Glossary

What each of Exaratio's own words means, with the answer that tells you more.

The work

Work

Your whole project: the text, the world of the story and its dates. It's saved in a single .exar file on your computer (Create a work).

Book

Each volume of a work. A work can have several books that share the same world (A series: add another book).

Series

All the books of a work together (The series at a glance).

Manuscript

The list of the books, chapters and other documents in the work (Get to know the window).

Document

Each piece of the manuscript: a chapter, a scene, a prologue, a note. Its type says whether it goes into the book or is just for you (Add a chapter or document).

Workshop

The documents that are just for you: notes, sheets, references and folders. They're in the manuscript, but they aren't exported (Annotate a sentence).

Annotation

A comment attached to a piece of the text, which doesn't go into the book (Annotate a sentence).

Rail

The narrow columns of icons on either side of the window. The one on the left switches from writing to reading, to the map or to the chronology; the one on the right opens the entities panel (Get to know the window).

Ribbon

The strip of tabs and buttons at the top of the window (Get to know the window).

Montage

Your book drawn as a strip of chapters below the page, so you can see at a glance each one's status, who narrates it and when it takes place, and move them around (Who's in the scene).

Visual style

The look of the window: the paper, the colors and the ornaments. There are twelve to choose from, and none of them changes your text (The visual style).

Paragraph type palette

What each paragraph style—Text, Title, Subtitle, Section, Epigraph—applies when you choose it: font, size, color, bold, italics and line spacing. It's yours and applies to all your works (Format text).

Base font

The default font of a work: text you didn't give any style to is shown and exported in it (Format text).

The world of the story

Entity

Each character, place, object, organization or event in your story (Create an entity).

Sheet

Everything you know about an entity: its description, its properties, its portrait, its relationships and its dates (Note details on the card).

Alias

Another name the text uses for an entity: a nickname, a title, a first name (Give it other names: aliases).

Mention

Each place in the text where an entity is named. Exaratio recognizes them and underlines them (Link a piece of text to an entity).

Category

A group you define to organize your entities, such as “Harbor folk” (Group entities into categories).

Relationship

A link between two entities, such as “sister of” or “works for”, which can begin and end in time (Relate two entities).

Context panel

The panel on the right while you write: who is in the scene and the sheet of whoever you name (Who's in the scene).

Time

Chronology

The view with your story's timelines and everything that happens on them (Have several timelines).

Timeline

A sequence of dates on which you place your story. A work can have several, for example one for the present and another for memories (Have several timelines).

Calendar

The way a timeline counts time: a historical one, like the Gregorian, or one of your world's own (Say where your story happens).

Anchor

An instant you know in two calendars. With it, Exaratio knows what date it is in each one (Say where your story happens).

Validity

The stretch of time during which something holds true in the story: when a character is born, when a place is founded, when it disappears; also when a trait or a bond holds true (Have several timelines).

Date

To set a date at a point in the text, to say when the scene takes place. It shows up as a band in the margin (Date a scene).

Fact

A statement about your story that some characters know and others don't. In your world it can be true, a version, a rumor or a lie (Note facts that can be known).

Continuity warning

What Exaratio points out to you when something you noted down doesn't fit (See continuity warnings).

Publish and read

Reader

The view that shows your work the way whoever reads it will see it. It's also how Exaratio opens without an active license (Read your work as your reader will).

Export

To take your work out of Exaratio in another format: PDF, EPUB, Word, Kindle, RTF or Markdown (Export your book).

Cover

What wraps your book: the front cover at the front, the back cover at the back and the spine between them. You design them in the same editor as the title page, the first page inside (Design the cover).

Your account and your computer

License

Your right to use Exaratio to write. You can see it in My Account, on exaratio.com (Your licenses).

License title

The .xrtl file that proves your license. You download it from My Account (Your licenses).

Activate

To link your license to a computer so you can write on it (Your licenses).

Release

To remove your license from a computer so you can use it on another one (Your licenses).

Author signature

The mark Exaratio puts on every work you save: it says whose it is and whether anyone changed it (Your work is yours: the six guarantees).

Module

A signed .xrtm file that dresses up your writing —the sound of the keys, themes, papers, ambiences, typefaces— or that brings a calendar for your works (Modules: sounds, themes, papers and more).

Assistant

An artificial intelligence, like Claude, that you connect to Exaratio so it can work on your works (Connect your AI assistant).

Token

The key you give your assistant so it can make changes to your works (Connect your AI assistant).