Every version of your chapter, kept
Last checked against the product November 11, 2026
Revision is braver when nothing is lost. In the Novelmint Studio, each chapter keeps its own history: a checkpoint whenever you save one. Save before you build and the plan behind each draft is on file. Open any earlier version and read it as it stood - the beats, the structure and the prose that was built from it - then take back the parts you want. When Minty, the editor built into the Studio, changes your book, one click undoes her last round of edits, and a scene she deleted comes back with its prose. Your book and its history are yours.
Key takeaways
- Every chapter in Novelmint keeps its own list of versions. Save checkpoint, in the header of the Timeline, saves a new version of every chapter you changed since the last one.
- Save a checkpoint before you build a chapter, and that version keeps the plan the new draft came from.
- Any earlier version opens to be read: its beats, its structure and the prose built from it. A beat is one story moment, such as a scene or an exchange, and a chapter is usually a handful of them.
- Undo last change, in Minty’s chat panel, reverses her most recent round of edits and leaves alone anything you changed afterwards. A beat she deleted comes back with its prose.
- Branch a book from any chapter to try another direction on a private copy, and make the branch the real book if you prefer it. The old version is kept as a branch you can switch back to.
- Every deleted beat and chapter is archived before it goes. Restoring a whole checkpoint in one step is on the roadmap.
What it does
What it keeps
Checkpoints of the chapters you changed
Save checkpoint saves a new version of every chapter with edits since its last one, each chapter on its own, so an untouched chapter is not copied again. The header tells you how many chapters have unsaved changes.
The plan behind each draft
Save a checkpoint before you build a chapter, and that version holds the plan the new draft was written from. Rebuild it a few times and each plan stays on file.
Earlier versions to read and copy from
The Versions button on a chapter lists its history, newest first, with the date, the word count and how each version was made. View opens one with three tabs: Structure, Beats and Prose. Copy a line, a beat or a whole scene back into your current draft.
One-click undo for Minty
Minty can add and edit beats, chapters, characters, plot threads and documents, and move or delete beats, when you ask her to. Undo last change reverses her most recent round, and you can click again to step further back. A change you made by hand afterwards stays put.
Branches for the big what-ifs
Branch the book from a chapter and you get a private copy of its plan from there to the end: beats, plot threads and the story bible. Build it, read it, and if it wins, Make this Main swaps the two versions, prose included. Today’s version stays as a branch, so you can switch back the same way. Minty can make and switch branches for you.
Deleted scenes come back
Every deleted beat and chapter is archived first, whoever deleted it. When you undo a round in which Minty deleted a beat, the beat returns with its prose.
Who changed what
Ask Minty where a beat went or who changed a chapter. She checks the book’s record of recent changes and tells you which were yours and which an AI made.
How to use it
From a risky edit to a safe one
Save a checkpoint before a big change
Open your book’s Timeline - the plan of the book, chapter by chapter and beat by beat - and press Save checkpoint in the header. Every chapter you changed gets a new version.
Revise freely
Rewrite beats, reorder them, rebuild the chapter. Save a checkpoint before each rebuild and the plan you are replacing is kept too.
Open the chapter’s Versions
Press Versions on the chapter to see its history. Each row says when the version was made, how long it was and how it was saved.
Read the version you want
Press View. Structure shows the beats with their plot threads, Beats shows the plan as written, and Prose shows the text that was built from that version.
Bring back what worked
Copy the lines, beats or scenes you want into your current chapter. If the change you regret was Minty’s, press Undo last change in her panel instead.
Example
What a chapter’s history looks like
You ask
Versions for chapter 7, "The Salt Road"
You get back
- Version 6 - today - 3,140 words - Saved by you
- Version 5 - yesterday - 3,020 words - Saved by you
- Version 4 - two days ago - 2,880 words - Saved by you
- View on version 4: the Prose tab shows the ending you cut, with Ilsa still on the quay. Copy the last two paragraphs back into today’s draft.
An illustration with an invented chapter, to show the shape of the list. Your history comes from your own book.
Questions
Frequently asked
- Does Novelmint keep earlier versions of my chapters?
- Yes. Each chapter keeps its own list of versions. You add one with Save checkpoint in the Timeline header. Open Versions on a chapter to see them all.
- What does an earlier version show?
- The plan and the prose as they stood: the chapter’s beats, their structure with plot threads, and the text that was built from that version. If no prose was built from it, the viewer says so.
- Can I restore an old checkpoint?
- Today you open any earlier version to read it and copy from it into your current chapter. Restoring a whole book or chapter to a checkpoint in one step is on the roadmap.Roadmap
- How do I undo something Minty changed?
- Press Undo last change in Minty’s chat panel. It reverses her most recent round of edits - the beats, chapters, characters, plot threads, books and documents she added or edited, and the beats she moved or deleted - and restores only what she changed, so edits you made afterwards stay. Press it again to step further back.
- Can I get back a scene that was deleted?
- Every deleted beat and chapter is archived before it is removed. If Minty deleted a beat, undoing her change brings it back with its prose.
- Can I branch a book to try a different direction?
- Yes. Open a chapter on the Timeline and press Branch from here in its header. The branch copies the plan from that chapter to the end, and the chapters before it stay shared with the main book. Switch between them from the pill beside the readiness bar. If you prefer the branch, Make this Main swaps them and keeps the old version as a branch. Free plans get one branch per book and paid plans three.
- Is a branch ever published?
- No. Readers only ever see the main book. To publish a branch’s chapters, make it the main book first; that waits until the main chapters it would change are unpublished.
- Does saving a checkpoint cost credits?
- No. A checkpoint records your chapter as it stands and writes no prose.
What this page does not claim
- Earlier versions open to be read and copied from. Restoring a whole checkpoint in one step is on the roadmap and not available yet.
- Branches swap whole versions; they do not merge scenes from one version into another.
- Undo last change covers Minty’s own edits. It does not reverse a chapter build, and the chapters and story bible entries she deleted are archived but not brought back by undo.
- A locked chapter is not checkpointed again until you unlock it.
- The sample history on this page is invented. It is not taken from a real book.
Keep reading
Why a chapter can keep its history
Novelmint plans a book in beats and builds the prose from them, so a version is more than a copy of the text: it is the plan and the draft together. The same structure is what lets you export the whole project and what records who made each decision.
Related
Plan a book with Minty
Talk the story through and watch it become chapters and scenes on your Timeline.
Chapter builds
Turn a chapter’s beats into prose, written from your plan, your bible, and your voice.
Bring your own AI key
Build chapters on your own Anthropic, OpenAI, Google, xAI or OpenRouter key, or on the AI your credits include. Your choice, per series.
Choose your AI model
Pick the AI model that writes your series, compared on measured writing quality and cost, and pin a different one to any single beat.
Revise without losing the draft that worked.
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