User Guide
Everything you need to write, format, review, and share a manuscript in Unblock Studio.
What is Unblock Studio?
Unblock Studio is a distraction-free home for long-form writing. You break a manuscript into chapters, write in plain Markdown, and every time you save, the studio keeps a versioned snapshot — so you can revise fearlessly and look back at how a scene grew.
The workflow has three moments: writing (drafting and revising chapters), reading (seeing the clean, reader-facing manuscript), and reviewing (leaving comments anchored to the text). The rest of this guide walks through each.
Writing
Open a chapter from Write and type. The editor highlights your manuscript as you go: formatting marks and notes are dimmed, while bold and italic text appear with their real styling and headings grow larger. The marks stay visible so you always know exactly what you wrote.
Three view modes sit at the top-right of the editor:
- Write — just your source text, the calmest view.
- Split — source on the left, a live reader preview on the right.
- Preview — the reader-facing result on its own.
Press ⌘S (or Ctrl S) to save. You can add an optional commit message to describe the change — useful when you look back through history later.
Formatting your manuscript
Manuscripts use a deliberately small set of Markdown. That keeps your source clean and your prose front and center.
| You write | What it does |
|---|---|
# The Salt Harbor | Title — the chapter or manuscript heading. |
## Chapter One | Subtitle / section heading. |
**bruised sky** | Bold text. |
*gulls* | Italic text. |
* * * | Scene separator — a break between scenes. |
> a private note | An in-manuscript note. Visible while writing, hidden from readers. |
<!-- a hidden note --> | A hidden comment. Never shown to readers. |
See it in action
The Salt Harbor
The harbor lay still under a bruised sky.
Nora counted the gulls as they wheeled above the pier.
Notice the >note never reaches the reader — that's by design, covered next.
Notes & comments
There are two ways to leave a mark on a manuscript, and they serve different purposes.
In-manuscript notes
A line that starts with >, or anything wrapped in <!-- ... -->, is a private note. You see these while writing, but they are always hidden in the reader and in any shared view. Use them for reminders to yourself — “check this date”, “rewrite this paragraph” — without affecting the finished text.
Review comments
When reading a chapter, select a passage to attach a comment to it. Review comments are anchored to the exact text you highlighted and pinned to the version they were written against, so feedback stays tied to the words it was about — even after the chapter is revised.
Reading & reviewing
The reader shows the clean manuscript — formatted prose with every note stripped out. An outline lets you jump between headings, and your reading preferences (a serif or sans‑serif typeface and font size) are yours to set under Settings; they change how you read without touching the source.
Reviewers and editors read in the same view and leave comments inline, keeping feedback close to the text and out of the writer's way.
Versions & history
Every save is an immutable snapshot. Nothing is overwritten — the studio appends a new version each time, with the optional message you provided. You can open a chapter's history to see how it evolved and restore an earlier version if a revision didn't work out. Think of it as version control for prose: revise boldly, knowing every draft is kept.
Sharing & collaboration
A manuscript is private by default — only you (and an administrator) can see it. Make it public to let other signed-in readers explore it, or add collaborators with a specific role on the project.
Roles form a ladder — reader, reviewer, editor, author — each able to do a little more than the last. Readers read, reviewers add comments, editors revise the text, and authors create and own manuscripts. You always control who sees your work and what they can do with it.