Timeline
The Timeline view arranges your scenes in horizontal swimlanes — one lane per chapter, grouped under collapsible act sections. Scroll left and right to follow the story's chronological flow.
When to Use the Timeline
The Timeline is best for reviewing pacing and sequence. Each scene renders as a fixed-size card, so you can quickly spot:
- Uneven chapters — a chapter with many cards may be doing too much; a chapter with one card may feel thin
- Status clusters — a run of blue (Draft) cards followed by slate (Outline) cards shows where you stopped writing
- Character distribution — filter by character to see how often they appear across the story's timeline
For changing scene statuses via drag-and-drop, use the Matrix instead. For a structural hierarchy view, use the Canvas Outline.
Layout
- Acts are collapsible section headers
- Chapters appear as horizontal lanes with a fixed label (256 px) on the left
- Scenes flow left to right within each lane as cards
Scenes are ordered by their position within the chapter, giving you a visual sense of pacing and sequence.
Scene Cards
Each card (256 × 200 px) displays:
- Title and status badge
- Beat text (2-line preview)
- Entity pills — up to 2 characters, 1 setting, and 1 worldbuilding entry (with "+N" overflow)
- Word count
- A 4 px left border colored by scene status
Status Colors
| Status | Border color |
|---|---|
| Outline | Slate |
| Draft | Blue |
| Revision | Amber |
| Final | Emerald |
Hover over a card to highlight it. Click to navigate to that scene in the Manuscript editor.
Scrolling
The timeline scrolls horizontally within each act section. If a chapter has many scenes, scroll right to see them all. Acts can be collapsed to focus on specific parts of the story.
Filtering
Use the Filters button in the top-right of the Timeline header to open a filter popout. You can filter by status, character, and setting — selections from any combination are supported. The button shows a count badge when filters are active, and a Clear all link resets everything at once. Filtered-out scenes are hidden and empty chapters collapse automatically.
Next Steps
- Matrix — drag scenes between status columns to update their status
- Canvas Outline — hierarchical tree with progress bars
- Arc Tracker — chart a character's emotional journey