Interface tour: activity bar, file tree, editor, panels

Five minutes on every part of the Writing Studio editor, so you know which button is where, and why it's there.

1. The activity bar — Switch Studio and Back to Works at the top, the panel toggles under them
2. The file panel's header — the book's name, then Version Control · Search · Share · Export · Chapter Progress · Work Settings
3. The file tree — every file in the book; at its foot, Total Today and your daily goal
4. The editor — the formatting toolbar across the top, this file's word count at its right-hand end
5. The view controls — Sprint, Preview, Zen Mode, Split Editor
6. The right-hand panel — AI Chat, Headings, Comments, Notes, Linked Elements or Beta Reader, one at a time

The screen splits into strips from left to right. Nothing runs along the bottom of the window.

1 · The activity bar (that narrow strip on the far left)

Icons only; hover and it widens out into names and shortcuts. Three sections:

Top

Icon	What it is
Slima starburst	Switch Studio
Droplet	Back to Works

Middle (panel toggles)

Icon	Panel	Shortcut
Folder	Explorer (left)	⌘⇧E
Speech bubble	AI Chat (right)	⌘⇧A
List	Headings (right — jump between headings)	⌘⇧O
Comment bubble	Comments (right)	⌘⇧C
Sticky note	Notes (right)	⌘⇧N
Link	Linked Elements (right)	⌘⇧L
Book	Beta Reader (right)	⌘⇧B

The last six share one slot on the right. Only one of them is open at a time.

Bottom: Upgrade, Help Center, and the dark/light toggle.

2 · The header of the left panel

The title is the name of the book. To its right, a row of small icons:

Version Control · Search · Share · Export · Chapter Progress · Work Settings

While the Explorer is showing, a sync button sits at the left of that header. Hover it and it tells you whether you're synced, pending, offline or in error.

3 · The file tree

Every file in the book, grouped by folder. Which folders you start with comes from the genre you picked when you created the book — Fiction gives you Chapters, Characters, World Building and Notes — and you can add more.

Right-click a folder or the empty space. The first level is:

• New Manuscript (.md)
• New Script (.script)
• New Reference (.md)
• New Folder

Below that sits More, and expanding it reveals the relationship map, map, timeline and beat board, plus upload.

Files drag to reorder, F2 renames, Delete deletes. The foot of the panel shows how much you've written today and a link to set a daily goal.

See The file tree.

4 · The editor (the middle, and the biggest)

Where the writing happens. The formatting toolbar runs along the top: heading levels, bold / italic / strikethrough, lists, quotes, dialogue punctuation, tables, images, undo and redo, with more folded into the "⋯" at the end. The word count for this file sits at the top right.

5 · The tab bar and the view controls

Tabs on the left; open as many files as you like. The group on the right changes how the whole pane presents itself:

Icon	What it is
Stopwatch	Sprint — timed writing
Open book	Preview mode — read-only proofing with read-aloud; press again to go back to editing
Crosshair	Zen Mode — everything else gets out of the way (⌘D or F11 also work)
Split	Split Editor — two files side by side (⌘\)

6 · The right-hand panel

The six entries from section 1 share this space. With AI Chat open:

• A thin strip above the panel holds one AI Chat tab, then four icon-only buttons — the four chapter analyses (Pacing Scan, Dialogue, Repetition, Consistency) — and AI Memory at the end.
• The panel's own header reads AI Writing Coach, with three buttons on the right: new conversation, conversation history, close.
• On an empty conversation you get guidance chips: Focus on (Character Motivation / Scene Immersion / Deepen Conflict / Explore Theme) and Or, start somewhere (I'm stuck / Inspire me / Check my work). Tap one and that direction goes to the coach.

Chapter analysis never runs on its own in the background. Clicking a button only switches the panel over; you still choose the target and press Start analysis before anything happens.

See The AI Coach · AI Insight overview.

7 · Where the numbers are (there is no status bar)

The Writing Studio editor has no strip along the bottom of the window. If you came looking for the word count or the save state, they live in three different places:

• This file's word count — the right-hand end of the formatting toolbar: a number, then the word words.
• Today's total, and your daily goal — the foot of the file panel, under the tree: Total Today, with Set a daily goal → while you have none.
• Sync — the button at the left of the file panel's header while the Explorer is showing. Hover it for synced / pending / offline / error.

Saving is not announced by a readout. It happens on its own, and if it ever fails you get a message saying so rather than a red line in a corner. What was actually kept is a question for version history.

A .script file is the exception: it brings its own row along the bottom of the editor — word count, number of scenes, the interior / exterior split, number of characters. That one is described in what you see when you open a screenplay file.

When what's open isn't a .md

The frame doesn't change: activity bar, file tree and tab bar all stay where they are. Only the middle swaps out — .script gets the screenplay editor, .map the relationship-map canvas, .geomap the world map, .timeline the timeline, .beats the beat board.

Where to go next

• Keyboard shortcuts cheat sheet
• Import your existing manuscript
• Into the writing flow: The AI Coach · Version control · Zen Mode