Saving and exporting your work
Draftly is free to use as you work through your project. When you're ready to take your finished documents away, you download or print them.
Saving as you go
Signed-in users have their work saved to their account automatically, so it's there when you come back and follows you across devices. As a guest, your progress is kept on the device you're using — sign in to save it to your account. See Accounts and signing in.
Guest work expires — we'll warn you
If you're working as a guest, your session is kept for 24 hours and then expires for good. Draftly shows a warning with the time remaining and a Sign in to keep your work button before that happens, so your work is never silently lost. Signing in (it's free) is the only way to keep guest work permanently.
If a save fails
If your changes can't be saved — for example your connection drops — Draftly tells you instead of failing quietly. You'll see a "work not saved" message with a Retry save button. Your changes stay on screen, so retrying (or waiting for the next automatic save once you're back online) keeps them.
Saving drawings and certification work
In the drawing app, Save (browser library) and Save to file… (a .draftly download) are always available — including as a guest — because they save to your own device. The full drawing is saved, including the imported engineering design, your handover checklist ticks, and any certification sign-off names you've entered, so reopening the drawing picks up exactly where you left off.
Downloading and printing
When your project is ready, you can download it as a set of documents or send it to print. This is the point at which a paid project applies — Draftly is free to use, and you only pay to download or print your finished work.
Export buttons and your plan
In the engineering step, the export actions — Generate Submission PDF, Export DesignSet and Continue to Drafting — check your plan before they run. If your plan doesn't include an export, the button shows a lock and the plan it's available on (for example "🔒 … · Pro") instead of being hidden — selecting it takes you to upgrade. The same check runs again on Draftly's servers when the export starts, so the rule is the same for everyone.
The drawing app works the same way: Export PDF, Plot / Print, Export DXF (CAD), Export nesting DXF (CNC) and Hand back to Engineering all confirm your plan with Draftly's servers before the file is produced. If the check can't be completed — for example your connection drops — the export pauses and asks you to try again rather than failing quietly.
File formats: PDF, DXF and CNC nesting
- PDF — the council-ready drawing sheet with its title block, for lodgement and printing.
- DXF (CAD) — the drawing as true-millimetre CAD geometry that opens 1:1 in any CAD package (AutoCAD, BricsCAD, DraftSight, LibreCAD, QCAD and others). Draftly exports DXF rather than DWG: DWG is a closed, licence-restricted format with no legitimate way for a web app to write it today, while DXF is the open interchange format every CAD program reads.
- Nesting DXF (CNC) — for cabinetry and joinery jobs: every cabinet you've placed is flattened into its flat-pack panels (sides, bottoms, tops, rails, kicks) and laid out on 2400 × 1200 sheet outlines at true size, on separate named layers for each machining step —
NEST_CUTfor panel outlines,NEST_DRILLfor holes,NEST_LABELfor panel names and sizes. Nesting software (EnRoute, Alphacam, Biesse, Homag and similar) reads this layer convention directly.
The panels are derived from standard carcase conventions (16 mm board, standard cabinet heights, a 32 mm hole system) — not from your specific cabinetmaker's construction method. The file lists every assumption in its own NEST_ASSUMPTIONS block. Always have your CNC shop check the file against your hardware and construction before cutting. Cabinets that are open spaces or appliance markers (fridge void, oven and so on) have no carcase and are listed as skipped when you export.
What you get
Your download is a clean, lodgement-ready set — the drawings, the site information and your approval pathway — assembled so a council or certifier can read it. See Your submission package.
Keeping your own copy
A downloaded set is yours to keep and share as you need. It's a good idea to download your set once it's finished, so you have your own copy alongside the version saved to your account.
Pricing for downloads
For what downloading and printing cost, see Pricing, which points you to the current pricing rather than repeating figures that may change.