Item properties
The Properties panel shows the details of the item in the tab you are working in — a scene in its tab, or a chapter or part in its reading preview. Moving through the Explorer tree without opening an item leaves the panel as it is. To see an item's properties from the tree, right-click it and choose Properties: its tab opens, or comes forward if it is already open, and the panel opens beside it. These properties fold into the scene editor surface, so the information you keep about an item sits next to the writing.
Properties are optional. A scene needs nothing here to be written; fill in only what helps you stay oriented.
Scene properties
| Field | What it's for |
|---|---|
| Title | The scene's name |
| Synopsis | A short summary of what happens |
| Status | Where the scene stands in your workflow (see below) |
| Goal | What the point-of-view character wants in the scene |
| Conflict | What stands in the way |
| Outcome | How the scene resolves |
| POV type | A free-text label for the narrative viewpoint (e.g. first person, third limited) |
| POV character | The character whose perspective the scene is told from |
| Location | Where the scene takes place |
| Emotional tone | The scene's dominant emotion |
| Characters | The cast present in the scene |
| Plotlines | Which threads this scene carries |
| Tags | Markers for grouping and filtering |
| AI guidance | Instructions for the AI assistant when it works on this scene |
| Word count, Created, Updated | Read-only stats for the scene |
A scene's present characters (its cast) and POV live with the scene, so a version restore brings the text and its cast back together. Tags and POV are saved with the scene file. The POV character and cast fields only pick from characters that already exist in your Book Wiki — creating a new character is a separate step, done in the wiki itself.
Chapter and part properties
Chapters and parts carry different fields, reflecting their different roles in the outline. Neither has a Status field — only scenes do (see below).
Chapter
| Field | What it's for |
|---|---|
| Title | The chapter's name |
| Description | A short description of the chapter |
| Summary | A longer summary of what happens |
| POV type | A free-text label for the narrative viewpoint |
| POV character | The character the chapter's perspective defaults to |
| Location | Where the chapter is set |
| Tone | The chapter's emotional tone |
| Tags | Markers for grouping and filtering |
| AI guidance | Instructions for the AI assistant when it works on this chapter |
| Created, Updated | Read-only timestamps |
Part
| Field | What it's for |
|---|---|
| Title | The part's name |
| Description | A short description of the part |
| Synopsis | A summary of what happens across the part |
| Theme | The part's central theme |
| Conflict | The part's central conflict |
| Tags | Markers for grouping and filtering |
| AI guidance | Instructions for the AI assistant when it works on this part |
| Created, Updated | Read-only timestamps |
Containers carry the same descriptive basics as scenes so a plan stays readable at every level.
Scenes, chapters, and parts have no notes field. Instead, Properties shows a Notes section listing the notes linked to the item, with an action to create a new note already linked to it.
Scene status
A scene's status tracks where the scene stands as the draft matures. It is unset by default and shows nothing — if you never use statuses, you never see them.
| Status | Meaning |
|---|---|
| Outline | An initial plan or placeholder |
| Draft | A first version is written |
| Revision | The text is being worked on |
| Final | The scene is done |
Set or clear a status from the scene's context menu in the Explorer, on the Corkboard, or in the Plot Grid, from the Status field in Properties, or with the Scene Status commands in the Command Palette. A scene has exactly one status or none, and you can clear it back to unset at any time. A set status shows in the tree, near the editor, and in the status bar, kept visually distinct from tag colors. Status is a label, not a gate: it never changes your manuscript text and never blocks export.
In the Explorer you can filter the tree by status — for example, show only scenes in "revision" — and the matching scenes stay inside their chapters and parts so you keep your bearings. Per-status counts appear alongside the filter («revision — 7»), a quick survey of where the draft stands without dashboards or percentages. Statuses travel with the project folder and survive a database rebuild.
Tags
A tag is a single marker — a name and a color — shared across the whole project. Assign tags to scenes, chapters, parts, and other items; their colors appear as dots in the tree, and you can filter everything by a tag. There is no separate color system; the one tag is the marker. See Search for tag-based filtering.