Suggest changes instead of making them
This page is about the Writing and Suggesting switch at the top of the editor. In Writing, what you type goes straight into the book. In Suggesting, every change you make is marked as a suggestion instead, to be accepted or rejected later—handy when you're revising a co-author's chapter, or you want to try a cut without committing to it.
Switch modes
At the top of the editor, click Writing or Suggesting. That's all it changes: what your next keystroke does. Nothing you've already written is touched.
On a phone, the choice sits in the header as Write, Suggest and Outline.
Screenshot: the top of the editor with the Writing / Suggesting switch, Suggesting selected, and a suggested change in the text below.
Write remembers your choice for each book, in this browser, so if you like to revise in Suggesting, it'll be waiting that way next time.
What a suggestion looks like
While you're suggesting, words you add are underlined and words you delete are struck through rather than removed, all in your color. Keep typing and your changes in one spot stay together as a single suggestion—backspacing over a sentence is one suggestion, not forty.
If you change your mind about something you suggested, delete it: removing your own suggested words takes them away for real.
What isn't tracked
Suggesting is about the words. A few things still happen right away, even in Suggesting:
- Starting a new paragraph, or joining two.
- Bold, italic and the other formatting in the selection bar.
- Paragraph styles, like centering a line or setting off a letter.
Your reviewer still sees every word that changed; it's only the shape around the words that goes in as you make it.
Editors always suggest
Someone you've invited as an editor works in Suggesting all the time; their Writing button is greyed out, with a note that editors suggest and the author accepts or rejects. That way their whole pass comes to you as changes you can review one by one. (Because paragraph styles aren't tracked, editors can't change those—they can leave a comment instead.)
Reviewing what's been suggested
Suggestions—yours, an editor's or an AI's—are listed in the review rail on the right, where you accept or reject each one. See Review suggestions and comments.