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Customize a Project model

Plan: Pro.

Built-in templates and Story views cover common novel-planning needs. Create a custom model only when the Project needs its own entity types, properties, or relationship meanings.

To reduce rework:

  1. List the entity and event types the Project needs.
  2. Define reusable custom properties.
  3. Define relationship types and groups.
  4. Create card templates that use those properties and relationships.
  5. Test the model with a small number of cards and Story views.
  6. Migrate older cards only after the model is stable.

Custom card templates​

Open Templates. The available tabs are Entity Templates, Event Templates, Relation Templates, and Writing Templates.

Built-in templates are read-only. To adapt one, select Duplicate, choose Global or Project as the copy's scope, and edit the copy. A custom template can define:

  • a stable Template ID, name, and description;
  • surface and Category preset;
  • icon, color, and avatar field;
  • creation-form fields and order;
  • property references and relationship slots;
  • Content sections;
  • entity parent, grouping, and membership behavior; and
  • event timing, required fields, and relationship groups.

Once cards use a Template ID, keep it stable even if the display name changes. Resolve validation messages before saving.

Custom properties​

Create shared properties in the template editor, then add them to a template. Available types include short and long text, number, single and multiple choice, status, date, checkbox, link, email, phone, file, media, relationship, formula, and rollup.

For each property, define:

  • a stable, readable property identifier;
  • its display name, default value, and whether it is required;
  • choices and colors for single- or multiple-choice fields;
  • the result type for a formula; and
  • the source, target field, and calculation for a rollup.

Avoid several fields with nearly the same meaning. One stable residence field is easier to use in Spreadsheets, filters, and migrations than separate home, homePlace, and residence fields.

Custom relationships​

Use Relation Templates to manage relationship groups and types. A relationship type can define:

  • a label, color, and solid, dashed, or dotted line;
  • a directional, bidirectional, containment, membership, or association meaning;
  • an inverse relationship and label;
  • allowed source and destination templates;
  • whether the same pair of cards can have more than one relationship; and
  • whether it is available for grouping, Relationship graph, or template relationship slots.

After saving, create the relationship from a card's inspector, then review its direction, label, grouping, and filters in Relationship graph.

Migrate existing cards​

Adding a custom structure does not automatically add or rename fields in existing cards. To review a migration:

  1. Back up the complete Project.
  2. In Story, open Delivery workflow and select Metadata Migration Preview.
  3. Review System, Properties, Relations, Defaults, Unknown, and No-op results.
  4. Search and select only changes whose meaning you have verified.
  5. Review the summary, select Apply selected patches, and then use Confirm and apply.
  6. Reopen several representative cards and inspect the related Spreadsheet and Relationship graph views.

Unknown categories are preserved instead of being changed to a default without confirmation. If a suggestion is unclear, leave it unselected and inspect the original Markdown manually.

Downgrade and recovery​

Free and Plus can continue to create files from existing custom templates, and can read and preserve advanced content. They cannot create or change custom template, property, relationship, or visual-structure definitions, or run metadata migrations. Downgrading does not remove custom fields from the Project.

Before modeling, review Templates workspace and Plans and features.