Getting Started

Your first five minutes with Plotiar

Welcome to Plotiar -- a collaborative workspace built for writers, planners, and creative teams. Whether you are drafting your first novel, managing a content calendar, or brainstorming with a remote team, Plotiar gives you documents, flowcharts, idea boards, task boards, plot grids, calendars, corkboards, family trees, maps, lore, and more in a single place. This guide walks you through your first five minutes so you can start creating right away.

Creating an Account

Getting started takes less than a minute. No credit card or email verification required.

1
Visit the app
Go to app.plotiar.com. You will be redirected to the sign-up page automatically.
2
Sign up with email or Google
Create an account using your email address, or sign in instantly with your Google account. Either way, your workspace is ready the moment you finish.
3
Land on your workspace
After signing in, you arrive at the Projects dashboard -- your home base for everything you create in Plotiar.

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If you sign up with Google, your display name and profile picture are imported automatically. You can change them later in Account Settings.

Navigating the Workspace

Plotiar is organized around two main views: the Projects dashboard and the Project workspace. You will move between them constantly, so it helps to understand what each one does.

Projects Dashboard

Your home screen. This is where you see all your projects displayed as cards. Use the search bar to find projects by name or tag, apply tag filters to narrow the list, and sort by name, creation date, or last modified. You can also switch between a card view and a compact table view depending on your preference.

Project Workspace

Open any project to enter its workspace. Here you will find a sidebar with your content tree on the left and the active document, flowchart, idea board, task board, or plot grid on the right. Everything you need for a project lives in one place.

Creating Your First Project

Projects are the top-level containers for all your work. Each project can hold documents, flowcharts, idea boards, task boards, plot grids, calendars, corkboards, family trees, maps, lore, and folders to keep them organized.

1
Click "New Project"
From the Projects dashboard, click the "New Project" button in the top-right corner. A dialog will appear asking for basic details.
2
Name your project and add tags
Give your project a descriptive title. Optionally, add tags like "novel", "research", or "client work" to help you find it later when your list grows.
3
Start adding content
Once inside the project, use the "+" button in the sidebar to add your first piece of content -- pick from documents, flowcharts, idea boards, task boards, plot grids, calendars, corkboards, family trees, maps, or lore. You can also create folders to organize items.

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You can also start from a template. When creating a project, browse the template gallery to find pre-built structures for novels, screenplays, research papers, business plans, and more. Templates give you a head start with folders, documents, and sample content already in place.

When you first sign up, a Getting Started checklist appears on your Projects dashboard to guide you through creating your first project, adding content, and exploring key features. Complete the steps at your own pace, or dismiss the checklist if you prefer to explore on your own.

Quick Tour of the Interface

Once you are inside a project, the interface is divided into three main areas. Here is what each one does and how to use it.

Sidebar (Left)

The sidebar displays your project's content tree -- a collapsible, draggable hierarchy of folders, documents, flowcharts, and other content types. Click any item to open it. Right-click for options like rename, duplicate, move, or delete. Use the "+" button at the top to add new items. At the bottom of the sidebar you will find your user menu, notifications, and active collaborator indicators. You can collapse the sidebar to maximize your editing space.

Right Panel

Toggle the right panel open to access contextual tools without leaving your current document or flowchart. Panels include Details (name, description, tags, status), Versions (snapshots and the draft selector), Changelog, Notes, Tasks, Comments, and Bookmarks. Each panel is scoped to whatever content you currently have open.

Content Area (Center)

This is where you do your actual work. When you open a document, you see the rich text editor with its formatting toolbar. When you open a flowchart, you see the node canvas. The content area adapts to whatever content type is active. You can also use Split View to work with multiple pieces of content side by side.

The right panel holds contextual tools like Details, Versions, Changelog, Notes, Tasks, Comments, and Bookmarks -- all scoped to whatever content you currently have open. Toggle it open and closed as needed.

•Collapse the left sidebar by clicking the toggle arrow to give yourself more writing space
•Use keyboard shortcuts to speed up common actions -- you will find a full list in the Keyboard Shortcuts documentation
•Your work saves automatically. The sync indicator in the editor toolbar shows the current save status: synced, syncing, offline, or error