Desktop App & Install

Novaboard runs in the browser for free, and the same editor is coming as a paid desktop app for Windows, macOS and Linux. This page covers what the desktop app adds, how to install the web app like a native app, how updates arrive, and what works offline.

Web App or Desktop App

Both run the same editor: the same tools, panels, files and keyboard shortcuts. The web app keeps your work in the browser's storage and saves it automatically. The desktop app keeps that same automatic save and adds real files on disk.

  • Save ( Ctrl+S ) writes the open file to its .nova file on disk. A file that has never been saved asks where to put it first.
  • Save As… ( Ctrl+Shift+S ) picks what the project file carries and where it goes. On the web the same command is Save to Disk… and downloads a .nova copy instead.
  • Autosave to Disk: files that already have a location on disk are written back automatically once they have had unsaved changes for a while. Both settings live in Edit → User Preferences… under Editor Behavior: the toggle is on by default and Autosave Delay runs from 5 to 300 seconds, 30 by default.
  • Open Recent in the File menu lists the .nova files you opened or saved.
  • Opening .nova files: the installer registers the .nova extension, so double-clicking a project or using Open With starts Novaboard (or brings the running window forward) and opens it. A file that is already open in a tab asks whether to go to that tab or open a duplicate.
  • Native menu: on macOS the menu sits in the system menu bar, with Open Recent, Save, Save As…, the export commands, Close Tab (Cmd+W), Close All Tabs (Cmd+Shift+W), Back to Workspace and Close Window (Cmd+Alt+Shift+W). On Windows and Linux the app uses its own in-window menu bar, the same one the web app shows.
  • Long exports: when an export takes more than five seconds and the window is in the background, a system notification says it finished. Clicking it shows the file in your file manager.
  • Links: links to websites open in your system browser, never inside the app.

A few defaults differ because browsers reserve some key combinations. On the web, New File is Ctrl+Alt+N . The macOS menu bar also accepts Cmd+N.

Getting the Desktop App

The web app at novaboard.app is free. A paid desktop app is coming to Steam and itch.io, and the price will be announced in January.

Closing and Quitting

Closing the window, quitting, restarting the app and installing an update all wait until your files are safe. A small window shows which file is being saved. What gets saved depends on Autosave to Disk:

  • On (the default): files with a .nova on disk get their latest changes written to it. Files of the current workspace that were never saved to disk are saved into a Novaboard folder in your Documents folder, named after the file, with (2), (3) and so on added when a name is taken.
  • Off: nothing is written unasked. If files on disk have unsaved changes, a dialog lists them with Save all, Don't save and Cancel.

Files recovered from your last session are not written on their own: they are listed until you save them. With Autosave to Disk off, Save all writes them too.

If a file can't be written, for example because its .nova was moved or the disk is full, Novaboard stays open and lists it with the reason. Retry tries again, Save elsewhere… picks a new location for that file, and Close without saving (or Quit without saving) closes anyway; your work is still in the app's own storage. If saving makes no progress for 10 seconds, a system dialog asks whether to keep waiting or quit without saving.

Recovering Unsaved Changes on Desktop

The desktop app remembers which files have changes that are newer than their .nova file on disk. If it closes before those changes reach the disk, whether it crashed or you quit, the next launch shows a notice naming the files, with a Save now button. Those files are not written to disk on their own: nothing overwrites your .nova until you press Save now, save the file yourself, or keep editing it.

If a .nova file was moved or deleted while it was open, autosave stops writing it and tells you once. Use Save As… to keep your changes somewhere new. On macOS the window's close button shows a dot while the open file has unsaved changes.

Updates

Desktop app

The Steam and itch.io builds update through the store: Steam installs new versions on its own, and the itch.io app does the same. A build downloaded outside the stores checks for a newer version once per launch; when there is one, a notice names the version and offers Install, which downloads the update, installs it and restarts the app. If the install fails, the notice says why and the current version keeps running.

Web app

The web app updates itself in the background. When a new version is ready, an Update Available notice appears with Update Now, which reloads into the new version; you can also dismiss it and keep working. If another tab has already updated Novaboard, this tab asks you to reload. When the update changed how files are stored, that notice cannot be dismissed, because this tab cannot save until it reloads.

Installing the Web App

The web app can be installed like a native app. It then opens in its own window without browser toolbars, gets an icon in your launcher or home screen, and keeps the same files as the browser tab, because both use the same storage on novaboard.app. There is no button inside Novaboard for this; the browser offers it.

  • Chrome and Edge (Windows, macOS, Linux, ChromeOS): open novaboard.app and use the install icon at the end of the address bar, or the browser menu's install option for the page.
  • Safari on macOS: File → Add to Dock.
  • Safari on iPhone and iPad: tap the Share button, then Add to Home Screen.
  • Chrome on Android: open the browser menu and choose Add to Home screen or Install app.
An installed web app still saves into the browser's storage. To keep a file outside it, use Save to Disk… or Export. See Saving & Recovery.

Working Offline

The desktop app carries everything it needs and works without a connection.

The web app needs a connection the first time. After that:

  • The editor at / and the docs home page are stored on your device when the app first loads, so both open and reload offline.
  • Every other page (the editor in another language, docs pages, the tool pages) is kept once you have visited it online, and opens offline from then on. A page you never opened online does not open offline.
  • A few large downloads are only fetched when first used: the Chinese, Japanese and Korean interface fonts, and the AVIF and JPEG XL export encoders. They work offline only after you have used that language or that export format once while online.
  • Features that talk to a website need the connection, for example the live Lospec palette search in the New File dialog.

Pop-out Windows

With the desktop layout (Window → Display set to Desktop, or Auto on a computer), a panel's or a file tab's right-click menu has Pop Out to New Window. The panel or view moves into its own window, which you can place on a second monitor. Send Back to Main Dock in a popped-out panel's menu returns it, and closing the window of a popped-out file view puts the view back in the editor area. This works in the browser and in the desktop app. In the desktop app each pop-out is an app window and closes with the main window. When you come back to a layout that had pop-outs, Novaboard asks Reopen previous windows? instead of opening them unasked. See Interface & Workspace for docking.

Privacy

In both apps your artwork stays on your device. The desktop app has an Anonymous Usage Ping preference, off by default: when on, it sends one event per launch with only the app version and platform; nothing is sent while it is off. See the privacy policy.