---
title: "05 Saving, Autosave and Drafts"
canonical_url: https://mdflow.cz/share/c/h0L7MvX5Cy5sST3qPnApqHOmrQ36JTVy169qJMtDMya9Kc30zm04cg9OuPSSPwvj/681a938a-ae3f-42cb-9b1e-5450722ac952
md_url: https://mdflow.cz/share/c/h0L7MvX5Cy5sST3qPnApqHOmrQ36JTVy169qJMtDMya9Kc30zm04cg9OuPSSPwvj/681a938a-ae3f-42cb-9b1e-5450722ac952.md
visibility: public
---

# Saving, Autosave and Drafts

MDflow tries hard not to lose your writing. There are three layers to this: manual saving, autosave, and local drafts.

## Manual saving

- **Save button**, or `Cmd+S` (macOS) / `Ctrl+S` (Windows, Linux).
- An **unsaved-changes indicator** appears whenever your text differs from the server copy.
- Your **browser warns you** before leaving a page with unsaved changes.
- **Discard** throws away your local edits and restores the last saved server version.

## Autosave (Pro)

Turn autosave on **per document** from a toggle in the editor. When enabled, MDflow saves a few seconds after you stop typing — no manual save needed.

- The preference is remembered **per document, in that browser**. Turning it on for one document does not turn it on everywhere, and the setting does not follow you to another machine.
- The Save button and the keyboard shortcut keep working alongside autosave. Autosave adds a behaviour; it does not take one away.

Autosave is a Pro feature. See [04 Free and Pro Plans](/doc/b55abc0c-ac5d-44cb-b5a5-22b3cc04a69f).

## Local drafts

While you work, MDflow keeps your unsaved edits in your browser's local storage.

- Drafts **survive a page reload** and navigation between documents.
- Documents with a recoverable draft are **marked in the sidebar**, so you can find unfinished work.
- Drafts are cleared when you **sign out** — anything saved is safe on the server, but unsaved text in that browser is discarded. See [03 Signing In and Your Account](/doc/9508ea54-aedc-4790-a5b5-3107875a0ad9).

### How MDflow avoids clobbering newer content

A local draft is only useful if it is still relevant. If the server copy of a document has changed since your draft was made — because you edited it on another machine, or an API call or AI agent updated it — then your stale draft is **discarded rather than restored**.

This is deliberate. Silently reapplying an old draft over newer content is a much worse failure than losing a few unsaved words. If you need the old text back and you are on Pro, version history has it. See [06 Version History](/doc/9c6737c5-cb49-4eb8-83c8-d9a72e36fa3c).

## Working offline

- An **offline banner** appears when your browser loses its connection.
- **The editor keeps working.** You can carry on writing.
- **Unsaved changes retry automatically** when connectivity returns.

This makes the editor usable on a train or a bad conference wifi. It is not, however, a full offline mode: you need a connection to open a document you have not already loaded.

## Which layer catches what

| Situation | What protects you |
| --- | --- |
| You close the tab by accident | Local draft |
| You reload the page | Local draft |
| Your wifi drops mid-sentence | Offline editing + automatic retry |
| You forget to press Save | Autosave (Pro) |
| You want text you deleted last week | Version history (Pro) |
| You sign out with unsaved text | Nothing — drafts are cleared |