Chapter Drafts
Chapter drafts save an entire chapter, including every scene's writing, title, and order. Saving or viewing one does not change your current chapter. Only choosing to use or restore a draft does that. A scene draft saves one scene instead. Save a chapter draft when you want a snapshot of this chapter before rewriting it.
Note: Chapter drafts do not copy worldbuilding links. Existing scenes keep their character, location, item, tag, and other links after a restore. A deleted scene can be recreated with its saved writing and title, but you must re-add its old links.
Creating a Chapter Draft
Select a chapter, then click Chapter Drafts in the toolbar. You can also right-click (or Ctrl+click on Mac) a chapter and choose View Chapter Drafts. Add an optional description such as "Draft 1 before rewrite," then click Save Draft.
Tip: Before every restore, Penpoint saves the current writing, scene titles, and order in a safety draft labeled Auto-saved before restore. You can use Save Draft while the chapter has fewer than 10 chapter drafts. Restore still works at the limit because its safety draft may take the count above 10.
Viewing a Draft
Open a draft to read its saved scenes in a full-screen, read-only viewer. You can select and copy text into your current chapter without restoring. Saved comments appear in this regular view.
Click Compare to compare the whole saved chapter or one scene with your current writing. It shows writing and scenes added or removed, plus scene title and order changes. Comments are not compared.
See Comparing Your Manuscript Drafts for how to compare a whole chapter or one scene.
Restoring a Draft
Click the circular-arrow restore icon in the Drafts panel, then Restore Draft. In the viewer, click Use This Draft, then Use Saved Draft. Penpoint creates the safety draft first, then:
- Existing scenes return to their saved writing, titles, and order while keeping their links
- Deleted scenes return with saved writing and titles, but without their old links
- Scenes added or moved in later are removed from the current chapter, but remain in the safety draft
- A scene moved out to another chapter stays there and is not copied back
Restore does not change the chapter title, subtitle, description, author notes, numbering, header settings, or group placement. To reverse the writing change, restore Auto-saved before restore. It brings back the previous writing, titles, and order, but a scene that must be recreated still lacks its old links.
Chapter Drafts and Scene Drafts
The toolbar label changes with your view. Select a chapter and it reads Chapter Drafts. Select a scene and it reads Scene Drafts. A chapter with one scene uses chapter drafts.
Deleting Drafts
Click the trash icon next to a draft. Penpoint asks Delete? in the same row; click the checkmark to delete it permanently or the X to keep it.
If you have a backup, Backup & Restore explains how to look for an older copy of your book.