Introducing Backstage

When you launch your story from Twine using the Test button in the editor toolbar, Chapbook enables its backstage view: a panel that sits beside your story and allows you to peek into its workings and tinker with them while you interact with it as players will. This section discusses the History and Notes tabs in the backstage view. The other tabs, State and Style, are discussed later in this guide in State Backstage and Page Style respectively.

If you would like to temporarily hide the backstage view, use the arrow button to its left, which toggles the view's visibility.

The History Tab

As you visit passages in your story, the History tab will show them in a tabular list, with the oldest at the top and the most recent at the bottom.

You may see some additional rows next to each passage name. These are explained in State Backstage, but for now you can ignore them.

Use the ↳ button beside an entry in the table to rewind the story to that passage.

The Notes Tab

This tab can be used to record notes on the passage you're currently viewing--noting misspellings, or any other thoughts you'd like to record. These notes are stored separately from the story itself, so that if you are collaborating with other people on a story, each of you can keep separate notes. The notes you enter are saved automatically as you type.

You can export notes you've entered using the Export Notes button, and import them into someone else's browser using the Import Notes button. If any notes already exist for a passage, the notes you import will appear below what was previously entered. If you'd like to reset your notes, use the Delete All Notes button.