Export & Import

DocuShark supports multiple ways to export your diagrams and share your work.

Export Formats

PNG (Raster Image)

Best for: Presentations, documents, web pages, quick sharing

How to export:

1. Right-click on the canvas or selection → Export, or use the export dialog
2. Configure options:
   • Scale: 1x, 2x, 3x (higher = better quality)
   • Background: Transparent, white, or canvas color
   • Selection only: Export just the selected shapes
3. Click Export and choose a save location

Option	Description
Scale	Output resolution multiplier
Background	Transparency or solid color
Padding	Extra space around content
Selection	Entire document or selection only

SVG (Vector Graphics)

Best for: Scalable graphics, web embedding, editing in other tools

SVG export preserves:

• Vector shapes (infinite scaling without quality loss)
• Text as actual text (searchable, editable)
• Styles and colors
• Group hierarchy

TIP

SVG is ideal when you need to embed diagrams in websites or edit the output in tools like Inkscape or Illustrator.

PDF (Documents)

Export your rich text and diagrams together as a polished PDF:

• Multi-page export — all rich text pages and canvas diagram pages in order
• Page sizes: A4, Letter, A3, Tabloid (portrait or landscape)
• Configurable margins and page numbers
• Optional cover page with logo, title, version, author, date, and description
• Full rich text rendering: headings, formatting, tables, LaTeX math, images, embedded diagram groups, code blocks, task lists, and more

Configure PDF defaults in Settings → PDF Export.

JSON (Native Format)

Best for: Backups, version control, moving between instances

The JSON format contains all shapes, pages, rich text content, and metadata. It's DocuShark's native format.

WARNING

JSON export does not include embedded file blobs (PDFs, images, etc.). For a complete export with all files, use the .docushark archive format below.

.docushark Archive

Best for: Sharing complete documents with all dependencies

The .docushark format bundles your document with all referenced blobs (embedded images, PDFs, spreadsheets, icons) into a single file. Nothing is lost.

Exporting:

• Right-click in the document browser → Export as .docushark
• Or use the export option from the context menu

Importing:

• Use the import dialog (same place as JSON import)
• Select the .docushark file — a new document is created with all its blobs

Full Application Backup

For transferring your entire DocuShark setup to another machine, or for peace of mind:

Creating a Backup

Go to Settings → Backup/Restore:

1. Choose what to include: documents, blobs, settings, shape libraries, style profiles, color palettes
2. Review the estimated backup size
3. Click Export Backup

The backup saves as a .docushark-backup archive.

Restoring from Backup

1. Go to Settings → Backup/Restore
2. Click Import Backup and select the archive
3. Preview what will be imported
4. Choose to merge with existing data or replace entirely
5. Resolve any conflicts (duplicate documents or profiles)

TIP

Create a backup before major changes, OS upgrades, or when moving to a new computer.

Import

Diagrams from Other Tools

Already have diagrams elsewhere? DocuShark imports them so you can keep working on a real canvas — shapes, text, and connections come across as native, editable objects (not flat images).

Source	What it reads
Excalidraw	.excalidraw JSON — shapes, text, and groups
draw.io	.drawio XML — shapes and connectors
Mermaid	Flowchart / graph syntax

Choose the format in the import dialog and pick your file. Imported diagrams run through a shared pipeline that lays out the result and binds connectors to the nearest shape edges, so the diagram lands tidy rather than as a pile of overlapping shapes.

Import report

If a source uses something DocuShark doesn't map yet (for example, a Mermaid sequence or class diagram, which the flowchart importer doesn't cover), the import finishes and shows a short warnings report listing what was skipped — your import never fails silently.

JSON (DocuShark Documents)

1. Open Settings → Documents
2. Click Import
3. Select the .json file

.docushark Archives

Same import flow — the file picker accepts both .json and .docushark files.

Images

Images can be embedded in the rich text document editor via the image upload button, or dragged onto the canvas as embedded files.

Quick Reference

Use Case	Recommended Format
Email attachment	PNG (2x scale)
Documentation	SVG or PNG
Web embedding	SVG
Printing	SVG or PNG (3x)
Rich text docs	PDF
Sharing with collaborators	.docushark archive
Full backup	.docushark-backup
Version control (Git)	JSON