Save and recover your work

Understand portable source files, local workspace autosave, unsaved changes, multi-tab coordination, and recovery in Alphabit Studio.

Manual save versus autosave

Autosave protects the workspace on the current device. Manual save writes a `.alphabit.json` file that you can reopen later or store in version control. Those are different, and both matter.

What autosave stores

  • open fonts and their current editor state
  • per-font window positions, ordering, and active windows
  • selection and specimen state
  • saved-baseline state used for dirty checks
  • clipboard state where relevant

What app preferences store

App preferences store settings that are not tied to one font, including the theme preference, new-font metadata defaults, and the shared kerning window’s open state and bounds.

Unsaved changes

Changes are tracked against the last explicit save baseline for each font. Closing a font, closing the workspace, or leaving the page can trigger an unsaved-changes confirmation.

Multi-tab behavior

Tabs on the same device coordinate. If one clean tab saves, another clean tab can reload automatically. If two tabs diverge, autosave pauses. Choose Reload workspace to use the other tab’s saved state, or Keep this tab to replace it with this tab’s current workspace. Different app builds use separate local workspace records.

If autosave fails

An error stays visible in the workspace if local storage cannot save your changes. Use Retry autosave after resolving the storage problem. You can also save each font from the File menu as a portable `.alphabit.json` file.

Refreshing for an app update waits for autosave to finish. If it fails, the editor stays open so you can retry or save your font files first. Finish any active drawing gesture before refreshing.

Incomplete older workspaces

If an older local workspace is missing document records, the app keeps the remaining records and reports the problem. It cannot reconstruct missing pixels. Reopen your saved font files, or preserve the browser data before attempting manual recovery.

Recovery

If a broken autosaved workspace ever blocks startup, open the app and paste `?purgeLocal=1` into the URL bar after the URL. That clears the local workspace record before the normal restore pass runs.

Practical advice

  • Use autosave as a recovery layer, not your only copy.
  • Save `.alphabit.json` before making risky format conversions.
  • Keep exports and source files separate in your own project structure.