Publishing and sharing a read-only copy

An analysis is meant to be discussed: with the author, with a colleague, with a publishing house. Share publishes a read-only copy of whatever you are looking at — a file with its analysis, a plot, a moodboard, a screenplay, a blocks set — and gives you a web address to send to whoever you want. Whoever opens it sees the same interfaces as the editor: the manuscript with its analysis dashboard, the timeline, the visual board, the scenes. No editing commands, no app navigation and no AI calls.

What whoever opens the link sees

• the ChronoEditor logo and your name as the author of the copy;
• the content with the editor's own look: manuscript layout, plot cards, board images, screenplay scenes, blocks modules;
• the views, which change nothing: opening and closing the analysis panel, switching from linear timeline to character network, filtering by character, expanding or collapsing the scenes;
• a single invitation: to sign up for ChronoEditor.

There are no editing buttons, nothing is saved, nothing is exported and no AI is called: the copy really is read-only, not just in the interface.

How to publish

The Share command sits in the bar of the tool you have open:

• editor — publishes the active file, with or without the analysis (the “Include the narrative analysis in the copy” checkbox);
• Plot Studio — publishes the active plot;
• visual board — publishes the moodboard, images and stickers included;
• screenplay — publishes the scenes in the order they are in;
• blocks — publishes the modules of the active blocks set.

The first time you publish, the link is created; afterwards the same command shows the live address, with Copy link, Open and Withdraw the share. Publishing costs no credits: it is an operation on your project, not an AI call.

It is a copy, not a view of the project

What you publish is a snapshot: a photograph of the content at the moment of publication. The consequences are deliberate:

• carrying on working in private does not change the shared page: whoever has the link sees the version you published;
• the published analysis stays the one from that moment, even if you later re-run the analysis on the manuscript;
• if the file is very long, the copy publishes part of the text and says so in the top bar;
• withdrawing a share does not touch the project: the content stays yours, only the link disappears.

A published link is a live link until you withdraw it: if the manuscript is confidential, share it with the right person and withdraw it when you are done.

Withdrawing a share

Withdraw the share deletes the copy: from then on the address answers 404 with a page explaining that the content is no longer available. The list of shares stays in the project, so you can see what you published and what you withdrew. If you delete the project — or your account — every copy published from that project is withdrawn with it: a copy does not survive the deletion of your data.

Indexing and confidentiality

Copy pages are noindex: they do not end up in search engines and have no inbound links from the app. Whoever has the link can open it, forward it and save it — like any web address — so treat the link as the document it contains. The moodboard images served in the copy are only the ones inside that share: the public address does not open your file store.

When it helps

• Let someone read an analysis without giving access to the project: an outside editor sees the full dashboard — characters, events, themes, timeline — and cannot touch anything.
• Discuss a plot with a co-author or a consultant, with the cards in their place.
• Present a moodboard to whoever decides, without sending images one by one.
• Show a screenplay as a script, with headings and dialogue already laid out.
• Show the modules of a manuscript broken into parts, with the weight of each one.

Common mistakes

• Expecting the copy to follow your edits: it is a snapshot. If the text changes, publish again from the same command: the link stays the same and the copy is updated.
• Looking for an edit button in the link: there is none, and that is the point: whoever opens the copy cannot change anything, not even by accident.
• Thinking the link is private: it is a public, non-indexed address. Treat it as such.
• Forgetting to withdraw: a published link stays reachable until you withdraw it.
• Confusing the copy with an export: the copy is a web page to read; the export is a file to work on (RTF, TXT, MD, HTML).

In short

Share turns what you are working on into a public read-only page: logo, author, content in the editor's own layout and an invitation to sign up. No commands, no AI calls, no possible edit — and a withdrawal that deletes the link when you no longer need it.

Related guides: narrative analysis: plot, characters and continuity · blocks editor: the manuscript in modules · screenplay: from story to scenes.