Project Overview
The project overview is your home base — a dashboard that shows everything about your project in one place. You’ll land here every time you open a project.
Getting There
Section titled “Getting There”You can open the project overview from anywhere:
- Click “Binder” (the book icon at the top of the sidebar) — it doubles as a home button
- Project tools menu → Project Overview
- Open a project from the dashboard — it always lands on the overview first
What You’ll See
Section titled “What You’ll See”Word Goal & Deadline
Section titled “Word Goal & Deadline”At the top, your manuscript progress:
- Total words vs. your word goal, with a progress bar
- Deadline — set a target date and see days remaining
- Words per day — if you’ve set a deadline, this calculates how many words you need each day to finish on time
Click any number to edit it. Your word goal, deadline, and session goal are all saved per project.
Your current writing session — words written since you opened the app:
- Session card — words written (+) and edited (-), with your daily word goal and progress bar. Click the goal to change it.
- Chapter activity card — per-chapter breakdown showing which chapters you touched and by how much
See Session Tracking for details.
Your Project
Section titled “Your Project”Quick stats about your project’s contents:
- Number of chapters, characters, maps, and timelines
- Average words per chapter
- Longest chapter
- Archived items in the graveyard
Manuscript
Section titled “Manuscript”A visual overview of your chapters:
- Words per chapter bar chart — see how your chapter lengths compare at a glance
- Chapter list — click any chapter to open it. If a chapter has a bookmark set, you’ll see a Bookmark badge — click it to jump directly to your saved position in that chapter.
Top Vocabulary
Section titled “Top Vocabulary”Your most frequently used words across the manuscript, shown as a mini sparkline per chapter. Useful for spotting overused words before a revision pass.
Recent Activity
Section titled “Recent Activity”Your most recently edited chapters, characters, maps, and timelines — quick links back into active work.
Below the stats sections, the Tools row gives you access to every analysis and settings view in the app. Each card shows what it does:
| Tool | What it does |
|---|---|
| Character Web | Interactive graph of who knows who — relationships, roles, and dynamics |
| Presence Map | Grid heatmap showing which characters appear in each chapter |
| Outliner | Flat view of every chapter with word counts, POV, and synopsis |
| Writing History | Daily word count chart — streaks, peaks, and progress over time |
| Manuscript Health | Pacing, POV balance, scene length analysis |
| Highlighted Notes | All color-coded highlights across the manuscript, collected in one list |
| Page Setup | Margins, page size, and column width for the writing canvas |
| Export | Export to PDF, DOCX, EPUB, and other formats |
| Set/Change Background | Add a background image to the overview and writing canvas |
Background Image
Section titled “Background Image”You can set a custom background image for your project — it appears on both the overview and the manuscript writing canvas, giving each project its own atmosphere.
- Set Background — pick any image from your files; it’s copied into the project folder so it works offline
- Change Background — replace the current image
- Remove Background — returns to the default clean look
When a background is set, all overview sections automatically get a frosted-glass card effect for readability.
Warm-Up Prompts
Section titled “Warm-Up Prompts”At the bottom of the overview, the warm-up card shows a writing prompt to start your session. See Writing Prompts for full details.
- Check the overview before each session — it grounds you in where the project stands
- Use the daily target — if you’ve set a deadline, the words-per-day number keeps you honest
- Watch the chapter bars — wildly uneven chapter lengths might signal pacing issues
- Bookmark your stopping point — use
Ctrl/Cmd+Bwhile writing to drop a bookmark, then jump back to it from the chapter list in the overview next session