Coming from Plottr
Plotloft reads Plottr's own project file, so you don't retype your
outline. In the library, choose
(or the link at the bottom of ) and
pick your .pltr file. Each book becomes a manuscript on your
shelf; a single book opens straight away.
Your Plottr file is only read, never changed, so you can keep using Plottr while you try Plotloft side by side.
What comes across
| In Plottr | In Plotloft |
|---|---|
| Plotlines | Plotlines, in the same order. Colours move to the nearest Plotloft colour, so your colour coding survives and still suits the light and dark themes. |
| Chapters (or scenes, if that's your lowest level) | Scenes, in order, with their titles. Untitled chapters are numbered the way Plottr shows them. |
| Acts, or any top level above chapters | Acts. A middle level (acts, then chapters, then scenes) is kept in the scene title, like The Storm · Aftermath. |
| Cards | Beats, with the description as the beat's summary and the characters, places and tags attached to it. Your card's custom attributes become beat fields. |
| Characters | Characters, with their description as the tagline, their categories, and their notes and custom attributes in a From Plottr tab. |
| Places, tags and notes | The same, with their text. |
| A series | One manuscript per book, shelved together as a series. Characters and places go to the books they belong to. If you used the Series view's plotlines, they arrive as a manuscript of their own. |
The one difference to know
A Plottr chapter can hold several cards on the same plotline. A Plotloft scene holds one beat per plotline, which keeps the board readable at a glance. When a chapter has more than one card on a plotline, the first goes on the board and the rest wait in at the bottom of the timeline, labelled with where they came from. Nothing is dropped. Drag each one onto an empty spot, or add a scene for it.
Formatting inside descriptions (bold, italics) comes across as plain text; paragraphs and bullet lists keep their shape. Images aren't imported.
Plottr's file format has changed over the years. If part of your project is missing after an import, write to hello@plotloft.com and say which part. We'll fix the importer, and nothing in your Plottr file is at risk in the meantime.