Modules
Modules are the tools inside a project: chapters, characters, maps, a timeline and more. You switch on the ones your novel needs, so a tight thriller can run on chapters and characters while a fantasy with centuries of history adds the timeline and the maps.
How do I turn a module on or off? #
Open the project's Settings and go to Modules. Each module has a switch; turn it on and the module appears in the project's sidebar.
Every module that is on also has a tile on the project's home page, grouped under Writing, Planning, World and Project, with the number of records where it has them. Above the tiles, Continue where you left off links to the last three records you opened in this browser.
Switching a module off only hides it. Nothing in it is deleted, and switching it back on brings every record back as it was. The one module that asks first is Books: if the project has more than one book, switching Books off leaves only the chapters of your first book visible. The other books and their chapters are kept, and return when you switch Books back on.
How do I hide part of a module? #
Under a module's switch in Settings → Modules are switches for its parts, so you can keep a module and still hide what you never use. A part's switch is greyed out while its module is off, and a part is hidden wherever it appears: on record pages, in lists, filters and forms. Hiding a part deletes nothing; switch it back on and everything returns as it was.
| Module | Parts you can hide |
|---|---|
| Lens | The Lens page itself, and the Consistency check card on records |
| World rules | The World rules page, and the Rules cards and rule pickers on records and chapters |
| Timeline | The Timeline page; the storyline and History card and tab; existence, birth and death dates; repeating events; Also here now and Maybe here; membership periods |
| Chapters | The chapter synopsis |
| Characters | The Family tree tab |
| Graph | The relation graphs on the character page and the characters list |
| Map | The Map card on records |
| Ideas | The idea links on records |
| Brainstorm | Send to brainstorm, and the board links on records |
General, below the list, holds two parts that belong to no module: Tags (the tag row, chips, pickers, filters, the tags column and grouping by tag) and Record images (the pictures of characters, creatures, organizations, languages and collection records). Book covers stay, as they are what the library shows.
Changing the order of the sidebar #
The modules list in Settings is also the order of the sidebar. Drag a module by its handle to move it up or down, and the sidebar follows.
Why can't I switch a module on? #
Some modules build on another one, so their switch stays off until the other is on. The list shows Requires … next to them.
| Module | Requires |
|---|---|
| Books, Lens | Chapters |
| Locations | Map |
| Places | Locations |
Which modules can a project have? #
| Module | What it gives you |
|---|---|
| Dashboard | A board of cards showing recent changes, where you left off and what is unfinished |
| Timeline | Your world's calendar, eras and dates, and the events that happened on them (world entities) |
| Entries | Anything the other types do not fit: magic systems, laws, recipes (world entities) |
| Books | Several books in one project, each with its own chapters, published on its own |
| Chapters | The manuscript itself, in order, with word counts and revisions (chapters) |
| Lens | Reports that read a book's chapters and show them as text, on a map, in time, or as a list of things that do not add up |
| Characters | People, with biographies, traits, images and relations (characters) |
| Bestiary | Species and beasts, whether or not they talk (world entities) |
| Organizations | Guilds, houses, armies and companies (world entities) |
| Map | Maps: images with your world pinned to them, in layers |
| Locations | Places in the world, nested as deeply as you like (world entities) |
| Places | Specific spots inside a location: a room, a crossroads, a grave (world entities) |
| Graph | Every relation in the project drawn as one graph you can explore |
| Users | Invite people to the project, change their roles and remove them (roles and permissions) |
| Images | Every image in the project in one place, with the storage they use |
| Publication | Publish the story to the library, choose which chapters readers see, and follow its analytics |
| Plotlines | One thread of the story, beat by beat: what is written and what comes next (plotlines) |
| Brainstorm | A whiteboard with sticky notes, text and connections, for ideas that have no shape yet |
| Ideas | An inbox for raw ideas: write one down from anywhere, review it later and turn it into records |
| Archive | Deleted records, kept for thirty days so you can restore them |
| Capture | AI capture: proposes characters, places and events from a passage you wrote, for you to accept or discard |
| Languages | The sounds, naming rules and words of each language in your world, with a name generator and a check of the names that belong to it |
| World rules | The facts your world must keep, such as how far a traveller walks in a day, shown on the records they apply to and beside the chapter you are writing |
Settings is always on and cannot be switched off. A module added after your project was made, such as World rules, starts switched on; switch it off here if you do not need it. Collections are not a module: you make them in Settings → Collections, and each gets its own sidebar row. Capture is being switched on for accounts and projects gradually, so you may not see it yet.
Do modules affect work suggestions? #
Yes. The suggestion panel points out work that looks unfinished, such as a character with no description, a chapter with no details set, or an event with no date. It only makes suggestions for modules you have switched on, so a project without the timeline is never asked about undated events.
Tips #
- Switch on what you will use this month. You can add a module the day you need it.
- A starter template switches on a sensible set for your kind of story; adjust it afterwards.
- Put the modules you open every day at the top of the list in Settings, so they sit at the top of the sidebar.
- If a module you expect is missing from the sidebar, check Settings under Modules for a Requires … note.
Related #
- Templates — start a project with its modules already chosen.
- Chapters — the module every manuscript starts with.
- Characters — the record most projects rely on.
- Locations, places, organizations, creatures, events and entries — the rest of the record types.