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Chapter progress and the manuscript table
Last updated September 10, 2026 · 8 min read
In one line: put a target on each chapter, mark the ones you have finished, and read the whole book off a single table.
Why this exists
A total word count cannot answer "how far along is this book?". A hundred and twenty thousand words might be twelve finished chapters, or it might be the first three rewritten eight times with nine empty files behind them. What you want is the state of each chapter.
That is what chapter progress is: every chapter gets a target, an actual number, a progress bar and a status. They all live together in the Manuscript Table.
Opening it
- Desktop — the table icon in the header of the file explorer on the left (hover reads Chapter Progress). It opens as a centre tab called Manuscript Table.
- Phone — bottom nav More → Chapter Progress, which opens full screen.
Because it is a tab and not a panel, you can put it beside the manuscript with the split editor and tick things off as you go. It is also saved into your workspace, so the tab is still there when you open the same book on another machine.
An earlier version kept chapter progress in the right-hand sidebar. That panel is gone — a 320-pixel sidebar cannot hold a table you can edit in place. The sidebar now carries only the button that opens the table; it shows no status of its own.
The six columns
| Column | What it holds |
|---|---|
| Title | The chapter's file name. If two chapters share a name, the parent folder is added in front in a lighter shade (Part One / Chapter 01) |
| Target | The target you set. Words for a manuscript file, minutes for a .script |
| Actual | The current count (estimated runtime for a screenplay) |
| Progress | A thin bar plus the percentage next to it |
| Status | Drafting / Completed (a team-owned book adds In review) |
| Updated | A relative timestamp |
Only the title is clickable, and it jumps to that chapter. The row itself is deliberately not a link — otherwise a stray click throws you out of the table.
There is a totals row at the bottom. It sums only the chapters that have a target, and it never adds words to minutes: manuscript files get Total (manuscript), screenplays get Total (screenplay). With no targets set anywhere, the row does not appear at all.
Setting a chapter's target
Click the Target cell, type, press Enter.
- Manuscript files take a word count, stored on the server.
- A
.scripttakes target minutes, written into the screenplay file itself, so it travels with your versions. - To clear one, empty the field and submit. It reads Not set again.
- Anything that is not a positive whole number is refused with Please enter a valid positive whole number.
A chapter with no target shows — for progress rather than 0%, because 0% reads as "not a word written" and that is usually untrue. Write past the target and progress caps at 100% — you will not see 137%.
The book's own target word count is a separate, older setting that lives in Edit Work; see Set writing goals. The two do not talk to each other, and the totals row never uses the book target as its denominator.
How status moves
A personal book has two states: Drafting and Completed. Click the status pill and the dropdown offers the other one. There is no submitting a chapter to yourself.
The toolbar always carries a batch row: tick the checkboxes on the left (Select all only takes the rows you can currently see) and press Mark selected complete. Beside it you get N selected and Clear selection.
A team-owned book (closed beta, enabled by hand for now) adds the *In review* status and the *Submit / Approve / Reopen selected* buttons. Status is not a lock: anyone who can see this table can change it.
Sorting and filtering
Five column headers are clickable — Title, Target, Actual, Progress, Updated. Each click cycles through three states: ascending → descending → back to the file tree's own order. Status does not sort. Rows with no value, such as a chapter with no target, sink to the bottom in both directions.
The toolbar also has a status filter: All statuses / Drafting / In review / Completed. Filter everything out and you get No chapters match this status. — a different sentence from This book has no chapters yet., so you can always tell a filter from an empty book.
Which files appear
The table lists manuscript files, using the same test as your word count: content type is manuscript, and it is a file rather than a folder.
.mdfiles underChapters/appear.- A
.scriptalways appears, because screenplays already count towards word counts and streaks. - Reference material does not:
Characters/,Locations/,Worldbuilding/, and the.map,.geomap,.timelineand.beatsfiles. - Right-click a file and mark it as reference material to take it off the table.
Folders never become rows and nothing is rolled up into them. Row order is simply the file tree read top to bottom. Which files count as manuscript is covered in Manuscript vs reference.
On a phone
The phone does not shrink the table, it changes shape: one card per chapter, with the checkbox, the title, a relative timestamp, a status pill top right, then a Target / Actual line, then the progress bar and its percentage. The totals get a card too. Sorting, filtering and batch actions are exactly the same as on the desktop.
Watch out
The table cannot be exported — no CSV, no download, no copy-as-table. To show someone your progress you screenshot it or retype it.
A red warning icon on a row means that change never reached the server. There is a Retry beside it, which resends whatever the row currently says. When you see it, retry rather than changing the status again.
Related
- Docs: Manuscript vs reference
- Docs: Word counts explained
- Docs: Set writing goals
- Docs: File tree overview
- Docs: Panels and the editor tab strip
- Docs: Opening a screenplay file
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