The Worldbuilding Toolbar
The toolbar sits at the top of every page in worldbuilding mode (where you build your characters, locations, chapters, and other story elements). It gives you one-click access to navigation, search, saving, writing stats, help resources, and more. Here is a quick tour of everything it offers, from left to right.
Navigation & Page Title
On the far left you will find Back and Forward arrows that work like a web browser: they step through the pages you have visited recently.
- Back: Alt+Left (Windows/Linux) or Cmd+[ (Mac)
- Forward: Alt+Right (Windows/Linux) or Cmd+] (Mac)
Next to the arrows is the page title, which shows you exactly where you are: Characters, Timeline, Notebook, and so on.
The Searchbar
The center of the toolbar is home to the The Glorious Searchbar: it searches through everything in your book, including characters, locations, items, chapters, notes, and manuscript scenes. Press Ctrl+K (or Cmd+K on Mac) to jump straight to it from anywhere.
Quick Add
The + button (or Ctrl+N / Cmd+N) opens the Quick Add Menu, which lets you create a new character, item, location, chapter, note, or tag without leaving the page you are on.
Save Status & Backups
The save indicator shows you the current state of your work at a glance:
- Saved: everything is up to date
- Saving...: changes are being written to your book file
Click the indicator to open a dropdown with backup options:
- Backup Now: create a manual backup point right away
- Export Backup: save a copy of your book file to any folder on your computer
- Restore from Backup: browse and restore from a previous backup. You can choose to restore as a separate new book (leaving your current book untouched) or overwrite your current book. If you overwrite, Penpoint automatically creates a safety backup of your current version first.
The footer shows when your most recent backup was created. For full backup settings and scheduling, see Backup & Restore.
If you use Penpoint Cloud
With Penpoint Cloud switched on, this same indicator also tells you about your cloud copy, so there is only ever one place to look. The word gains a third state:
- Synced: this book is saved here and up to date in your cloud
A small cloud icon sits next to the word whenever there is something more to say: a spinning icon means a sync is running right now, and an amber icon means this book needs a hand before it can reach the cloud. Open the dropdown and the top of the menu explains exactly what is happening and what to do about it. The word itself only ever describes your own computer, so a cloud problem never makes it look like your writing is unsaved.
The dropdown's Sync now button does both halves in one press: it saves a restore point on this computer, then sends the book to your cloud. Penpoint normally does this on its own shortly after you stop typing, and again when you close the book, so seeing "Cloud backup pending" for a few minutes while you write is completely normal. If you press it with no internet connection, the restore point is still made and the cloud copy follows on its own once you reconnect.
Your Writing Stats
The bar chart icon (three vertical bars of different heights) opens your writing stats panel, which tracks your progress across three sections:
Today shows everything since midnight: words added to your manuscript and worldbuilding, total time spent writing, a breakdown of which sections you worked in, and any new characters, locations, or items you created. You will also see your manuscript's total word count and how much it changed today.
Your Writing Journey tracks your long-term progress: current and longest writing streaks, lifetime word count, your best writing day, and total time spent in Penpoint.
Penpoint Global shows what the community has been up to this week: how many authors are writing, total words composed, books started, characters created, and more. This section only appears if you chose to share your writing stats.
Tip: Sharing your stats is completely anonymous and optional. It helps the community see how active the writing world is, and gives you access to the Global section.
Help & Support
The ? icon opens the help menu, which adapts to whatever page you are on:
- User Guide: the top link changes based on your current page (e.g. "Characters Guide" when on the Characters page, or "Timeline Guide" when on the Timeline). Click it to jump directly to the relevant help article.
- Restart Tutorial: re-launches the interactive tutorial for the current page (only shown if a tutorial is available).
- Keyboard Shortcuts: opens a full reference of every keyboard shortcut in Penpoint.
- Join Our Discord: opens the Penpoint Discord server where you can chat with other writers and get support.
Announcements
The bell icon shows notifications from the Penpoint team: new features, updates, tips, and community news. When you have unread announcements, a small numbered circle appears on the bell showing how many are waiting.
Click any announcement to read the full details. For more on the announcement system, see Community & Updates.
Clock & Timer
On the far right of the toolbar is a clock that displays the current time. Click it to access the writing timer, a simple tool for tracking how long you write in a session. You can start, pause, and stop the timer from the dropdown. Ctrl+T (Cmd+T on Mac) lets you quickly start or pause it.
For a deeper look at the clock settings and writing timer, see Tracking Your Time.