Share a draw.io diagram
You drew the network topology in draw.io, hit File → Save, and sent
topology.drawio to the person who needs to approve it.
They got a file their machine has no idea what to do with. Best case it opens in a text editor and shows compressed XML.
The formats, ranked
HTML export — File → Export as → HTML. One self-contained file with an
embedded viewer: pan, zoom, and the diagram data travelling together. This is
the one to use.
SVG — File → Export as → SVG, with Include a copy of my diagram
ticked. Text stays selectable and sharp, and the embedded copy means the file
can be reopened in draw.io later for editing.
PNG — the default habit and the worst outcome. A network diagram at browser zoom is a grey smear, and the labels are the part people need to read.
.drawio — the source. Keep it in the repo. Do not send it to people.
Publish the export
An exported HTML or SVG file is still a file — it has the same last-mile problem as any other. Attach it to email and managed laptops will block it; put it in Drive and Drive refuses to render HTML.
Publishing it gives the diagram an address:
curl -X POST https://commareports.com/api/v1/reports \
-H "Authorization: Bearer $COMMA_API_TOKEN" \
-H "Content-Type: application/json" \
-d @- <<'JSON'
{ "title": "Network topology — Q3", "html": "…exported HTML…" }
JSON
The reader clicks a link and sees the diagram, with pan and zoom intact, on whatever device they happen to have. No app, no plugin, no seat.
Review happens on the page
The reason to publish rather than export-and-attach is the feedback. A diagram sent as a file generates responses like "the firewall should be in front of the load balancer" in a thread three days later, detached from the picture.
On a published page the comment sits next to the box in question — see
commenting on HTML — and the next revision updates the
same URL, so the approval history stays with the diagram instead of
scattering across topology-v2-final-FINAL.drawio.
Worth knowing
- Tick "Include a copy of my diagram" on SVG export. Without it the file is a picture and the next edit means redrawing.
- Confluence and Notion embeds need the marketplace app. A published page needs nothing — which is the point when the reviewer is a client or a vendor.
- Big diagrams want a scroll container if you inline SVG yourself; the HTML export handles this already.
- 5 MB per report body.
Try it
Free — unlimited reports, commenters and revisions.