Comparing Your Manuscript Drafts

A Scene Draft saves one scene. A Chapter Draft saves every scene in a chapter together. Compare places either kind of saved draft beside your current manuscript. Both sides are read-only, so comparing them does not change or restore either copy.

Opening Compare

In Manuscript Mode, right-click (or Ctrl+click on Mac) a scene and choose Scene Drafts, or right-click a chapter and choose View Chapter Drafts. Select a saved draft, then click Compare at the top. The saved draft appears on the left and the current manuscript appears on the right. Each side normally shows a word count and has its own scrollbar. The matching button above each side lets you use that version.

Comparing Draft — Before the rewriteRead-only

Choose which version to use in your manuscript.

The other version will remain available in Drafts.

2 changed passagesRemoved since draftAdded since draftComments are not compared

Selected saved draft

Before the rewrite · 13 words

Current version saved first.

Watson studied the note again.

Holmes crossed to the window and said nothing.

Current manuscript

In use now · 17 words

Saved draft remains in Drafts.

Watson studied the note again, searching for the detail he had missed.

Holmes crossed to the window.

Figure 1 - A saved draft beside the current version

Reading the Highlights

Removed since draft: writing found in the saved draft but not in the current version is highlighted and crossed out on the left.
Added since draft: writing found in the current version but not in the saved draft is highlighted and underlined on the right.
Changed passages: the summary counts the separate areas where the two versions differ.

Note: Comment text is hidden from Compare, not deleted or included in the change count. Turn off Compare to read the comments saved with the draft.

Comparing a Chapter

In a Chapter Draft, click the chapter name in the sidebar on the left to compare the whole chapter. Click a scene name to focus on that scene. The whole-chapter view can reveal scenes that were added, removed, renamed, or reordered, as well as changes to their writing.

If a saved scene was deleted or moved elsewhere, the current version side says This scene is not in the current chapter instead of showing a word count.

Note: Compare may show changes to the chapter title, subtitle, or whether its heading is displayed. Restoring a Chapter Draft only rewinds scene writing, scene titles, and order. It does not restore those chapter-heading details, and a scene moved to another chapter stays there.Use This Chapter Draft's Scenes saves your current writing in a draft first, then places the saved scenes in your manuscript. The safety copy is named Auto-saved before restore.

Choosing a Version

Choose Use This Draft above the left side to put the saved writing in your manuscript. Penpoint saves your current version in Drafts first. Choose Keep Current Version above the right side to return to the editor without changing anything; the selected draft stays saved. You can also click Exit Compare to continue browsing drafts. If Penpoint shows Comparison unavailable, turn off Compare to return to the standard draft viewer. This is only a display limitation; neither version has changed.