Frequently asked questions

A manuscript editor built for finishing a book. Chapters live in books. Authors write in a calm screen. Editors organise the book, share it, and run structure and proofread tools. Viewers can read without changing a word.

Four things set it apart: an AI editor for spelling, punctuation, and layout; story structure at three levels of detail for rapid review; editor notes that flag issues and link straight into the text; and auto checkpoints with AI summaries so you never lose a version.

Yes — and they often are. The editor is backed by AI and automation, so one person can write, run proofreads, generate structure, and manage the book without switching tools or accounts.

We keep the roles separate so authors who prefer to focus on writing can do exactly that, without seeing complex features. An editor creates and owns the book, invites the author, and can hide admin or AI tools for them. We cater to all levels of computer proficiency — from beginners who want a calm writing screen to experienced authors managing every detail.

Those tools are strong at many jobs — and awkward when the job is a shared book.

Docs / Word treat a novel like one long file or a folder of files. There is no story outline you can scan at a glance, no proofread that catches errors without rewriting your voice, and no editor notes that point straight into the paragraph. StrikeThrough gives you all three — plus clear roles so you know who can do what.

Scrivener is excellent for solo desktop drafting. But sharing a live manuscript with an editor means exports, sync folders, and version confusion — and it has no AI proofread or linked editorial notes. Here you invite by email, pick a role, and open the same book in the browser.

Notion suits wikis and tasks. It was not designed for a book-length manuscript: no AI outline at three depths, no proofread pass for the page, and no notes that link feedback to the exact paragraph. StrikeThrough is built for the author — structure, clean pages, and guidance, in one place.

On each book you assign a role. That sets the defaults; you can still turn individual permissions on or off for that person.

Author — write chapters, autosave, and work with editor notes. By default they don’t manage the book or run AI updates.

Editor — organise chapters, invite people, and run outline, notes, and proofread tools.

Viewer — read-only: same manuscript, no edits.

Separately, the People page sets account-wide roles (who can create books and manage users). That is not the same as what someone can do inside a particular book.

The person who creates the book is the owner and always has full access on that book. So if you want an author to see only writing (not admin or AI), the editor should create the book, then invite the author under Who can access as Author.

From there open Permissions for that person and turn off what you don’t want — for example Manage AI, Manage book, or even View outline / editor notes / proofreading — so their home and sidebar stay ultra simple.

Tip: don’t make the author the book owner if you need to restrict them; own it as editor and share them in.

Every book has a living outline so you always know what you have. Switch between three levels of detail without rereading every chapter:

Chapters — the spine. Brief — a quick skim. Full — a deeper chapter summary.

Editors generate and refresh the outline. Authors can open it anytime for review.

Feedback on what may need work in the manuscript — repetition, gaps, unfinished threads, thin spots, and similar. Each note points into the paragraph it concerns, so you jump from the issue to the text instead of hunting through a separate doc.

Notes are guidance, not automated rewrites. You decide what to fix, and can mark each note Open, Done, or Disagree so everyone sees what is still outstanding.

It corrects spelling, punctuation, and layout so pages are clean enough to publish — without rewriting your voice, dialect, or style. You see the strike, review the fix, and accept or undo.

The proofreading area also shows status before details, with an indicator when chapters are still outstanding for proofreading.

StrikeThrough saves a checkpoint when you’ve changed enough words to matter (about 150), when you accept a proofread, or when you restore an older version. Each one can get an AI summary of what changed. Small tidy-ups are skipped so the list stays useful.

Browse the timeline (Writing, Proofread, Went back), preview any version, and restore. Restoring adds a new checkpoint — older snapshots are never deleted.

From home, open the book’s Who can access page (editors who manage that book). Invite someone by account or email and choose a role — viewer, author, or editor. Sharing covers the whole book: outline, notes, and every chapter.

After sharing, use Permissions to customize what that person can see and do — without changing their account role for the whole app.

When a book is shared, anyone on a chapter appears as active to others on that chapter. You see who is there, jump to their place in the text, and — when they save — see the page update live. “Where are you in chapter 7?” becomes one click.

Yes. Presence shows who is on a chapter; autosaves appear for others viewing the same page. Prefer clear roles when you can — one drafting, one reviewing — rather than a typing race. The product is built for thoughtful manuscript work.

Chapters open at the top so you always know where you are. A “jump to where I was” control scrolls you back — including when you were last there. Authors also get a short memory of what they last changed.

Yes. Each user has writing helper settings in the account menu: steady mouse, disable right-click, block zoom shortcuts, and block zoom gestures.

These are per-user preferences. Editors can also set them for authors from the People section in the dashboard.

Editors can import .docx files or a .zip of documents into a book. Each file becomes a chapter; rename and reorder from the dashboard. Export from Word, Google Docs, Scrivener, or similar as .docx first if needed.

Yes. StrikeThrough can send a daily ZIP for each book with meaningful changes, with the book name in the subject. Keep those emails — they are a copy outside the app.

Archived items are hidden from authors and viewers. Editors can still open them from a discreet archive section and restore when needed. Nothing is thrown away by accident.

We email a magic link. No password. If you don’t have an account yet, one is created when you sign in or when an editor shares a book with you.

Yes. The public showcase lets you explore a real book — chapters, outline, and the writing screen — with notes for actions that need a signed-in account.

Use the Contact us page and we’ll get back to you.