Every revision, forgotten kept.
Colophon is a story bible and a revision desk for novelists. It reads the chapter files you already write in, keeps a record of each revision, and never changes a word.
Free to try for 30 days, then a single purchase. For macOS 12 or later.
Reads the Markdown and plain-text chapters that iA Writer, Obsidian and Ulysses keep, or that Scrivener compiles.
Every revision, kept.
Record a pass with a note. Months later you can see exactly what you cut and what you rewrote, paragraph by paragraph, and when.
Find the line you cut.
Search reaches your whole manuscript and every revision you've recorded, including sentences that are no longer in the book.
A story bible tied to your scenes.
Characters, locations, threads and a timeline, each linked to the scenes it appears in. Open a scene and its people, places and threads are right there.
Keep the book's promises.
A novel makes hundreds of small promises: a date, a scar, the colour of a door. File each one, link it to its scenes, and close it when the book keeps it.
Read it the way a reader will.
Every chapter, scene by scene, in a book face, with each scene's characters, places and threads beside it, and what changed in it one click away.
Light by day, dark by night.
Colophon follows your Mac's appearance, so a late session is easy on the eyes.
Your manuscript stays yours.
Colophon keeps its notes about your book in a document of its own, on your Mac. Your chapters are left exactly as you wrote them.
Read-only
Colophon opens your manuscript folder read-only and never writes to your chapter files.
No account
There is nothing to sign up for and nothing to sign in to.
No cloud
Your bible and your revision history are in Colophon documents you can see in Finder.
No connections
Colophon never connects to the internet. There are no analytics. Privacy Policy
Start with a sample novel.
File ▸ New Sample Novel writes a short book with a bible and a revision history already in it, so you can see how everything works before you point Colophon at your own.
Try everything, free, for 30 days.
Colophon is free to download. Start the trial from inside the app. When it ends, unlock Colophon with one purchase and keep going. There is no subscription.
US$39.99, once.
The App Store shows the price in your own currency.
Questions
Will Colophon change my chapter files?
No. Colophon opens your manuscript folder read-only. Everything it records, from your bible to your revision history, is kept in a separate Colophon document.
Which writing apps does it work with?
Colophon reads folders of Markdown and plain-text chapters, the kind iA Writer, Obsidian and Ulysses keep, or that Scrivener compiles to. You keep writing where you write. Prepare your chapter files.
What happens when the trial ends?
Colophon becomes read-only until you unlock it. You can still open your documents, read your manuscript and your bible, and search your whole revision history. Nothing you made is removed. The free trial and unlocking Colophon.
Do I need an account or an internet connection?
No. Colophon has no account and never connects to the internet. Purchases go through the Mac App Store.
Is there a version for iPhone, iPad or Windows?
Not at the moment. Colophon is for the Mac, and needs macOS 12 or later.