Braid Support

Braid syncs through your own private iCloud database: everything in a book, including voice notes and your daily word counts. There’s nothing to set up beyond signing in to the same Apple Account, with iCloud on, on each iPhone, iPad and Mac.

• Edits save within a couple of seconds and usually reach your other devices within a minute while Braid is open there. iPhone and iPad may wait longer while Braid is in the background. Opening Braid, pulling down on the sidebar (iPhone and iPad) or tapping Sync Now checks right away.
• The sidebar shows the sync status under the book’s word count, for example “Synced 2 minutes ago”.
• For details, open Settings: the gear button at the top of the sidebar (on a Mac you can also choose Braid → Settings…). The iCloud Sync section shows the status, when Braid last saved, sent and received changes, the last notification from iCloud, a Sync Now button and Recent sync activity. If iCloud rejects a change, its reason appears there.
• “On this device only” means Braid can’t use iCloud on that device. Check that it’s signed in to iCloud in the device’s Settings.
• If the same scene is edited on two devices at once, the most recent save wins, so finish on one device before switching to another.
• Reminders and the daily goal are set separately on each device.

Tap ✦ Get Pro in the toolbar, or open Settings → Braid Pro → Upgrade to Braid Pro. The upgrade screen also opens when you tap a Pro feature. Choose a plan:

• Yearly: $39.99 a year, starting with a 2-week free trial for new subscribers
• Monthly: $5.99 a month
• Lifetime: $99.99, paid once

Braid Pro adds unlimited books, Word and PDF export, manuscript import, sending chapters for feedback, writing sprints, a writing soundtrack and Apple Watch capture. Without Pro you can write one book (the sample book doesn’t count) with Deep Focus, the Character Weave, Brainstorming, Research, iCloud sync and Markdown export. If you stop paying, you keep full access to your existing books.

Prices are in US dollars. Payment is handled by Apple.

1. Make sure the device is signed in to the same Apple Account you used to buy Braid Pro.
2. In Braid, open Settings → Braid Pro and tap Restore Purchases. (It’s also at the bottom of the upgrade screen.)

If Braid says “No Braid Pro purchase was found for this Apple Account”, the purchase was made with a different Apple Account.

Apple Watch: the Watch gets Braid Pro from your iPhone. Once Pro is active on the iPhone, tap Check Again on the Watch with your iPhone nearby.

Subscriptions are billed and managed by Apple, so you cancel them in your Apple Account’s subscription settings:

• iPhone or iPad: open the Settings app, tap your name, then Subscriptions, choose Braid Pro and tap Cancel Subscription. Or, in Braid, go to Settings → Braid Pro → Manage Subscription.
• Mac: in Braid, Settings → Braid Pro → Manage Subscription opens your subscriptions on the App Store. You can also open the App Store app, click your name, then Account Settings, and manage Subscriptions there.

On the free trial? Cancel at least a day before it ends so you aren’t charged. After you cancel, Pro stays on until the end of the period you’ve paid for, and Settings → Braid Pro shows the date it ends. You keep every book, and Markdown export stays free.

Lifetime is a one-time purchase, so there’s nothing to cancel. For refunds, contact Apple at reportaproblem.apple.com.

The Watch app is for catching ideas when you’re away from the page. It comes with Braid on your iPhone; if it isn’t on your Watch, install it from the Watch app on your iPhone. Recording on the Watch is part of Braid Pro.

• Record: tap the microphone, speak, then tap again to send the note to Brainstorming. For a quick text note, use Type or dictate….
• Which book: notes go to the book open on your iPhone. If you have more than one book, tap the book name on the Watch to choose where notes go.
• Transcription: your iPhone turns voice notes into text, on-device where supported.
• Away from your iPhone: you can still record. Notes wait on the Watch (“waiting for iPhone”) and are delivered when your iPhone is back in range.
• Sprints and reminders: during a writing sprint the Watch shows the countdown and taps your wrist when time’s up. Writing reminders from your iPhone also appear on the Watch when the phone is locked.

If the Watch shows a Braid Pro message, get Pro in Braid on your iPhone, then tap Check Again on the Watch. If it can’t record, allow microphone access for Braid in the Watch app on your iPhone.

Select the words (or put the cursor where you’ll type), then:

• iPhone: tap B, I or the list button in the bar above the keyboard.
• iPad: tap B, I or the list button in the keyboard’s shortcut bar. With a hardware keyboard, press ⌘B, ⌘I or ⇧⌘7.
• Mac: click the buttons at the foot of the writing page, use the Format menu or right-click, or press ⌘B, ⌘I or ⇧⌘7.

In a list, press Return for the next item, and Return on an empty item to end the list. Formatting works in every writing view: scenes, the chapter page, Deep Focus, notebook notes, and World & Lore and Themes & Motifs entries.

Braid saves formatting as small marks in your text, shown faintly beside the styled words: two asterisks on each side for bold (**like this**), one for italics (*like this*), and a hyphen and a space at the start of a list line. Your writing stays plain text, and word counts and Read Aloud skip the marks.

Bold, italics and lists are kept when you export, with real bullets in Word, and come in when you import a Word, RTF, text or Markdown file. Readers you invite in Braid see them too. Formatting itself is free; Word and PDF export, manuscript import and Reader Feedback are part of Braid Pro.

Started writing before you outlined? Link the chapters you already have to your Story Blocks from either side:

• From a block: tap Link a Chapter… on the block’s card (it’s also in the block’s ⋯ menu), choose the chapters that belong there and tap Done.
• From a chapter: at the top of the chapter page, pick a block from Story Block.

A chapter is in one block at a time, so linking it to another block moves it there. When you link it, its scenes pick up the block’s ideas and research; their characters and point of view stay as you set them. Ideas, research and characters you add to the block later reach its scenes too.

After that, Build Chapters knows what you’ve written. A planned scene that matches the title or summary of a scene already in the block’s chapters counts as written, so it isn’t added twice. Planned scenes that aren’t written yet go at the end of the block’s last chapter (or into chapters of their own, if you choose One chapter per planned scene).

To unlink, long-press (iPhone, iPad) or right-click (Mac) the chapter on the block and choose Unlink from Block, or set the chapter’s Story Block to None. Unlinking never deletes anything: the chapter and its scenes stay in your book.

1. Open Export from the book’s Overview → Export Manuscript or the Books menu → Export Manuscript…. On a Mac, you can also choose File → Export Manuscript… (⇧⌘E).
2. Pick a format: PDF, Word or Markdown. For PDF and Word, pick a layout: Standard Manuscript, the format agents and publishers expect (12 pt Times New Roman or Courier New, double-spaced, 1-inch margins, a title page with your contact details and word count, and a “Surname / TITLE / page” header), or Reading Copy, a book-style, single-spaced copy.
3. Choose what to include: title page, chapter numbers and titles, “THE END”, and your Research as Works Cited, References or a Bibliography (MLA, APA or Chicago).
4. Tap Export… and choose where to save the file. For PDF, Preview shows the pages first.

Bold, italics and bulleted lists come through in every format, with real bullets in Word. Word and PDF export are part of Braid Pro. Markdown export is always free.

Reader Feedback, in Braid’s sidebar, is for comments on your book from beta readers, critique partners or an editor. (To tell us about the Braid app itself, email support@keesnap.com.)

1. Open Reader Feedback and choose Send Chapters to Readers…. It’s also in the Books menu, and on a Mac in the File menu.
2. Pick the chapters and add a note for your readers.
3. Choose how they’ll read:
   • Invite in Braid: they get an invitation and read in Braid on their iPhone, iPad or Mac (free for readers), commenting and suggesting edits right on the text. You’re notified when they send it back.
   • Word document: they comment and track changes in Word, Pages or Google Docs. When they send it back, choose Import Reader Feedback….

Every comment comes back on the scene it’s about. The Readers tab beside a scene shows them as you revise. Reader Feedback is part of Braid Pro.

1. Open a character (or tap Add Character in the sidebar) and tap Name Ideas….
2. Choose a background from 55 naming traditions, a gender, the character’s age and the year your story is set. Braid works out when they were born and suggests names that were common then.
3. Tap Use beside a name you like. Or tap a first name in one suggestion and a last name in another to combine them in the bar at the bottom, or type your own there, then tap Use.

Names follow each tradition’s customs: family name first for Chinese, Japanese, Korean, Vietnamese and Hungarian names; two surnames for Spanish, Mexican, Latin American, Portuguese and Brazilian names; feminine forms of surnames where a language has them (Kowalski, Kowalska); and, by Ethiopian, Eritrean, Somali and Malay custom, the father’s given name as the second name, for daughters and sons alike. Name Ideas works offline and is free.

Braid has no accounts, and we never receive your books, notes or recordings. Your data lives on your devices and, if iCloud is on, in your own iCloud account. You delete it from inside Braid:

• A whole book: open it, then choose Books → Delete This Book…. This deletes the book and everything in it (it works for the sample book too). With iCloud sync on, it’s removed from your other devices too.
• Single items: long-press (iPhone, iPad) or right-click (Mac) a scene, chapter, idea, research item or notebook and choose Delete.
• Reviews you’ve sent: on the Reader Feedback screen, End Review stops sharing and removes the review copy from iCloud. Readers lose access; feedback you’ve already received stays in your book.

Removing the Braid app from a device doesn’t delete books stored in iCloud. Delete them in Braid first if you want them gone from all your devices.