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Troubleshooting

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Rodrigo Manuel Ferreira Paiva edited this page Aug 16, 2026 · 2 revisions

Troubleshooting

Data and storage

My world has disappeared

PlotWeave keeps everything in the browser's IndexedDB. Data is lost if you:

  • Cleared your browser's site data or cache.
  • Used a private/incognito window (data goes when the window closes).
  • Uninstalled or reset the browser.

Prevention: export regularly, or bind the world to a sync folder so saving is automatic.

Recovery: import your most recent .pwk.

A world is slow to load

Large worlds with many events and high-resolution map images take longer.

  • Resize map images before uploading — under about 4000×4000 is comfortable.
  • Prefer uploads over very large linked images if the source is slow.

An import fails immediately

  1. Confirm the file is a genuine PlotWeave export, not something renamed to .pwk.
  2. If the export was split, select the .pwk and the .pwb together.
  3. Check the browser console (F12 → Console) for the specific error.

Something's missing after a merge

A merge keeps both sides' list entries and asks you about conflicting single values. Deletions are applied — if a record you expected is gone, it was deleted on the other device. A record edited after its deletion is kept.

See Export and Import → Merging.

The time cursor

A character's state doesn't change when I move the cursor

That's usually inheritance working correctly: with no snapshot at the active event, the most recent earlier one carries forward.

Open the character's History tab to see which events actually have recorded snapshots.

I edited state and it changed at earlier events too

You edited a snapshot that was being inherited, so your edit landed at the event that owns it. Record the intended state at the earlier event first, then edit the later one separately.

A character shows as dead when they should be alive

Set the cursor to the event in question and correct the alive toggle on Current State. That writes a snapshot at that event; earlier events are untouched.

Maps

Characters aren't appearing

  1. The cursor must be on an event where they have a location.
  2. The marker must be on the layer you're looking at — not a sub-map, and not a different floor.

The location panel keeps opening

It shouldn't from cursor movement. Moving the time cursor pans the map; the panel opens only when you pick a place from the sidebar, from search, or by clicking its pin.

Map images won't load

  • Use PNG or JPG.
  • Very large files (over ~20 MB) can fail silently in some browsers — resize first.
  • A linked image needs an internet connection and a source that's still up.

Measure is greyed out

It unlocks once the map has a scale. Both live in the ⋯ menu.

Export as PNG is missing part of the map

A linked (cross-origin) map image may not be drawable to a canvas. Uploaded maps always export.

Continuity Checker

Travel violations for everyone

The travel checks need all three of: a map scale, travel modes with speeds, and travel days on events. Any one missing skews the arithmetic. Set them up, then re-run.

Warnings on a flashback

Check Is flashback on the event. Flashbacks are excluded from travel and staleness checks.

A suppressed finding came back

Suppressions travel with the world in .pwk. If you imported an older export made before you suppressed it, the suppression wasn't in that file.

Reading mode

Screens and buttons are missing

The world is in reading mode, which puts away everything that only makes sense to the writer — Manuscript, Structure, Corkboard, undo/redo, the Writer's Brief, the Continuity Checker, and every add/generate/delete control.

Turn it off in Settings and everything returns exactly as it was.

Most of my cast is missing

That's the point — reading mode hides what the story hasn't introduced by your chapter cursor. Move the cursor forward, or select All chapters to reveal everything.

Undo

Undo is greyed out right after an import

Importing a world, generating one from AI, or importing a manuscript starts a fresh history. Your work is safe; it just can't be stepped back through. Export before a big import.

I can't undo an edit from earlier in the session

History is a stack — only the newest edit can be undone. Taking one from the middle would leave later edits resting on a state that never existed. Recent changes (the clock icon) shows the stack.

Themes

The app looks broken after switching themes

Hard-refresh (Ctrl+Shift+R, or ⌘+Shift+R). If it persists, clear the plotweave-ui key from local storage and reload.

Performance

The relationship graph is sluggish

With a very large cast, use the character page's Relationships tab to browse in list form instead of the graph.

Reporting a bug

  1. Note any error from the browser console (F12 → Console).
  2. Export the world so the problem can be reproduced.
  3. Open an issue at https://github.com/SirFoxworthTheThird/PlotWeave/issues with the steps to reproduce and the error text.

PlotWeave Wiki

Start here

Bringing a story in

Writing

Story elements

Checking your work

Reference

Clone this wiki locally