Support

What is Storylines?

Storylines is a metadata-first story organizer for writers. It reads your local Markdown, text, and DOCX files, automatically detects scenes, and lets you organize them with timeline, chapter, and character metadata — all without touching your prose.

Where is my writing stored?

Your files stay on your computer. Storylines never uploads your prose to the cloud. Only metadata (titles, dates, characters, status, etc.) is stored in the database so you can access your project structure from any device.

Which browsers are supported?

Storylines requires the File System Access API, which is available in Chrome, Edge, and other Chromium-based browsers. Firefox and Safari are not currently supported.

What file formats are supported?

Storylines supports Markdown (.md, .markdown), plain text (.txt), and Word documents (.docx). Files are read from the folder you connect to your project.

What is the _storylines.yaml file?

When you sync a folder, Storylines creates a _storylines.yaml file in your project root. This file stores scene metadata (IDs, anchors, chapters, etc.) and keeps your project in sync between sessions. You can safely commit it to version control.

Can multiple files belong to the same chapter?

Yes. Storylines detects chapter markers (like "Chapter 3", Roman numerals, or heading patterns) in your text and assigns them to scenes automatically. Multiple scenes across different files can share the same chapter.

What happens if I edit my files outside the app?

Just sync again. Storylines re-reads your files, detects any changes, and updates the metadata accordingly. Your manual edits to metadata (timeline, characters, status) are preserved.

Can I undo a destructive action like regenerate or reset?

Yes. Before regenerating scenes or resetting metadata, Storylines automatically creates a snapshot. You can restore any snapshot from the sync menu in the project header.

Can two projects share the same folder?

Yes, but they will share the same _storylines.yaml file. Storylines preserves the existing project metadata when a new project connects to a folder that already has a _storylines.yaml.

Create a project and connect a folder

1. 1Click "New project" on the projects page and give it a name.
2. 2Click "Select folder" and choose the folder containing your writing files.
3. 3Storylines scans the folder, detects scenes, and syncs metadata to the database.

Sync changes after editing files

1. 1Open your project in Storylines.
2. 2Click the sync button in the project header.
3. 3Storylines re-reads all files, detects new or changed content, and updates metadata.

Edit scene metadata

1. 1Click on any scene in the list or timeline view to open the inspector panel.
2. 2Edit fields like chapter, timeline dates, POV character, location, status, and more.
3. 3Changes are saved automatically after a short delay.

Use the timeline view

1. 1Switch to the timeline view using the view toggle in the project header.
2. 2Scenes with timeline dates appear as bars on the timeline.
3. 3Scenes without dates appear in the "Unscheduled" panel — set dates in the inspector to place them.

Mark a file as a note

1. 1Click on a scene from the file you want to mark as a note.
2. 2In the inspector, click "Mark file as Note" at the bottom.
3. 3All scenes in that file are merged into a single note item. Notes appear in the Notes tab.

Merge adjacent scenes

1. 1In the list view, click "Merge items" to enter merge mode.
2. 2Check the adjacent scenes you want to combine (they must be from the same file).
3. 3Click "Merge" and confirm. The scenes are combined into one, keeping the first scene's metadata.

Restore a previous snapshot

1. 1Click the dropdown arrow next to the sync button in the project header.
2. 2Scroll down to the snapshots section.
3. 3Click "Restore" on the snapshot you want to revert to. Your metadata and _storylines.yaml are restored.

Sort and filter scenes

1. 1Use the "Sort by" dropdown in the list view to sort by chapter, index, timeline, title, status, or file path.
2. 2Switch between the Stories and Notes tabs to filter by type.