Smart Content

Auto-generated reference pages: tables of contents, bibliographies, indexes, and more

Smart Content is a set of auto-generated reference pages that read your project and produce the front-matter and back-matter your manuscript needs: table of contents, bibliography, character index, glossary, and a back-of-book index. Each one is its own content item in your project, so you can edit, share, export, and refresh it like any other piece of content.

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Smart Content is included on the Plus plan. The Pro plan adds AI-powered variants that build a TOC or compile a bibliography from manuscripts where you have not yet added structured headings or citations.

Overview

Each Smart Content type is a standalone content node in your project, just like a document or flowchart. You create one from the sidebar "+" menu, configure how it should read your project, and Plotiar regenerates it on demand from the latest state of your manuscript.

Smart Content items render in the editor like a normal page, can be opened in Split View next to the source document, can be made public, and are included automatically when you export an entire project.

  • •Five Smart Content types: Table of Contents, Bibliography, Character Index, Glossary, and Back-of-Book Index
  • •Deterministic generators (Plus) read your project structure directly - no AI, no per-run cost
  • •AI variants (Pro) handle projects that have not yet been marked up with headings, citations, or character entries
  • •Each item lives in your content tree and can be opened from any Split View pane
  • •Smart Content can be made public via public.plotiar.com just like any other content type

Covers (Cover Studio)

Cover pages are no longer a Smart Content type. Covers now live in Cover Studio, which you open from the project sidebar. Each project has one cover design, Cover Studio is available on every plan, and the cover art is always an image you upload. Export a print-ready PDF wrap with trim and bleed boxes, or JPGs for the ebook and audiobook covers.

  • •Front cover, spine and back cover designed together as one print wrap
  • •The same design re-laid out as an ebook cover (1600×2560) and an audiobook cover (3000×3000)
  • •Amazon KDP paperback geometry: 0.125 in bleed, spine width from page count and paper type (white, cream or color), spine text from 80 pages
  • •An ISBN barcode (EAN-13 with the 5-digit price add-on) generated from your ISBN
  • •33 genre type styles built on Google Fonts, each previewing your own title
  • •A print check that flags low-resolution art, text outside the safe area and unreadable contrast; plus a 3D mockup, a shelf test and named versions
  • •On Plus, Cover Studio does some of the work for you: one-click print fixes, colors sampled from your art and a page count kept in step with your manuscript
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Cover Studio can add your cover to manuscript exports automatically: as the EPUB cover image, and optionally as the first page of PDF and DOCX exports.

Table of Contents

The Table of Contents generator walks your project and collects every heading from your documents into a structured TOC, preserving heading levels and document order.

  • •Captures H1 through lower heading levels in order of occurrence
  • •Records the source document for every entry so the TOC matches your content tree
  • •Tracks word count and (in exports) page numbers per entry
  • •Regenerates from the latest manuscript state with one click
  • •Useful for project-wide navigation as well as for export front-matter

Bibliography

The Bibliography generator collects citations from your manuscript and renders them as a sorted reference list. Plotiar reads citations attached to documents (via the Citations system) and produces a formatted bibliography in your chosen style.

  • •Pulls every citation referenced across your manuscript
  • •Tracks how many times each reference is cited and where
  • •Auto-formats entries; you can override any single entry by hand
  • •Mark entries as excluded if you cite them but do not want them in the final list
  • •Stays in sync with the citations attached to your documents

Character Index

The Character Index lists every character that appears in your manuscript, how often they appear, where they first show up, and which documents include them. It draws from your project's Lore entries and from name detection across the manuscript.

  • •One entry per character with aliases collected and merged
  • •Appearance count and first-appearance document for each character
  • •Per-document appearance breakdown for navigation
  • •Optional category and color pulled from the matching Lore entry
  • •Useful as a back-matter index for novels with large casts

Glossary

The Glossary generator produces an alphabetical list of defined terms with their definitions. It reads from your Lore entries and any glossary terms you have explicitly marked, then renders them as a back-matter glossary.

  • •One entry per term with full definition
  • •Aliases (alternative spellings or names) merged into a single entry
  • •Optional category grouping
  • •Occurrence counts so rarely-used terms can be reviewed
  • •Ideal for fantasy, sci-fi, academic, and technical manuscripts

Back-of-Book Index

The Back-of-Book Index generator builds a true publication-style index - terms with subterms, cross-references, and document locations. Use it for non-fiction, academic work, or any manuscript where readers will need to look up topics.

  • •Terms with optional subterms and "see also" cross-references
  • •Per-term locations across documents in the project
  • •Regenerates against the latest manuscript state
  • •Lives alongside the Glossary so reference works can ship both

AI Variants (Pro)

Some projects do not yet have the structured input the deterministic generators need - a manuscript without H1 headings cannot produce a meaningful TOC, and a paper without inline citations cannot produce a bibliography. The Pro plan adds AI variants that read the manuscript text and infer the structure.

AI Table of Contents (Pro)

Reads the manuscript and proposes chapter and section headings even when the source is unstructured. Output is editable like any other TOC.

AI Bibliography (Pro)

Pulls source mentions out of the prose and drafts a bibliography. Human review is recommended for academic work.

AI Cover Assistant (Pro)

Inside Cover Studio, suggests layouts, typography and color for your cover, restyles it from a short brief, and drafts or critiques the back-cover blurb. It never generates cover art or imagery: the art is always the image you upload.
  • •AI variants count against your weekly Pro AI credit allowance (250 credits / week)
  • •BYOK is supported - connect your own Anthropic, OpenAI, or Google key in Account Settings
  • •Output is always editable - AI variants are a starting draft, not a locked file
  • •Deterministic versions remain available on Plus and produce no AI cost
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If you are already writing with structured headings and inline citations, stick with the deterministic generators. Use AI variants when you are working from an imported manuscript that has not yet been marked up.

Using Smart Content in Exports

When you export an entire project to PDF, DOCX, or EPUB, Plotiar automatically includes any Smart Content items in the right place: TOC at the front, bibliography and indexes at the back.

  • •Your Cover Studio cover becomes the EPUB cover image, and can optionally be the first page of PDF and DOCX exports
  • •Table of Contents inserts after the cover, with page numbers calculated at export time
  • •Bibliography, Character Index, Glossary, and Index render as back-matter in the order they appear in your content tree
  • •PDF and EPUB exports require the Plus plan
  • •DOCX and TXT exports are available on all plans
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See the Import & Export documentation for the full export pipeline, including multi-document bundling and per-format options.