Outlines and manuscripts together
Point a manuscript at an outline so your plan and your book share one order, unwritten chapters wait in place, acts appear as dividers, and colors stay in step.
An outline is where you plan; a manuscript is where you read. A manuscript can follow an outline, and then they're one list: the outline's order is the book's order, chapters you haven't written yet wait in their place, and acts appear as dividers between chapters.
Nothing changes until you ask. A manuscript that isn't following an outline works exactly as before.
Turn it on
Open the manuscript, open its + menu and choose Follow an Outline… (or run it from the palette). Then:
- New outline from this manuscript. Studio makes an outline with one header named after the manuscript and every section as a subheader under it, already linked and colored, and opens it beside the manuscript.
- Pick an existing outline. Rows that already link to the manuscript's files match up. Sections the outline doesn't have yet are added to it as linked rows, so nothing goes missing.
While it follows an outline, the manuscript's list view button becomes an Outline button with Open outline, Change outline… and Stop following. At the top of the outline, Followed by and the manuscript's name take you the other way.
What you see in the manuscript
The manuscript reads your outline's levels:
| Rows in the outline | In the manuscript |
|---|---|
| Above chapter level | Act dividers: small capitals with a rule, between the pages. |
| At chapter level, with a file | Pages, as always. |
| At chapter level, no file yet | A gray Not written yet placeholder with a Start writing link. |
| At chapter level, file in another project | A placeholder saying where the file went, with Bring it back (moves the file back so it's a page again) and Unlink. |
| Below chapter level | Beats: listed under an unwritten chapter, so the plan is in view. |
The manuscript finds the level your linked files sit on and calls that chapters. In an outline made from a manuscript that's level II; if you write in scenes at level III, the same rule applies there. The navigator on the left shows the outline's acts and chapters, with unwritten ones grayed.
One order
Drag a section in the manuscript, or a row in the outline, and the other one follows. There's only one list.
- Colors are shared. Set a marker on a section or its row and the other side gets it. Clear it on either side and both clear.
- Link a row to a text file and the manuscript picks the file up as a page.
- Add a file to the manuscript (from the drawer or the + menu) and it gets a linked row in the outline where you added it.
- Remove a section from the manuscript and its row stays in the outline as a plan; only the link goes.
- Remove a row's link and its page leaves the manuscript. The file itself is untouched.
- Click a word-count chip in the outline while the manuscript is open beside it, and the manuscript scrolls to that chapter. Cmd-click to open the file on its own.
Grouping chapters into acts
An outline made from a manuscript is one header with every chapter under it. To split it into acts, insert a row where the next act begins, type its name and press Shift+Tab. Outdenting folds everything below it underneath, so chapters 21 to 69 drop under Act Two in one keystroke.
If the outline goes missing
Trash or delete a followed outline and the manuscript works as a plain manuscript again, with a notice at the top. Restore the outline from the Trash and the manuscript reconnects by itself. Stop following in the notice drops the link and keeps the current order.
Two manuscripts can follow the same outline, which is handy for a second draft. A manuscript follows one outline at a time.
Still stuck?
Send us a note from Contact Support, or choose Report Bug in Studio’s account menu so your app version comes along with it. For the device itself, see the BYOK device manual.