Chapter Groups (Folders)
Once a book grows past a handful of chapters, the outline can start to feel like a long scroll. Chapter Groups are simple folders that let you bundle a stretch of related chapters together (an act, a part, a long arc) and open or close them as one. They live entirely inside the outline; nothing about your chapters or scenes changes when you put them in a folder.
What Groups Are For
A group is a named folder with chapters tucked inside it. You'll see it in the outline with a folder icon and a small triangle (called a chevron): click the triangle to open the folder and reveal its chapters, click again to fold them away. The chapters themselves keep their numbers, their scenes, and everything else; the folder just gathers them under a single label.
Common ways writers use them: Act One / Act Two / Act Three for a three-act novel, or Part One / Part Two for a longer book. Groups are entirely optional: if you don't need them, your outline simply stays flat.
Note: Groups are for acts and parts within a single book. Writing an actual series? Each volume gets its own Book (with its own chapters and outline) inside one series file. See Writing a Series.
Creating a Group
Right-click (or Ctrl+click on Mac) anywhere in the outline to start a new group. There are two starting points, depending on where you click:
- Create Group: appears when you right-click an existing chapter. The new group is created with that chapter already inside it as its first member, so you don't have to file it in afterward.
- New Group: appears when you right-click empty space below the chapter list. This makes an empty group you can fill by right-clicking chapters and choosing Add to Group.
In both cases, the new group lands in the outline ready for naming: type the name and press Enter to save, or Escape to cancel.
Renaming a Group
To rename a group, double-click its name in the outline. An inline text field opens right where the name was; type the new name and press Enter to save, or Escape to leave it as it was. You can also right-click the group and choose Rename Group from the menu: same result, just a different way in.
Adding and Removing Chapters
Right-click a chapter that isn't already in a group and choose Add to Group. A submenu lists every group in your book — click one and the chapter slides in at the end of that folder.
To take a chapter back out, right-click it inside its group and choose Remove from Group. The chapter pops out to the top level of the outline, landing immediately after the group it just left, so you can see exactly where it went.
For more on rearranging chapters and groups, see Reordering and Organizing Chapters.
Expanding and Collapsing
Each group has a small triangle on its left edge, just like a chapter that contains scenes. Click the triangle to open or close the folder; the chapters inside slide in and out without affecting their order or contents. You can leave the act you're currently working on open and tuck the rest away for a calmer outline.
Deleting a Group
Note: Group deletion and chapter moves between groups can't be undone with Ctrl+Z (Cmd+Z on Mac). The chapters themselves are never lost, but if you regret a structural change, you'll need to re-create the group and add the chapters back in one by one with Add to Group.
Right-click a group and choose Delete Group to remove the folder. Only the folder is deleted: the chapters inside are not. Every chapter that was in the group is unfolded out to the top level of the outline immediately, in the same order it was in, sitting right where the group used to be. Nothing about the chapters themselves changes; they just stop being filed inside that folder.
Tip: Because deleting a group leaves your chapters intact, it's safe to clean up old groups whenever your structure changes. If you decide your three-act split should become a two-part split, delete the old groups first, then create the new ones and add the chapters with Add to Group.