Refbox
Reference

Changelog

A history of updates, new features, and improvements to Refbox across versions.

A running log of changes across Refbox versions. For your current version, check Settings > Info.

v1.3.7 — August 15, 2026

New Features

  • Added Color Palettes for keeping one or more colors together as an Asset. Create an empty Palette from the Toolbar, or paste a list made entirely of HEX, RGB(A), or HSL(A) color values to create one automatically.
  • Open a Palette in a Frame to add colors manually, pick them from the screen, paste more colors, edit values and alpha, reorder swatches, or remove them. Click a swatch to copy it, and choose HEX, HEX without #, RGB(A), or HSL(A) as the Palette's copy format.
  • Added Palette controls under Settings > Behavior > Colors. Choose whether pasted color values become Palettes and whether new Palettes show value labels. Hold Shift while using Paste From Clipboard in the Toolbar to create a plain Note instead.
  • Added bulk selection to the Sidebar. Use an Asset's selection control (top left if item is large enough) or the Select context-menu action, then click or Shift-click (creates a range) to build a selection. Create a new Box or Section from the selected Assets, move them to another Box or Section, or send them to the Trash together. Selected Assets stay selected if their Section is collapsed.
  • Added the Trash under Settings > Data. Instead of immediately being deleted, Boxes and Assets will now stay there for up to 30 days, where you can restore them or permanently empty the Trash to clear disc space.
  • Added opt-in Command Line Access under Settings > Data. The new refbox CLI and MCP server let local tools and agents inspect and search Boxes, open a Box, manage Boxes and Sections, add or move Assets, work with Notes and Palettes, and use the Trash. Token-based access also supports read-only connections.
  • Added a configurable global Paste From Clipboard shortcut under Settings > Controls. It is disabled by default and can add clipboard content to the current Box while you work in another app.

Improvements

  • Refbox now applies targeted updates after app, CLI, and MCP actions so open Boxes, Sections, Assets, and Frames stay synchronized without a full reload.
  • Improved error messages for failed actions and connection problems.
  • Refreshed update dialogs with the Refbox name and icon, clearer status text, and better visibility when Refbox is hidden.

Bug Fixes

  • The global color picker now reveals Refbox before it starts, preventing a bug where a user couldn't select a color properly when the UI was hidden.

v1.3.6 — August 5, 2026

Improvements

  • Reworked the selective AOT from v1.3.5 into App Visibility, found under Settings > Behavior > App. Rather than only controlling what Refbox stays on top of, Refbox now hides itself while you work in other apps. Choose All Apps, Only Selected Apps, or All Apps Except Selected, then pick what gets hidden: Frames only, the Sidebar only, or both. Clicking back on Refbox reveals everything again.
  • Only the Sidebar and Frames follow this visibility rule, and Global Show/Hide still hides the whole app.
  • Renamed the Toolbar's Move Box action to Box Position.

Bug Fixes

  • Clicks along the Sidebar's hover area now pass through to whatever is underneath instead of being swallowed.
  • Fixed the Gallery shortcut closing an already-open Gallery when used to bring Refbox back from Global Hide.
  • Refbox now reads the foreground app correctly at startup instead of waiting for the next app switch.
  • Restored missing Toolbar tooltips for the view mode, Box Position, and Box menu buttons.
  • Fixed the Toolbar's shadow leaving a band along the top edge of the screen while hidden in the Top Box position.

v1.3.5 - August 4, 2026

New Features

  • Choose which apps Refbox stays on top of. Your selection is saved, and Refbox follows the foreground app on macOS and Windows. This keeps Refbox above selected apps, but it does not attach to their windows or follow their movement, minimize, or restore state.
  • Refbox now uses browser-based email sign-in instead of license keys. New users can also start a trial and complete a short onboarding flow starting directly from the app.
  • PDFs now open in their own Frames, with page navigation, zoom, rotation, saved view settings, and useful right-click actions.
  • Search within PDFs with Cmd/Ctrl+F, including match counts, next and previous controls, and highlighted results.
  • Added a Top Box position for a horizontal, scrollable masonry layout. It supports resizing, previews, section labels, reveal behavior, and the usual Box actions.

Improvements

  • Replaced the Move Box toolbar cycling with a direct Left, Top, or Right menu, with directional icons.
  • Updated the Auto Hide icon so it is easier to tell apart from Move Box.

Bug Fixes

  • Workspace data now loads correctly behind the activation dialog.
  • Fixed 3D Frame backgrounds that could sometimes render incorrectly.
  • Made 3D wireframes less opaque.

v1.3.4 — July 20, 2026

New Features

  • Added editable Image Annotations for images, including animated GIF, WebP, and AVIF files. Draw or add text with adjustable colors and sizes, then move, edit, undo, redo, or remove annotations without changing the original Asset.
  • Added annotated image actions throughout the Box, Gallery, Groups, and Frames. Use Copy Annotated or Save Annotated to flatten annotations into a copy, while the existing copy and save actions continue to use the original image.
  • Expanded 3D viewing with three selectable orbit methods—Turntable, Pole Limited, and Trackball
  • Triangle/quad wireframe overlays and a Double-Sided rendering toggle that is enabled by default for new Frames.
  • Added CAD import support for STEP (.step, .stp), IGES (.iges, .igs), and BREP (.brep) models.
  • Added Export Box as an optional Toolbar action for saving the current Box directly.
  • Added Create Group to Section context menus, creating a Group Frame from the Section's compatible Assets.
  • Added animated AVIF import and playback support.

Improvements

  • Renamed Image Settings to Edit Image and redesigned it as the Image Editor, which now brings crop, annotations, rendering, background, source, and Asset Info actions together.
  • Text Assets now show more of their note content in the Box, Gallery, and Groups instead of only the first line, and open Text Frames keep their scroll position when another Frame is focused.
  • The Windows color picker now samples the live screen instead of a frozen snapshot.
  • Import failures now identify individual files with clearer error messages.
  • Refbox now returns to the display selected in Settings after operating-system display transitions.
  • Updated the Sketch Frame icon.

Bug Fixes

  • Fixed sorting conflicts and race conditions while Assets are uploading.
  • Fixed animated WebP imports being resized in ways that could remove their animation.
  • Fixed image derivative caching, EXIF-aware rotation, and stored image-format metadata in several media-processing paths.
  • Fixed Windows always-on-top behavior being lost after certain focus and activation changes.

v1.3.3 — May 17, 2026

Bug Fixes

  • Fixed global color picker shortcut on Windows

v1.3.2 — May 17, 2026

New Features

  • Added a global color picker shortcut
  • Added a setting for choosing the copied color format

Improvements

  • Significant performance improvement (hopefully) for large collections of images. Now each image generates a smaller low-res thumbnail and is automatically transitioned depending on its size in the Sidebar, Groups, and Gallery view. Regular Image Frames still always use the full resolution version.
  • Sidebar now attempts to maintain scroll position as you resize
  • Audio files now import with their actual filename instead of a randomly generated name
  • Masonry columns now try to maintain their layout when resizing so long as the column count remains

Bug Fixes

  • Fixed occasional scroll-to-bottom behavior for Sidebar
  • Fixed Gallery view bounds issue (sometimes too small to allow proper panning/zooming)
  • Fixed scroll position not resetting when changing Boxes

v1.3.1 — May 9, 2026

New Features

  • Added the ability to change text color in Text Frames
  • Added setting to disable Zoom Previews

Improvements

  • Improved Text Frame pasting for text including HTML

Bug Fixes

  • Fixed a macOS bug where Refbox would unhide itself if you were holding the Option key and accidentally hovered over an Asset in the Sidebar

v1.3.0 — May 5, 2026

New Features

  • Added Sections for organizing Box items, including creation, rename, collapse/expand, delete, and sorting flows.
  • Added the ability to select a Section so newly added Assets from the Toolbar are placed there automatically.
  • Added drag-and-drop support for moving items between Sections and dropping new Assets directly into a target Section.
  • Added Create Box and Move to Box actions for Sections.
  • Added masonry sorting support across the Sidebar, Gallery, and Group Frames.
  • Added Drop Location setting to choose where new Assets are inserted at drop: bottom of a section, or at the mouse position.

Improvements

  • Improved auto-scroll behavior while dragging and after adding new items.
  • Improved export/import support so Sections and Section item assignments are preserved.
  • Improved drag and drop support for Safari and Window's browsers.

Bug Fixes

  • Fixed video drag behavior in masonry/sidebar contexts.
  • Fixed Group Frame mask bounds after rearranging, adding, or removing items.
  • Fixed Gallery View reset shortcut to use Cmd/Ctrl+R.
  • Fixed context submenu overflow handling.
  • Fixed delete-key handling so focused inputs (Text Frames) are not affected.

v1.2.6 — April 16, 2026

Bug Fixes

  • Refbox window size was incorrect on Windows when OS scaling was applied.

v1.2.5 — April 16, 2026

New Features

  • New Sketch Frames: lightweight built-in drawing canvases quick ideas, visual notes, and rough concepts
  • Sketch tools include draw and erase modes, color and brush size controls, undo/redo, clear, and Fit to Drawing
  • New Add Sketch action in the Toolbar for creating sketches directly inside your current Box

Improvements

  • Improved text paste and copy behavior so pasted content and copied note text are cleaner and more consistent

Bug Fixes

  • Fixed a strange Windows bug where other apps using HTML5 videos would either go blank or freeze when Refbox was focused.
  • Fixed a Windows video corner rendering issue
  • Fixed a visual flash during import modals and cleaned up some note/text formatting edge cases

v1.2.4 — March 26, 2026

New Features

  • Import .txt and .md files as notes
  • Choose whether pasted text is treated as plain text or preserved as formatted/markdown — configurable in Settings > Behavior > Assets.
  • Asset source tracking: imported assets now retain their origin (file path, web URL, or clipboard), surfaced in the UI
  • New Asset Info modal: inspect source details and rich metadata per asset. Includes file size, dimensions, duration, codecs, page count, 3D model stats, and more depending on Asset type. Access by right clicking an Asset in your Box and selecting Get Info.
  • New Autoplay Videos preference for controlling video playback behavior across the app. Found in Settings > Behavior > Assets.
  • Refreshed app icon

Improvements

  • Unified paste logic for creating new notes and pasting into existing ones, with better markdown/plain text normalization and fewer backend round trips
  • Expanded metadata storage for newly imported assets (note: older assets may show limited metadata if imported before this version)

Bug Fixes

  • Fixed visual artifacts during drag/sort interactions in group and grid views

v1.2.3 — March 9, 2026

Bug Fixes

  • Fixed artifacting introduced by the GPU fix in v1.2.2

v1.2.2 — March 9, 2026

Bug Fixes

  • Fixed a GPU issue on macOS Tahoe causing various display problems
  • Fixed a bug where opening Gallery view via global shortcut while using a zoom frame preview would disable the interactive click region

v1.2.1 — February 3, 2026

New Features

  • Sort Boxes

Bug Fixes

  • Fixed a bug where assets were deleted if they had been moved from another Box and the original Box was later deleted
  • Fixed a bug that prevented Cmd+R from resetting frames
  • Box menu now stays open after selecting a Box

v1.2.0 — February 2, 2026

New Features

  • Support for new asset types: PDFs, audio, images, and 3D models
  • New UI elements including tutorials and a "What's New" modal

Improvements

  • Improved 3D rendering with better camera controls, materials, and performance
  • Enhanced PDF handling for cross-platform compatibility
  • Expanded keyboard shortcuts and input controls, with improved Windows support
  • Improved drag-and-drop, sorting, and interaction behavior across frames
  • Improved settings access, shortcuts, and window/display management
  • Enhanced export/import reliability and version compatibility
  • Improved asset uploading, thumbnail handling, and conversion support for additional formats
  • Updated dependencies and internal architecture for better stability

Bug Fixes

  • Added media error handling and fallback UI for failed asset loads

v1.1.3 — December 18, 2025

New Features

  • Import/Export Boxes as shareable and transferable .refbox files
  • Keep Refbox visible on all virtual desktops and full-screen apps (Mac) — enable in Settings

v1.1.2 — November 17, 2025

New Features

  • Add clickable links to your Box by pasting a URL from your clipboard

Bug Fixes

  • Fixed a bug where resetting a frame could cause it to get stuck

v1.1.1 — November 12, 2025

New Features

  • 7-day free trial for all new users

Bug Fixes

  • Fixed a frame reset bug at small sizes

v1.1.0 — November 5, 2025

A major release with significant new layout options, interaction improvements, and a settings overhaul.

New Features

  • Box (sidebar) Masonry View
  • Multiple Group Views: view Group content in Masonry, Column, or Grid layouts
  • Context menu for groups: change layout and create frames from group items
  • Quick Magnify: hold Cmd/Ctrl and hover over an item in your Box for a magnified view
  • Manual Box Collapse: manually open and close the Box at any time
  • Gallery now has both Grid and Masonry views
  • Preview Frames now act like standard frames in an "attached" mode — drag them away from the Box to detach and create a full normal frame
  • Hide Refbox from your dock/taskbar and alt-tab views
  • Set default layout mode for groups
  • Set group background style
  • Set max masonry column size
  • Zoom/Scroll controls for frames, groups, and Gallery
  • New Masonry Mode button for the toolbar

Improvements

  • Renamed Canvas to Group
  • Grid View renamed to Gallery
  • Increased maximum Box width
  • Large settings overhaul: better grouping, labeling, and new settings for new features
  • "Help" tab renamed to "Info" — lists help resources, contact info, and app details

v1.0.1 / v1.0.2 — October 7, 2025

Bug Fixes

  • Fixed Windows Always on Top bugs
  • Allowed more zoom out for Canvases

v1.0.0 — September 22, 2025

New Features

  • Links to online docs in the Help tab of Settings

Improvements

  • Sidebar and preview popups now always appear above floating frames

v0.1.8 — August 25, 2025

Bug Fixes

  • Allow scrolling of notes
  • Fixed Reveal Button clickable area
  • When Keep Toolbar Open is toggled, you can now click the background above and below the Toolbar

v0.1.7 — August 24, 2025

Improvements

  • Preview popups now appear above all other frames
  • Frame resets now extend width or height to show the full aspect ratio instead of restoring to original size
  • Drag items onto the Sidebar Reveal Button to open the sidebar and add items to your Box

v0.1.6 — August 23, 2025

Improvements

  • Renamed Action Bar to Toolbar

New Features

  • Draggable button option for opening the Sidebar in Auto-Collapse mode — accessible in Settings > Boxes > Reveal Button

Troubleshooting

Solutions to common Refbox issues and problems.

Digital Art

Using Refbox for drawing, painting, and illustration workflows.