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 a stack of cards on one plotline. A Plotloft scene holds one beat per plotline, which keeps the board readable at a glance. So a stacked chapter comes across as several scenes in a row, one per card, named after the cards. If your outline is a few big chapters that each hold a stack of scene cards (five acts with their scenes, say), those chapters become acts and every card becomes a scene inside its act.
A card whose chapter was deleted in Plottr isn't lost: it waits in at the bottom of the timeline. Drag it onto the board when you know where it goes.
Formatting inside descriptions (bold, italics) comes across as plain text; paragraphs and bullet lists keep their shape, and links keep their address in brackets. 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.