library.

When you reconnect, sync catches up on its own: the next edit, check or tab switch sends what is waiting. If you closed the tab while offline, reopen flowss while online and your saved changes are sent then.

Tip: Going somewhere without a connection? Open the studios you need before you leave, and leave the tabs open.

When the browser runs out of space

Browser storage for a site is roughly 5 MB, shared by the Library, every studio's open document, your Vault, your histories and your preferences. When it is full, the browser refuses new saves. flowss tells you straight away with a toast and the "Storage is full" banner, and the banner stays until saves succeed again.

1. Open the Library and click the hard-drive button, Storage health.
2. Check Biggest documents and Where it goes to see what is using the space.
3. Click Empty trash first: trashed documents keep their full content until they are removed.
4. Export anything large you want to keep with Export library… (or the selection bar's Export), then delete it.
5. Watch the meter and the alert. When the browser accepts writes again, the banner comes down by itself.

Cloud projects and Evidence projects are stored on flowss servers and do not use this browser's storage.

Keeping your own backup

Cloud sync is not the only copy you can have. In the Library, Library options (⋮) → Export library… downloads every document, including the trash, to a dated .json file, and Import backup… merges such a file back in without overwriting anything newer. A backup is also the way to move work to a browser where you do not sign in. See Your library. To download everything your account holds, see Account settings and your data.

Plans

See Plans and what they include.

Tips

• Let it settle before you close the lid. Sync sends within a couple of seconds of a pause and again when you switch tabs, so a moment's pause is enough.
• Switch tabs to force a send. Moving away from the flowss tab sends anything waiting straight away.
• Read the Vault after a conflict toast. The other copy is a checkpoint titled "— this device's copy" or "— copy from another device"; restore whichever you want.
• Keep big pasted images out of canvases. They are the usual reason a document is too large to sync or checkpoint.
• Export before clearing site data or handing over a device. A backup file is the one copy that does not depend on any browser.

Limits and known constraints

• Sync cannot be switched off while you are signed in.
• The workspace is limited to 2 MB in the cloud; the Vault and the studio documents share 1.2 MB of it (the Vault at most 700 KB), and Library documents have 400 KB.
• Library documents beyond the 400 KB sync budget stay on the device where they were made until they fit; the banner says so.
• Per-browser histories, saved views and display preferences do not sync.
• Signing in as a different account on a device replaces that device's workspace with the new account's cloud copy.
• Opening a studio needs a connection; only an already-open editor keeps working offline.
• Browser storage is roughly 5 MB per site and is shared by everything flowss keeps on the device.
• Safari can clear a site's storage after seven days without a visit, which matters only for work that has not synced.

Troubleshooting

Related pages

• Your library
• Version history and undo
• Moving work between studios
• Creating an account and signing in
• Account settings and your data
• Live collaboration
• Study
• Privacy and your data
• Reliability, status and support
• Continuum: the one-platform layer