The board divides the goal by the number of months to give the amount to put aside each month. As loaded, $1,500 over 10 months is $150 a month.
Where boards are saved
CalcAnyway has no server. A board you build is saved in your browser's storage (localStorage) and is not sent anywhere, including to us (privacy policy).
While "Save to this device automatically" in the ☰ menu is on, every change is saved as you make it. It starts on. With it off, a board is saved only when you press "Save". A board with no name is saved too, as the board you are working on.
"Save as…" in the ☰ menu asks for a name. After the name and "Save", a choice of where to save appears; "Save on this device" keeps it in the browser. Named boards are listed in "Board List", where each can be opened, renamed, duplicated or deleted.
Saving is per browser. Another browser on the same device does not see the boards, and neither does another device. Clearing the site's data in the browser removes saved boards. When the ☰ menu says the storage is best-effort, "Make data harder to lose" asks the browser for storage that is harder to lose; whether it agrees is up to the browser.
Saving to a file
"Save to File" in the ☰ menu saves the current board as a JSON file named after the board. Depending on the browser, a dialog asks where to save it, or it goes to the browser's downloads. "Open File" opens such a file as a board again.
"Back up (all boards)" puts every board saved on this device into one file, and "Restore from backup" reads that file and adds the boards to the list. This is the way to move to another device or browser.
"Restore an automatic backup" holds states kept automatically just before a board was replaced, for example before a new board or before opening another. Restoring one stashes the current board first, so that can be undone. The automatic backups live in the same browser storage, so clearing the site's data removes them as well; a board saved to a file can still be opened after that.
Sending a share link
"Create Share Link" in the ☰ menu opens the "Share" panel, with an "Add a password" checkbox and "Copy Share Link", "Copy Embed Code", "Show QR Code" and "Copy as Table". On phones and other devices with a share menu, "Share…" also appears. The first time, a note confirms that the link contains the board's name and all of its data.
A share link looks like https://calc.codinganyway.com/#data=…, with the board after the # sign. Browsers do not send the part after # to the server, so the board does not reach our server either. Anyone who has a link without a password can open it, though (the next section covers adding a password). The link holds the board as it was when the link was made; after changing the board, a new link is needed. Pictures placed in image cards are not included in share links.
When someone opens the link, the board opens for viewing only. A bar at the top says it is a shared board and that changes are not saved, and the numbers cannot be changed. "Adopt and edit" makes it their working board, which can then be changed and is saved in their browser. If their working board already has cards, a note says it will be replaced, with "Save to a file & load" and "Load without saving" to choose from. Boards they saved under a name stay as they are. "Back to my board" closes the shared board and returns to the one they had.
"Show QR Code" shows the share link as a QR code; scanning it with a phone camera opens the same board. "Copy as Table" copies the cards' name, formula and result as three columns, in "Sheet" or "Markdown" form — only the selected cards, if any are selected.
Adding a password
Ticking "Add a password" before copying the share link makes a link that holds the board in encrypted form. People who do not know the password cannot read the board.
- Open the "Share" panel with "Create Share Link" in the ☰ menu.
- Tick "Add a password". A "Password" field appears.
- Type the password. "Show" reveals what was typed and "Hide" covers it again. A strength bar appears under the field.
- Press "Copy Share Link". With an empty password, "Enter a password" appears and no link is made.
The note under the field reads "People who don't know the password can't read the board. Send the password separately from the link. If the password is forgotten, nobody — not even you — can open the board." The strength is one of "Empty", "Weak", "Fair", "Good" and "Strong", shown by the bar and read out by screen readers. For example, abc showed "Weak", abcd1234 "Fair" and Correct-Horse-Battery-9! "Strong".
The link looks like https://calc.codinganyway.com/#data=p1:…, with the part after # starting with p1:.
The password itself is not in the link.
The board is encrypted in the browser: it uses the browser's cryptography, makes a key from the password with PBKDF2 (SHA-256) and encrypts with AES-GCM (256-bit).
What the other person sees
Opening a password-protected link shows "This board is protected by a password. Enter the password." Entering it and pressing "Open" (or Enter) opens the board. A wrong password shows "Wrong password" and can be retyped as often as needed. The board is not shown until it opens. With the right password it opens for viewing only, like any shared link, and "Adopt and edit" makes it their own board.
Things to keep in mind
- If the password is forgotten, nobody can open the board — including the person who made the link.
- Send the password by a different route from the link. Put in the same message, it lets whoever gets the link open it.
- Anyone holding the link can try passwords on their own device as many times as they like. Avoid short or guessable passwords; aim for a length where the bar reads "Strong".
- A password-protected link does not open as a quiz, an article board or an embed. Trying shows "Password-protected links can't be opened as a quiz, an article board or an embed", and the board does not open.
- With "Add a password" ticked, "Share as a quiz" and "Copy Embed Code" are hidden.
Making embed code
"Copy Embed Code" makes an iframe you can paste into a blog and similar places. The page you paste it into shows the board.
- In the "Share" panel, press "Copy Embed Code". A "Height" choice of "Small", "Medium" and "Large" appears, with "Medium" selected.
- Pick a height: Small is 360, Medium 480 and Large 640 pixels.
- Press "Copy code". The "Share" panel closes and the code is copied.
- Paste the code as it is into the page.
The copied code has this form:
<iframe src="https://calc.codinganyway.com/?embed=1#data=…" title="Board name"
loading="lazy" style="border:0;width:100%;height:480px"></iframe>
title holds the board's name and height the chosen height.
On a board with a Check card, "Embed as a quiz" also appears; ticking it adds quiz=1 after ?embed=1 in the link.
The page you embed it in will contain the board's contents in the URL, so do not embed numbers you do not want others to see. Where iframe code cannot be pasted, the board does not show; check the result on the page you pasted it into.
Saving as an image
"Save as Image" in the ☰ menu saves the board on screen as a PNG image, with the board's name at the top. The image is for looking at: its numbers cannot be changed and it cannot be opened as a board. For a board you may want to change later, a file or a share link can go along with the image.
Boards in articles (embedded boards)
The boards in the worked examples and in this guide are CalcAnyway embedded in the page. Changing a number recalculates the board, but the change is not saved: reloading the page brings back the original numbers, and a notice says so the first time a number is changed.
An embedded board is built, every time it opens, from the article's original state written into the page's link (after #data=). The embedded view does not write to the browser's storage, so numbers changed inside it are gone the next time it opens.
"Open in CalcAnyway", below the board and at its lower right, opens the article's original board in the full app. Numbers changed inside the embedded board do not carry over. The board that opens is saved on this device under the name of the article's board — "guide-save-share-en" for the board on this page — and changes made there are saved automatically.
If a board with that name already exists, it opens under a numbered name such as "guide-save-share-en (2)", and the earlier one is kept. If the earlier one has been changed, a choice between "Open the previous one" and "Open a fresh copy from the article" may appear.
To keep your own numbers on an article's board:
- "Open in CalcAnyway" below the board opens it in a new tab.
- Numbers changed there are saved on this device automatically.
- "Save as…" in the ☰ menu gives it a name of your own.
- "Save to File" or "Create Share Link" takes it to another device or to someone else.
The iframe tag from "Copy Embed Code" can be placed on your own site. Like a share link, it holds the board as it was when the code was made, and numbers changed by viewers inside it are not saved.
Articles that use this
- Scaling a recipe — opening the board in CalcAnyway to add another ingredient.
- Average speed for a round trip — adding a Break time input to the opened board and to the Total time formula.
- Resistors in parallel — adding a third branch to the opened board.
- Compound annual growth rate (CAGR) — the embedded boards are not linked, so the rate from Board 1 is entered on Board 2 by hand.
- Concentration — the amounts from Board 4 are entered on Board 3 by hand to check the mixture.
When it does not work
- Numbers changed on an article's board are gone — changes on a board embedded in an article are not saved. Changes made after "Open in CalcAnyway" are saved on the device.
- After "Open in CalcAnyway", the numbers changed in the embedded board are back to the originals — it opens the article's original board. The numbers can be changed again there.
- The opened board's name has "(2)" on it — a board with the same name is already on this device; the earlier one is in "Board List".
- The person who opened a share link cannot change the numbers — share links open for viewing only; "Adopt and edit" makes the board editable.
- The password was forgotten — The link cannot be opened until the password is known, even when only the person who made it knew it. Keep the original board elsewhere so a new link can be made.
- "Copy Embed Code" or "Share as a quiz" is missing — They are hidden while "Add a password" is ticked; untick it. "Share as a quiz" and "Embed as a quiz" appear only on a board with a Check card.
- A share link or a QR code cannot be made — a board that is too large cannot be shared; fewer cards and lines make it fit. A QR code holds less than a link, so when the QR code does not appear, "Copy Share Link" may still work.
- The picture in an image card does not show for the other person — pictures are not included in share links.
- A saved board is missing — saving is per browser, so boards do not appear in another browser or on another device. In the same browser, "Restore an automatic backup" may still have it. After the site's data has been cleared, a board saved to a file opens with "Open File".
Read next — Formulas and functions The formulas a calculation card accepts, and the symbols and functions they can use.