Releases

Plan badges

Plan badges show you what plan you're on, and give a helpful indication of how close you are to the limits on that plan.

Updated upgrade process with clearer information

We updated our upgrade process to provide clearer information about what features are included in each tier to better support your decision-making.

Highlights

If you love making annotations, you can now mark-up your your manuscript text or notes using highlights in 11 different colours! 

Em-dashes and other shortcuts

There's nothing in the world we love more than an em dash. Now you can use keyboard shortcuts to create em dashes, and 20 other special punctuation symbols (like arrows, superscripts, and double angle quotation marks).

Bug fixes for toolbar, comments and tracked changes

We fixed a bug that made the toolbar flicker in certain situations and resolved a placement bug for comments and tracked changes so that you can navigate through these more easily.

Improvements to collaboration features

We’ve made significant improvements to suggestions and comments to enable the app to handle up to 7000 active comments on a manuscript. So if you rely heavily on comments and suggested edits, you should experience a performance boost!

Fixed scene breaks for imported projects

We fixed a bug that was affecting scene splitting when importing your novel. Now, whenever you separate text in a chapter with five dashes, it will be split into different scenes when importing.

Changes to pricing and tiers

We introduced a new pricing tier and adjusted how feature limits work across tiers.

All-off switch for AI features

To give you peace of mind if you're not comfortable with AI-powered features, we’ve built an “All-off” switch for AI, that turns any AI features off in the app and removes them from your interface completely (so you don’t have to worry about using them accidentally).

For more info on how AI is used in First Draft Pro, check out our AI philosophy and privacy policy.

Printing your outline using your browser tools

If you like the tactile feel of paper, or just want to pin your outline up, you can now print out your chapter outline or plot outline using your built in browser tools.

Short story collection template

If you’re a fan of the short story format, we’ve added a new project template for short story collections. It’s based on Lester Dent’s master plot format for short fiction, and is especially good for pulp fiction short stories.

Comment threads

We fixed a bug in the comments thread that was changing the original author of a comment to be the person who last replied on that thread (confusing!). You shouldn’t see this again 🙂

Google sign-in

Google made some changes to the way that they’re managing single sign-on. It’s now handled through the browser, which means if you’re logged out of your browser, you’ll struggle to get in to FDP. We’ve put some fallbacks in place to help with this, and we’ve updated the login issues help article to help you troubleshoot if you notice this happening.

Add notes to scenes

Until now, notes had to be linked to text in a scene to create a reference link. Now, you can link notes directly to your scenes.

Pin notes

Notes linked to your scenes can now be pinned in that scene, creating an expandable view of your note right in your manuscript. This is super useful if you need to reference a note easily as you’re writing.

Romantasy template in FDP

The romantasy novel writing guide we created is officially a template in First Draft Pro! You can start a project using this template and you’ll find all the chapter guides linked as pinned notes in each chapter.

Improvements to comments

We reworked the comment placement algorithm to make it easier for you to navigate through comments, especially if you have a lot of them.

Wordcounts on scenes in the manuscript

You can now see the word count for a scene from the right-side menu in the manuscript (see the image on this post). This means you no longer have to jump back to the outline to see how many words you’ve written in a scene!

Fixes to hyperlinks

We fixed a bug that affected how hyperlinks to external resources were displayed.

Unallocated scenes on the plot outline

The “unallocated scenes” column on your plot outline will now disappear once you’ve allocated all scenes to a plotline so that you have a better view of your plotlines.

Adjustments to free plan limits

We made some changes to the limits on our free plan. We’ll continue to test what works best here, and try to find a good balance while honouring the intention of the free plan. The updated limits to the free plan are:

• You can create 2 projects on the free plan (and unlimited projects on the paid plan)
• You can create 1 plotline per project on the free plan (and unlimited plotlines on the paid plan)
• You can create 10 notes on the free plan (and unlimited notes on the paid plan)

If you are on the free plan, but you’ve already overshot these limits, you won’t lose access to anything you’ve done. All your projects, plotlines, and comments are still there and you still have access to the platform, but you won’t be able to add more on the free plan.

Slow experience on projects with many comments (fixed)

If you had a ton of comments on a project, you may have experienced a frustrating lag in the app following our update to our underlying writing tech. There was a small bug with our comment placement algorithm that meant your manuscript was taking a very long time to load if you had a lot of comments on a project.

We’re happy to report that this is fixed now, and everything should be back to normal speed.

Chapters previewed during import not importing (fixed)

If you imported a project in the last week and noticed that chapter one or two was missing, we’re so sorry! There was a bug in the importer that meant that any chapter you previewed while importing was excluded from the import.

This has also been fixed, and all imports are running smoothly again.

Auto-scroll on project and plot outlines

Auto-scrolling on the project and plot outline is much smoother, with added visual indicators to let you speed up the pace of the scroll. We also fixed some weird scroll issues that some writers were experiencing when moving their cursor out of the browser window.

New writing experience

In order to make the writing experience in First Draft Pro faster and smoother, we've completely replaced the technology that our manuscript was using to enable you to write, with brand-new custom-built technology. This means that the development of future writing features is much easier for us to implement. Which, in turn, means you'll get more features, faster.

As part of the major update to our underlying technology, we also:‍‍

• Updated our toolbar in the manuscript, as well as the interactions for bringing the toolbar up.
• Added support for paragraph and heading styles in the manuscript.
• Updated keyboard shortcuts for functions like: creating a chapter break (Alt+Enter); creating a scene break (Ctrl+Enter); adding a footnote (Ctrl+Alt+F); adding a link (Ctrl+K); adding a note (Ctrl+N); and adding a comment (Ctrl+M).

‍

NaNoWriMo Project Template

Create your project from our NaNoWriMo template based on the 3-act structure, and get a full breakdown of what to write each day!

Wordcount Syncing to NaNoWriMo

Link your project in First Draft Pro to your NaNoWriMo profile to automatically sync your wordcount to NaNoWriMo.

NaNoWriMo Day-by-day Writing Guide

Use our day-by-day writing plan for NaNoWriMo (based on the 3-act structure) to guide you, as you work through our daily checklists of what to write.

First Draft Pro's Free Plan

The new free plan gives you access to all the basic features of the app, and you can unlock advanced features (like comments, images, track changes, and collaboration) by upgrading to the premium plan.

Magic import for new projects

First Draft Pro now provides a hassle-free 'Quick Import' option for your existing .doc and .docx documents! It works just like magic :)

AI summarization on the outline

Turn on AI summarization when importing your manuscript, and we'll automatically summarise every scene and create an associated scene card for this on your novel outline. Or: use the auto summarise feature on the outline to update the summary for any scene.

Free (forever) plan with option to upgrade to a premium subscription

First Draft Pro's pricing model has changed slightly. Our new forever free plan gives you access to all our basic features. When you're ready to level-up, you can unlock every feature with a premium subscription.

Plotlines 2.0

Keep track of specific storylines and character arcs (in fiction manuscripts) and topics or arguments (in non-fiction manuscripts) with plotlines – now with improved plotline movement and oragnisation, and scene allocation, and summaries of scenes per plotline.

Change the colour of scene cards

Change scene card colour to make it easier to differentiate between scenes that are part of different plotlines, points of view, locations and more.

Link a URL in your manuscript

Add hyperlinks to text within your manuscript or notes in order to keep references and source material in easy reach, or for linking to any webpage that may be relevant to your writing.

Write in typewriter mode

Typewriter Mode is designed to boost your focus and streamline your writing process. As the name suggests, this feature simulates the experience of using a typewriter by keeping the line of text you're currently typing in the centre of your screen, and eliminating the need to scroll as you write – allowing you to stay immersed in your writing.

Add a prologue

Now you can add a prologue to any project by checking a box in your project settings.

See the name of a scene in the left navigation

Scenes in your left navigation menu now have the full scene name visible (to make navigating through your manuscript easier) – rather than saying Scene 1, Scene 2, etc.

Remove chapter numbers if you're writing short stories or poetry

If you're writing a novella, a series of short stories, a poetry collection, or other work that does not have "chapters" like a novel, you can now turn chapter numbering off by checking a box in your project settings.

Improved writing experience for non-fiction writers

We made improvements to the writing experience for non-fiction writers, so that you can write non-fiction and academic projects in First Draft Pro as well!

New features for non-fiction writers include:

• "Scenes" in a non-fiction project are called "sections"
• "Plotlines" in a non-fiction project are called "arguments"
• Add a preface to your manuscript
  
• Manage your references with footnotes
  
• Remove chapter numbers, and write with a focus on sub-topics

Usability improvements

We made improvements to offline syncing, and changed keyboard shortcuts so that they matched what you're used to in other writing apps. We also fixed a bug that was preventing you from being able to see your tracked changes. Whoops!

Here are the updated keyboard shortcuts:

• enter = new paragraph
• shift-enter = new line
• ctrl-enter = new scene
  
• alt-enter = new chapter

Activate deep focus mode

‍Remove all distractions while you write by switching into focus mode.

Write in dark mode when you're in focus

‍Easily turn on dark mode when you are writing full-screen for increased focus, productivity, and less eye-strain!

Share your writing with friends and beta readers

‍You can create a read-only link to a shared excerpt of your work-in-progress and send this to your friends, writing buddies, your mom, or anyone else you choose! Readers will only be able to read the chapters that you include in the excerpt, and they won't be able to edit your work.

Text width will now max out on very wide screens

We've reduced the width of your manuscript text on very wide screens to make it easier to scan text as you write.

Insert footnotes in your manuscript

‍Keep references associated with your text directly in your manuscript using footnotes.

Accessing your version history

‍Revert to prior versions and see previously saved snapshots of your scenes.

‍

Write from anywhere, offline

‍If your connection drops, you'll automatically switch into offline mode. When your connection stabilises again, you'll go back online. You can manually switch to offline mode if you want to. Just use the toggle button at the bottom left of your screen.

Your work is now even more secure!

‍Your work was secure before (don't worry), but ensuring it remains as secure as possible is a big priority for us. So, we've made additional improvements to how auto-save works behind the scenes.

Subscriptions are launched!

We're excited to announce that we've officially launched subscriptions in First Draft Pro! A subscription gives users access to all First Draft Pro's features: from plotting, writing and note-taking, to collaboration.

‍We've made monthly and annual plans available, and no matter which plan you sign up for, you’ll only start paying after the end of your 14-day free trial ends.

‍Anyone can try First Draft Pro out for 14 days to see if it's a good fit for their writing process.

Accounts for collaborators

‍You can invite as many collaborators to your projects as you like. They'll need an active subscription in order to work with you in First Draft Pro.

Bulk & educational licenses

‍If you’re part of a team or writing group, or if you represent an agent or publishing house, you can purchase multiple licenses for your authors.

‍If you’re an educator, you can purchase an educational license for use in your classroom.

Trusted payment portal

‍First Draft Pro uses STRIPE to process monthly online payments. You can manage your billing details through your account settings. We accept all major credit cards.

Manage notes in First Draft Pro!

‍There's a whole new tab in your project for notes! Create notes, delete notes, and organise notes into folders. Format your notes or add images. Link notes to other notes to create a wiki. Link notes into scenes for easy reference.

Delete scenes or chapters from a dropdown menu on the card

‍Delete directly from scenes and chapter cards (no more drag and drop to delete!)

Collapse the right side menu while writing

‍Create more space for writing by collapsing the right side menu pane.

Add images to your projects

‍You can add images to your projects from the toolbar bubble, and resize and format them easily. Images will be included in your file when you export your work to Google Drive, but some formatting changes are not maintained (we’re working on that!🙃)

Navigate through your manuscript with up and down arrows

Use up and down arrows to navigate through your manuscript quickly.

Scroll left and right on the outline using your mouse wheel

‍Use your mouse wheel to scroll left and right on the outline, as well as using the click-and-hold action.

Enjoy all the other design improvements we’ve made for you

‍We’ve disabled story arc settings for non-fiction projects. We’ve cleaned up the formatting of text indentations in block quotes, and in paragraphs following block quotes. We’ve refined the design of the buttons to split chapters/scenes, and profile images, and made word count totals more legible.

Connect your Google account to export your project to Google Drive

‍You can connect your Google Drive account by clicking on the Google Drive icon, and export any of your projects to Google Drive.

Delete scenes and chapters by dragging them into the trash

‍Delete any of your scenes or chapters by dragging them into the trash can at the bottom right corner of your screen.

Edit chapter and scene title text easily

‍Edit any "Add chapter title", "Add scene title", and "Add description" text with one click wherever you see it in the app. Edit project title and descriptions directly on a project card.

Send an invitation to collaborators to have them join your project

Now you can send an email invitation to any collaborator to ask them to join your writing project – even if they don't have a private beta account yet!

First Draft Pro has been released into private beta!

Find out more about using First Draft Pro from our how-to articles.