Non-fiction writing software for an argument that has to hold together.

One argument across one manuscript

A long argument rarely respects the boundary between chapter files. In Tabularia, the book stays one continuous composition. The outline, the minimap, search, and working scope are the ways into it.

Narrow the workspace to the chapter or section in front of you. It is still not separated from the claims, the definitions, the worked examples, and the evidence developed elsewhere in the manuscript.

An outline to start from

A new project can open on one of four non-fiction outlines — Memoir, Biography, Book Proposal, or Self-Help — and each names its own chapters, because there the sections are the method. A proposal arrives with the eight sections a publisher reads, in the order they read them.

Each chapter carries a note saying what that section is for, shown beside it in the outline, and every part of it is ordinary afterwards: rename it, reorder it, or delete it. Nothing is written into the prose. The shapes guide lists what each one includes.

Footnotes that behave like footnotes

A note is part of the manuscript rather than text typed at the bottom of a page. It numbers itself, renumbers when the passage around it moves, and follows whichever convention its Book uses — so a series can count one Book's notes straight through and start the next Book's again at every chapter without you tracking any of it.

Exports carry them across as real notes rather than flattening them into the body text: a Word file gets Word's own footnotes, a PDF sets each at the foot of its page, and an EPUB links each to its reference. That is the part that matters when an editor or a typesetter opens the file. The notes in a Word document you bring in arrive the same way, as footnotes rather than stray paragraphs at the end.

Research beside the page

Sheets keep the material a chapter depends on within reach of the words. Four templates ship — People, Places, Items, and Concepts — and each is a small set of fields rather than a blank note. Sheets can reference one another. A point anchor ties a sheet or a note to the exact place in the manuscript it belongs to, so the source of a claim is one click from the claim.

Citation management, generated bibliographies, and style-guide checking are on the way rather than in it today; for now a sheet holds the reference as you record it, beside the passage that needs it.

Following a thread through a long argument

Timelines map a thread across the whole manuscript and mark the passages where it surfaces: an argument as it is built, a case study as it recurs, a term as its meaning is refined. The outline and the minimap carry the shape of the work while you write. Narrowing the working scope brings one section into view without cutting it off from the rest.

Revision, and a collaborator's marks

An alternative draft holds a second version of a paragraph, a chapter, or the whole manuscript, so restructuring an argument does not cost you the version it came from. Merging one back reads as a redline. Snapshots preserve a revision point before a large pass. With a Cloud subscription a manuscript can be shared for review, and the changes and comments that come back are read beside the passage they concern rather than in a separate document.

Bring the manuscript you already have

Existing chapters, notes, and research can come across from common manuscript files and supported writing-app exports. The import guide explains every supported route and what each one preserves. When the book needs to go to an editor, reader, or another tool, the export guide explains which destination fits.

Keep the whole book within reach

Explore the product tour or compare the Local and Cloud plans on the Pricing page.