Outline Block

An Outline Block turns a scene into a living beat sheet: a collapsible list where you sketch your intentions before you write. Indent ideas under a parent heading, then fold that whole section away when you're done planning it. Everything you collapse is still there; it's just out of the way until you need it.

To add an Outline Block to your scenes, open Customizing Chapter Layout (the screen where you arrange the blocks on your scenes) and add it from the block menu. You can only add Outline Blocks to your scenes, not to character pages or item pages.

Writing Your Outline

Click inside a scene to enter edit mode: the block becomes editable and your cursor lands in the first bullet. Type your first beat and press Enter to add another at the same level. Press Tab to indent a line one level deeper (making it a child of the line above), or Shift+Tab to move it back out. The outline saves automatically as you type, and Ctrl+Z undoes your typing as you go.

Need a second line inside the same bullet (a note, a reminder, a detail) without starting a new item? Press Alt+Enter (Option+Enter on Mac) to add a new line inside the same bullet, rather than starting a brand-new bullet underneath.

Collapsing Sections

Any item that has children beneath it shows a small arrow (a chevron) to its left. Click it to fold those children away; click again to expand them. Items with no children show no chevron. There's nothing underneath them to fold.

Collapse state is saved with the scene. Fold a section, close the chapter, come back an hour later. It's still folded. Nothing resets on navigation.

Before you've added anything, the block shows a faint "No outline yet" placeholder in view mode. Click inside the scene to start typing and the first bullet appears.

Keyboard Shortcuts

• Enter: new bullet at the same level
• Tab / Shift+Tab: indent or outdent the current bullet
• Alt+Enter: new line inside the current bullet (instead of a new bullet)
• Click the chevron: fold or expand a section
• @: mention a character, location, or item inline

Bullet or Numbered?

You can switch between bullets (•) and numbers (1, 2, 3…) at any time without losing anything: your indents and folded sections stay exactly as they were. Open the block's settings panel (in Chapter Layout Settings) and pick Bulleted or Numbered to change the whole block at once. The title above the block ("Scene Beats", "Act Structure", etc.) is set in the same panel.