Go back to an earlier version

This page is about History: the earlier versions of each scene that Write keeps for you, how to look at one and see what's changed since, how to put a scene back the way it was, and how to mark a milestone for the whole book.

You don't have to do anything to make versions. Write saves them as you go.

Open History

Open a scene, then click History in the toolbar. A panel opens on the right with two lists: This scene, the scene's versions with the newest at the top, and Milestones for the book.

Each version shows when it was made, its word count and who was writing. A few carry a small label: Before a restore, Before a split or Before a merge mark the moment just before one of those happened, and a milestone's name shows on the versions it kept.

Screenshot: the History panel beside a scene, with a few versions listed, one carrying a milestone's name, and two milestones below.

Look at an earlier version

Click a version. It takes the place of your page, and the bar above it says when it's from. Anything that has changed since is marked:

• Words struck through were in that version and have gone since.
• Words underlined weren't there yet; they've come in since.

So you can read it as it was and see at a glance what you've done to it. Click Back to writing (or Now at the top of the list) to return to your page. Nothing changes just from looking.

Screenshot: an earlier version open in the middle, with struck and underlined words, and the Back to writing and Restore this version buttons above it.

Put a scene back

While you're looking at a version, click Restore this version. The scene goes back to exactly that text.

You can't lose anything this way. Before it restores, Write keeps the scene as it was a moment ago as a version of its own, labelled Before a restore, so if you change your mind, restore that one.

Just one passage

If you only want back a paragraph you cut, there's no need to restore the whole scene. Open the old version, copy the passage, click Back to writing, and paste it where it belongs.

Milestones

A milestone is a name for a moment in the whole book: "Sent to Jill," "Before the line edit," "Draft two." It keeps every scene just as it is right then, so later you can find that moment in any scene's history.

To make one, click + Save a milestone under Milestones, give it a name (and a note, if you like), and click Save milestone. It's worth doing before you send the book out, or before a big round of changes.

To take a milestone away, point at it and click Remove. Your scenes don't change; the name just comes off their history.

What Write keeps

• While you work, a new version each time you stop for a few minutes. Saves close together become one version, so the list reads as your writing sessions rather than every keystroke.
• After a week, one version per scene for each week, the last of that week, so a scene you look at months from now still has a history to walk back through.
• Always: every milestone, and every version labelled before a restore, split or merge.

Who can do this

Everyone on the book can open History and look at earlier versions. Owners and co-authors can restore a version and save or remove milestones. History isn't on the phone layout yet; use a computer or tablet.

If you work with an AI assistant connected to Write, it can read a scene's history, mark a milestone, and (when you ask it to) restore a version. See Working with an AI.