Saving and changes on disk
Autosave and the status under the title, failed saves, and what happens when another app changes a file.
Autosave
Kirbon saves a page about a second after you stop typing, and when you switch pages or windows. File ▸ Save (⌘S) saves right away. There is no Save dialog and nothing to remember.
Writes are atomic: a save either completes or leaves the old file untouched. Line endings and encoding stay as they were.
The status under the title
| Status | What it means |
|---|---|
| The section name | Nothing has changed since the page opened. Clicking and switching views never change this. |
| Unsaved Changes | You edited; a save is coming. |
| Saving… / Saved | The file is being written. “Saved” shows for a moment after ⌘S. |
| Updated from Disk | Another app changed the file and Kirbon reloaded it. You had no edits, so nothing was lost. |
| Changed on Disk — autosave paused | Another app changed the file while you have edits. Kirbon waits for you to choose. |
| Couldn’t Save | The file couldn’t be written — a full disk, lost permission, a locked file. It stays until it’s fixed. |
| Moved to … / Deleted on Disk | The file was moved or deleted outside Kirbon. |
| Folder Unavailable | The drive or network folder was disconnected. Edits are kept and saved when it’s back. |
The status always uses words, never colour alone.
When a file changes on disk
A Git pull, another editor or a synced drive can change a page while it’s open.
- You have no edits: Kirbon reloads the page in place, keeps your scroll position and shows Updated from Disk.
- You have edits: autosave pauses for that page, its row in the sidebar gets an amber dot, and a banner explains what happened.
The banner offers Compare Versions…, Discard My Edits and Reload… and Replace Disk Version with Mine…. Discard and Replace ask first; Replace keeps a copy of the disk version in the Trash.
Kirbon detects changes by the file’s content, not only its date, so a touched file that didn’t really change doesn’t bother you.
Compare Versions
Compare uses the last version Kirbon saved as the common base, so it knows which side changed what. It lists each change with a checkbox and shows the result before anything is written.
- Changes to different blocks can be combined: Save Combined Version. ⌘Z on the page undoes it.
- Untick one side to keep only yours (Save My Version) or only the disk’s (Use Disk Version).
- Changes to the same block are never merged automatically: pick Disk or Mine for each, or Edit Both in Markdown….
- Save My Version as a Copy… is always there. Cancel changes nothing — your edits stay and autosave stays paused.
If the file changes again while Compare is open, Kirbon compares again and keeps the choices that still apply.
When saving fails
A failed save never looks like a successful one. The status says Couldn’t Save, and a banner names the cause with a way out — for a full disk: Try Again or Save a Copy…. Closing the window or quitting with unsaved or failed work asks first, and Close Without Saving is never the default.
Several windows, one page
Every window and tab of a documentation shares one copy of each page. An edit in one window appears in the others at once, the page is saved once, and Undo is the same everywhere.