Novelcrafter

Revision History and Saving your Work

Novelcrafter automatically saves your work, and you can access past iterations in your revision history.

2 min read Last updated Jul 16, 2025

Saving your work

Novelcrafter automatically saves your work as you write, so you can focus on your story without worrying about losing progress.

Your work is automatically saved whenever you:

  • Switch between different parts of your novel
  • Leave a text field
  • Take a brief pause from typing

You’ll see a small save indicator in the sidebar that lets you know when your work is being saved. Every three minutes, Novelcrafter creates a revision entry of your scene. For example, if you’re writing for an hour, you’ll have a saved revision for every three-minute interval (0-2 minutes, 3-5 minutes, 6-8 minutes, and so on), with each new revision overwriting the previous one for that 3 minute chunk.

Accessing revision history

You can access the history of scenes you have written from the actions menu .

  1. Click on the scene level actions menu .

    Navigation between chapters in the write mode

  2. In the history , select scene contents .

  3. You will now see your revision history, and can restore previous versions.

    Navigation between chapters in the write mode

I accidentally deleted something!

If you accidentally delete something, don’t panic! We can recover your data from any point within the last 30 days. You’ll need to submit a support ticket, giving us permission to access your story (and the novel details so we can find it!). While recovery might take a little time, your work isn’t lost forever.

How can I protect my work?

Best practices for protecting your work include:

  1. Work in a single browser window
  2. Export your work regularly (we recommend weekly backups)
  3. Always export before making major changes to your novel
  4. If collaborating with other writers, coordinate your writing sessions to avoid overlap

These are widely considered good practices for any software you work with, not simply writing-based applications.

What about when I’m working on a shared novel?

While real-time collaboration is on our development roadmap, it is not currently available. If you’re working with a writing partner, establish clear communication about when each person will be working on the novel to prevent any data conflicts.