Scene Drafts

Scene Drafts save a copy of one scene before major changes. Unlike manuscript snapshots, they can be restored as your current scene. Before restoring, Penpoint saves your current scene as a draft labeled "Auto-saved before restore" so you can return to it.

See Manuscript Snapshots to learn about read-only copies of a whole Book.

Creating a Draft

Select a scene, not a chapter, in the Outliner. Click Scene Drafts in the toolbar, add an optional description, then click Save Draft.

Good descriptions help you find the right draft later: "Before point-of-view change," "Original ending," or "Pre-feedback revision."

Viewing Drafts

Click a draft or its eye-shaped icon to open the dedicated read-only viewer. Its list starts with Current Manuscript, a read-only view of your current scene, followed by saved drafts. Drafts normally appear newest first. An unseen Cloud-preserved draft is prioritized at the top until you view it. Select an entry to switch versions.

Select a draft and click Compare. The read-only comparison shows writing removed since the draft on the left and writing added on the right. Comments stay saved but are not compared. If Penpoint cannot calculate or display the comparison, neither copy changes. Turn off Compare to view one version again.

See Comparing Your Manuscript Drafts for how to read the highlights and number of changed passages.

Using a Saved Draft

Click Use This Draft. Before anything changes, Penpoint asks you to confirm and explains the safety draft:

• Your current scene content is automatically saved as a new draft labeled "Auto-saved before restore"
• The draft you chose becomes your current scene
• If you don't like the result, restore the auto-saved draft to go back

Deleting Drafts

Deletion starts immediately with no confirmation and no Scene Drafts Undo. It does not change your current scene. Click the trash icon beside a draft to delete it.

Other Ways to Access Drafts

In the viewer, right-click a draft (Ctrl+click on Mac) for Use This Draft or Delete This Draft. You can also right-click a scene in the Outliner and choose Scene Drafts. A small stacked-pages icon marks scenes with drafts.

Drafts Preserved by Penpoint Cloud

If the same scene is edited on another device, your most recent edit stays in the scene and Penpoint Cloud keeps the other version as a draft. Current Manuscript is the writing that is live in your scene; the preserved copy sits in the list below it. If a scene is edited on one device and deleted on another, the edited scene stays in your book and its writing is kept as a draft labeled "From a deleted scene". Each preserved draft carries a label saying where it came from, naming the other device when Penpoint knows its name.

Until you look at a preserved draft, Penpoint shows a short notice reading Edited on another device. It appears on your library shelf, in Penpoint Cloud settings, and in the Save menu inside your book. On the shelf and in the Save menu, clicking it takes you to your Penpoint Cloud settings, which is where the full list lives: every affected book and every affected scene, each name clickable to open that scene's preserved draft.

Opening a preserved draft marks it viewed without restoring it, which clears the notice. Inside a book, a message titled Your manuscript was separately modified on another device also points you to your Penpoint Cloud settings, where every scene with a second version is listed by name.