Troubleshooting and limits

The program closed and I lost work #

Start it again. If the last session ended without saving, it asks Recover your work? about the work you lost last, with a picture of it, its name (or Untitled), when it was last written, its size and where it was being saved. Recover opens it as an unsaved document: use Save to say where it goes. Later leaves it for next time; Discard asks twice, because it cannot be undone. Copies are written while you have unsaved changes (every couple of minutes by default) and are never written over your file. Copies left by earlier crashes are not offered again: once you have dealt with the latest, they are moved to an older folder beside the recovery copies (the ten newest are kept). See Opening, saving and exporting.

Where are my settings? #

In a folder called SpritsFast in your user profile: preferences, key bindings, your themes (themes), saved layouts (layouts), the recent-files list and the recovery copies. The Microsoft Store version keeps the same folder inside the app's own storage and removes it when you uninstall. Deleting the folder gives you a program as if newly installed. Window > Reset layout puts back just the panel arrangement.

Everything is too small, too big, or cut off #

Edit > Preferences... > Appearance > Interface size scales the text and spacing between 75% and 150%, and density changes the air. Windows display scaling is followed on its own. If a panel is too narrow for what it holds, drag the line beside it wider, or use the Compact layout (Window > Layouts).

A key does not do what it says #

Another command may share the key: Edit > Preferences... > Keys warns where two do.
A key typed into a text box goes to the box; click on the canvas first.
Space is the hand, not a command of its own: hold it and drag.

It will not let me draw #

The layer may be locked (the Layers panel), hidden, or a reference layer.
While an animation plays, drawing is refused so a stroke does not land on a frame you are not looking at. Press Enter to stop.
A selection keeps the pencil, eraser and fill inside it; Deselect (Ctrl+D) lifts that.

Limits #


Canvas	16,384 pixels on a side, 16 million pixels in all
Parts in a puppet document	256
A reference	8 MB each, 16 MB in a document
A picture opened as artwork	a photograph with thousands of colours is refused, and suggested as a reference instead
A GIF	256 colours a frame, no partial transparency

Aseprite files #

Everything carries over that the format describes. What does not is said, not dropped: a tileset kept in another file, and the few blend modes Fast does not have, which come in as the nearest one it does.

The language is wrong #

Edit > Preferences... > General > Language.

Reporting a problem #

Help > About has the version and a link to report one. Say what you did, what you expected and what happened; attach the .lsprite if it is about a sprite. Nothing is ever sent automatically: the program never connects to the internet.

This is the guide that ships inside the program (F1).