The Context Panel
Notes, annotations, and snapshots help you work around the text without crowding the text itself. Use them for reminders, revision marks, and recent version history.
What it is
The context panel is the quiet column on the right side of the editor. It holds everything that belongs with a document but not in it: your working notes, the remarks you pinned to passages, and the document’s snapshot history. The idea is to keep that material one glance away while you write, without it ever touching the document itself. Nothing in the panel counts toward your word count and nothing in it ends up in normal reading exports; it is your side of the desk, not the page.
Opening and closing
The panel button sits at the right of the row beneath the project header. Choose it to open or close the context panel. You can also press Ctrl/Cmd + Shift + .. The panel starts closed, so the editor opens with just your text. Zen Mode hides the panel, and its tools are unavailable while you are viewing an archived project.
The three tabs
The panel is organised into three tabs, each covered in its own page of this guide.
Notes comes first and is the tab the panel opens on. It holds freeform jottings for the document: reminders, loose threads, anything you want nearby but not in the text.
Annotations lists the remarks you have pinned to passages of the document, in story order. It works hand in hand with the editor: clicking a highlighted passage in your text opens the panel straight to this tab and flashes the matching card, and the cards can jump the editor back to their passage.
Snapshots shows the document’s automatic version history: the current state at the top, then checkpoints grouped by day with their word changes. From here you preview and restore earlier versions.
The panel opens where you need it. If you click an annotation highlight, it opens on Annotations. If you are previewing a snapshot, it opens on Snapshots.
On smaller screens
On smaller screens, the panel no longer takes up permanent space beside your text. Use the same button in the header to slide it in from the right. It still contains all three tabs and a Close button. Actions that return you to the text, such as jumping to an annotated passage or opening a snapshot preview, close the panel automatically.
Good to know
- The panel follows the open document on purpose; what it shows is always the current document’s notes, annotations, and snapshots.
- In archived projects, documents can be viewed but not changed. Notes, annotations, and snapshot tools are unavailable until you unarchive the project.
- Clicking an annotation highlight in the editor opens the panel if needed, both on larger and smaller screens.
- The keyboard shortcut works on desktop only, and not while Zen Mode is active. Leave Zen Mode first, then open the panel.
- The panel is a working surface, not part of the document. You can keep it open all day or never open it at all; your text and normal reading exports are identical either way.