0.7.5

Summary

WriteIDE 0.7.5 is about trust you can see. Saves and backups are safer and visible, words typed just before a crash are offered back, a lost or damaged project can be restored from its backups, long manuscripts import without freezing the app, and exports, navigation, Settings and Help are easier to follow. No version was published as 0.7.4, so everything prepared for it is in this release. Full write-up: https://writeide.com/blog/whats-new-in-0-7-5

What to know when you update

• Updating from 0.7.3 includes every change listed below; there is no separate 0.7.4 to install first.
• Backups now follow your computer's Documents folder. On Windows, if OneDrive manages your Documents folder, new backups go to that OneDrive Documents folder, next to your exports. Your earlier backup folder (Documents › LitRPG Writer › Backups in your user folder) stays readable: nothing in it is moved, changed or deleted, Settings › Keeping your work safe lists it with an Open folder button, and restoring a project still finds backups made there. On a Mac, and anywhere the two folders are the same, nothing moves.
• Settings › Version History and Settings › Backups are now one page, Keeping your work safe. Every control from the two old pages is still on it.
• This update changes how chapters are stored, so that a chapter can carry the dates you posted it. Before the change, WriteIDE saves a copy of your library file next to it and keeps the five most recent copies.
• Character stats are now read in story order. If you recorded a change at an earlier scene after changes at later scenes, a later value that an earlier version of WriteIDE overwrote now shows the value you recorded there. Nothing in your history is rewritten, and a story recorded strictly front to back shows exactly the same values as before.
• Keyboard: Cmd/Ctrl+W closes the open tab instead of the window; Shift+Cmd/Ctrl+W closes the window. Cmd/Ctrl+[ and Cmd/Ctrl+] now go Back and Forward through what you viewed; moving to the previous or next chapter is Option/Alt+Cmd/Ctrl+[ and ].
• A theme you already chose is kept. Only a first launch with no saved theme follows your computer's light or dark setting.

New

Safer saves and backups

• Backup status beside "Saved": the status bar shows how recently the project was backed up, says plainly when the last backup failed or is overdue, and opens your backup settings when clicked.
• Choose where backups go, and add an optional second copy on an external drive or a cloud-synced folder. Every full backup, including a version you make from Review › Versions, is also copied there.
• A daily backup missed because WriteIDE was closed is made the next time you open the project. Automatic daily backups are trimmed to the newest 14 plus one a week; your own backups are never removed.
• Each project's backup folder holds a label file named after the project, so you can find it in Finder or Explorer, and Settings offers Open backups for your project.
• Keeping your work safe shows the last backup, the folder with Open and Change, the schedule in plain words, Back up now, and Restore from a version or from a backup file. "Version" means a restore point inside WriteIDE and "Backup file" means a file in your backup folder.
• Typing is saved at least every two seconds, in the scene editor and in Chapter view, even during a long unbroken burst.
• When a save fails, for example because the disk is full, leaving the scene asks first and names the reason, with Stay, Copy text and Leave without saving. The unsaved text is kept and offered back when you return, and the status never says "Saved" for text that is not on disk.

Recovery after a crash

• Words you typed after the last save are offered back when you reopen the scene after a crash or a failed save: "Recovered 14 words you typed after 2:31 PM" with Keep and Discard. Keep puts them back as your own edit, which Undo can take back. If the scene changed since, the words are offered as a copy instead, so newer text is never overwritten.
• If the editor stops unexpectedly, the window comes back on its own in the scene you were writing and says up to what time your writing is saved.
• Restore a lost or deleted project: the library lists projects that are not in it but have backups on this computer, with a Restore button for each. If the newest backup cannot be read, WriteIDE offers the next older backup that can, and restores nothing until you choose it.
• A damaged library file no longer stops WriteIDE from starting. A normal window explains that the file can't be opened and hasn't been changed or deleted, and offers Show the file, Restore from backups and Quit.

Import and export

• Long manuscripts import without freezing the app. Reading the file shows progress with a way to cancel, and committing a very long serial no longer slows down as the book grows. A backup that comes due during an import waits for it to finish instead of failing.
• Word imports recognize chapter titles written as bold or bold-italic paragraphs, a centred * * * between scenes, and Chapter 1 after a title page with a "by Author" line. Plain text and Markdown imports treat a lone # line as a scene break.
• Import review shows scenes as formatted prose, shows a confidence figure only when it is low, and lets you name imported scenes from their first line or as Scene 1, 2, 3.
• Every export opens the same choices, This scene, This chapter and Entire manuscript, with the closest one selected. The last format is remembered for each choice.
• The export dialog shows the file name and the folder before you export. Files get readable names with the local date and time, and Settings › Export shows the real folder with an Open folder button.
• Whole-manuscript exports print chapter titles and scene breaks by default, so a scene's first line no longer appears twice; scene titles and book titles are optional.
• Copy for Royal Road leaves the chapter title out of the body by default, adds a Copy title button, and steps to the previous or next chapter from the dialog.
• Publish › Ready to post: a checklist for each chapter (scenes still to review, a preview), Copy for Royal Road, a new Copy for Patreon that keeps stat blocks readable without tables, and a Mark posted date for each platform. The chapter list shows what you posted and where. Prepared chapters now live here. Nothing is posted or sent for you.
• The Stat Changelog shows a readable date and how many chapters it covers. An automatic "Before export" version is no longer made when nothing has changed since the last one.

Editor and navigation

• Preview tabs: a scene or chapter opened from the sidebar, a list or search opens in an italic tab that the next one replaces. Double-click it or start typing to keep it.
• Back and Forward with Cmd/Ctrl+[ and ], and previous or next chapter with Option/Alt+Cmd/Ctrl+[ and ].
• One "As of" bar in the editor, the Overview and the character sheet, naming the chapter and scene, with Back to latest and the count of scenes to review.
• Click any tracked value in a stat block, or use its Why button from the keyboard, to see where each value was set. Every tracked value is listed, with the one you clicked first.
• Scenes to review offers Update block, which updates only that stat block and never your prose, with Undo, and Keep as written. The explanation is written for authors, and technical detail sits under Details.
• Review › Recorded changes lists every recorded change in the story, with character and chapter filters.
• Add a resource such as Stamina from a character's Stats tab, for every character on the stat system or for that character only. The character sheet shows resources first as current and maximum.
• /damage and /heal insert a stat box with the new values, and /trade a system box listing the traded items, instead of writing a sentence into your prose. The sentence is now an option you tick.
• A new chapter opens with Scene 1 ready to write, and an empty chapter has an Add first scene button.
• Rail icons go straight to their main page (the editor, Overview, Characters, Recorded changes, Export); the small arrow beside each opens the other pages.
• Cmd/Ctrl+K finds New scene, New chapter, Scenes to review, Find in Manuscript, Import Manuscript and Stat Systems.
• Sidebar search shows a line of matching text under each scene, hides chapters with no match, highlights the match when the scene opens, and links to Find for the whole manuscript.
• Scenes outside the manuscript tree are named by chapter, for example "The Gate › Scene 1", and the tree remembers which chapters you opened.

Settings and help

• Theme, density and editor typography apply and save as you choose them. Editor font, size and line spacing live in one place with a live preview.
• First launch follows your computer's light or dark setting, and Match system sits beside Nightjade and Light.
• Settings and Help, including Report a problem and Open backups, are reachable from the library with no project open, and Cmd/Ctrl+, opens Settings from anywhere.
• Report a problem opens the public issues page.
• The Updates page shows what changed in the installed version and says that your library is copied before an update changes how it is stored.
• The Keyboard Shortcuts page and the ? overlay list Close Tab, Find, Export, Focus Mode and the new navigation keys.
• Project details warn "You have unsaved changes" before you leave them, and deleting a project names it and says existing backups are kept.

Errors and empty states

• Export and backup failures say what to do next, for example when the disk is full, the folder is missing or a file is in use, instead of showing raw error text.
• An empty character list offers Create a character, and the empty Recorded changes and Canon views each have their own button.
• Update prompts show release notes as plain text.
• The welcome tour starts only on a true first launch, not again after a restart.
• A new author's first scene shows one welcome banner and a short "Begin your story..." placeholder instead of three stacked hints.

Fixed

• A stat change recorded at an earlier scene no longer drags later values backward, and a later level-up or equip no longer overwrites health recorded at the end of the story.
• PDF export works for a project with no author name.
• Saving Project Settings shows a short "Saved" note, and the next click on the rail works the first time.
• A Find match no longer opens the Canon & Spelling menu, and the match stays in view.
• Escape closes the character quick sheet, and dialogs opened from it appear above it.
• Exporting from Chapter view offers This scene while you are in a scene.
• Deleting a whole project also clears unsaved text kept for its scenes, so quitting no longer asks about a scene that is gone.
• Import review hides strong name scores in Detected entities and shows code blocks and tables whole in split mode.
• Chapter view labels its Export button, the tab strip no longer shows a scrollbar at rest, and many open tabs shrink and keep the active tab in view.
• The Level up message points to World › Stat Systems, and Help no longer suggests archiving a character, which does not exist; it suggests making a version first.
• The light theme no longer shows a dark scroll track in the editor, and the Settings menu follows the theme.
• Counts read "1 scene" and "1 book", empty scenes are shown muted rather than red, and remaining technical wording on Overview and in Settings is now plain language.
• Windows installer and portable builds use a ready-made app icon, so a build no longer depends on converting the icon while packaging. The icon you see is unchanged.

Release safety

• Saves, backups, restore and recorded stat changes continue through WriteIDE's project-scoped writers and temporal history; nothing becomes a second source of truth. Restoring from backups only reads the backup folders, and a damaged library file is never changed or deleted.
• Linked DOCX write-back and returned-PDF review remain disabled and are not part of this release. Existing manuscript import and export remain available.

WriteIDE remains free, local-first, and account-free. AI features remain disabled.