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Hi PureRef Team,

I am a heavy user of PureRef and first of all, thank you for making such an amazing tool.

I would like to suggest a feature regarding file synchronization across multiple instances. Currently, if I have the same .pur file open in two different windows (instances), changes made in one do not reflect in the other unless I manually reopen it.

Suggested Feature: It would be great if PureRef could detect when an open file has been modified by another instance and automatically reload/update the content.

Key Reference:

Adobe Photoshop's "Auto-Update Open File-based Documents": This feature detects if a linked or open file has been changed externally and prompts the user to update or does so automatically.

Having this "Auto-Reload" functionality would greatly improve the workflow for users who work with multiple monitors or across different workspaces using the same reference board.

Important!
I'd like to maintain the current view/position within each PureRef window.

Thank you for considering this request!



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 2026-02-19 13:09 by pureboo.

Thank you for the suggestion! Which operating system are you on? We have a function that should notice changes after a save in another instance and ask if you want to reload, but you're right in that it doesn't sync live like you mention. We'll keep this in mind as we further develop speed and function.

my OS : Windows 11

Currently, when I have the same PureRef file open in two different windows and save it in one, the other window reloads successfully. However, the issue is that the reloaded window jumps to the view position of the "saved" window, causing me to lose the specific area I was previously looking at.

To improve this workflow, I would like to request a feature that addresses this:

Option A: An option to NOT save the current viewport/zoom data when saving a file.

Option B: An option to lock or maintain the current view position in the reloaded window, regardless of the other window's focus.

This would be incredibly helpful for multitasking or using PureRef across multiple monitors. Thank you for your hard work and for considering this request!

Thanks for the details! That makes sense, we'll look into if we can get option B implemented for a future version.