GemDiagram Docs

Saving & Opening Designs

Your designs are stored as .facet files — a compact binary format that preserves every detail (tiers, angles, distances, material, color, size, render settings).

Saving a design

Click the Save button in the top bar. Your browser downloads a .facet file named after your design (e.g., round-brilliant.facet). The filename comes from the Design name field at the top left — change it before saving to get a different filename.

Every time you click Save, it downloads a fresh file with your current edits. There's no "auto-save" — you control when files are written.

Where files go

Downloaded files land in your computer's Downloads folder (or wherever your browser is set to save downloads). From there, you can:

  • Move them to a folder on your computer.
  • Email them to a colleague.
  • Back them up to cloud storage.
  • Keep them organized in a project folder.

Opening a design

Click the Import button in the top bar and select a .facet file from your computer. The design loads into the editor — you can now view it, edit it, and save a new version.

Note

Opening a file doesn't modify the original — imported files stay on your computer unchanged. To keep edits, you must click Save again to write a new file.

Versions and backups

If you're refining a design, save intermediate versions with different names:

  1. Save my-design-v1.facet.
  2. Make edits.
  3. Save my-design-v2.facet.
  4. Keep both files.

Now you can open v1 again if you want to try a different direction, or compare the two versions side by side.

Before exporting for cutting

Before you send a design to a cutter, verify it's right:

  1. Check the material: Make sure the Material dropdown matches the stone you're working with.
  2. Check the critical angle: Verify the pavilion angle is steep enough for your stone (see Refractive Index & Dispersion).
  3. Review the proportions: Look at the crown and pavilion depths in the Diagrams (Inspect panel), or use the stone report's Depth / Width ratio.

Then click Export → PDF to generate a cutting report, or Save to keep a .facet archive.

Other export formats

Beyond Save (which writes .facet):

  • Export → PDF: A detailed cutting report with every tier's facet count, angle, distance, and proportions — ready to print or email.

.facet is the only format you can import back into GemDiagram. Other exports are one-way — for handoff to cutting shops, CAD software, or presentations.

Note

Designs from other tools (GemCAD's .gem/.asc, Gem Cut Studio's .gcs) import read-only — click Save to write them out as an editable .facet file. See GemDiagram vs GemCAD and GemDiagram vs Gem Cut Studio.