Environments

An environment is a saved canvas: a layout of items with a background, zoom settings, waypoints, and routes. Each environment is stored as a single .env file.

Creating and opening environments

Use File → New (Ctrl+N) to start a fresh canvas and File → Open... (Ctrl+O) to open a saved one. On Windows the File menu is shown in edit mode (Ctrl+E). In view mode, Esc (or Start on a gamepad) opens the Knovis menu, which has Open Environment… too. You can also double-click a .env file in Explorer or Finder to open it directly in Knovis.

Saving

File → Save (Ctrl+S) saves the current environment, and Save As (Ctrl+Shift+S) saves a copy under a new name. Knovis also prompts you to save if you close a window with unsaved changes.

Setting a background

Choose File → Change Background... and pick an image. Any image file works. The background gives your environment a visual identity and helps orient you when zoomed out. A subtle texture or a custom illustration works well, and it doesn't need to be complex to be effective.

Using environments as items

An environment can be the target of an item. That means you can build environments that contain other environments: a top-level overview that drills down into detailed sub-environments on double-click. These can open in a separate window or inline, embedded directly in the canvas.

Organizing multiple environments

Environments are just files. You can organize them in subfolders inside your Knovis Data/env/ folder. Knovis opens them by path, so your folder structure is your organization system; use whatever makes sense to you.

What's stored in an environment

• Item placements (position, size, and scale for each item on the canvas)
• Background image reference
• Zoom level preferences (Takeoff and Landing)
• All waypoints and routes
• All playlists

The items themselves are stored separately as .itm files. The environment references them by filename, which is why the same item can appear in multiple environments.

Exporting and importing

Use File → Export Environment to create a .enz archive, a single file containing the environment, its background, and all the items in it. This is the right way to share an environment or move it to another machine.

When you export, Knovis asks how to handle paths:

• Clear file paths: removes direct filesystem paths from item targets. Items whose target uses a path variable are kept as-is, since the variable name alone doesn't reveal your folder structure.
• Clear variable paths: includes variable names in the archive with empty values, so the recipient knows which path variables to configure on their machine. The values themselves (your actual folder paths) are not included.
• Include files kept in Knovis: adds the files that items copied into your Knovis Data folder, so they travel with the archive.

The two path options are checked by default. If you're sharing with someone who will be using the same folder layout (or yourself on another machine with matching paths), you can uncheck them to keep everything intact.

Use File → Import Environment to unpack a .enz archive. Knovis extracts the items and environment into your data folder. If something with the same name is already there, Knovis asks first and never overwrites without asking: you can Keep both, Use mine or Replace. If the archive includes variable names, those are added to your path variable registry automatically, and Knovis will prompt you to fill in any that don't have a value yet.