Merge Projects

Two writers took copies of the same project and each wrote different scenes. Or you wrote on two computers and the copies drifted apart. Merge with… brings the other copy into the project you have open. Anything only one copy has comes in on its own. Where both copies changed the same thing, you choose which one to keep.

Merging works on its own. It goes well with Writer Assignment, but you don’t need it. It also merges copies saved by older versions of Throughline.

Turning it on

Open Settings → Lab and check Merge versions of a project.

Starting a merge

Merge with… sits right below Duplicate…:

in the project menu (click the project title in the top bar),
in a project card’s ⋮ menu on the home screen,
on macOS, in the File menu.

Pick the other copy’s .thrl file. Throughline reads it but never opens it as a project, and it never changes that file.

A file that shares no cards with your project isn’t a copy of it, so Throughline offers to Open Separately instead. If the other copy has nothing new, Throughline tells you so and stops there.

The merge view

The merge view opens over your project. Its top line says how much merges on its own and how many choices need you. Your copy is Current, on the left. The other one is Incoming, on the right, named after whoever saved it, like ANNA’S.

New cards. Beats, Characters, Settings, Sparks and anything else that only the other copy has are listed first, all checked. Uncheck what you don’t want. Something you deleted yourself starts unchecked, so a merge doesn’t bring it back by accident.

Beats with an owner. With Writer Assignment on, a Beat assigned to the other writer comes in from their copy, and a Beat assigned to you keeps yours. No question needed. If both of you added the same person by hand, the merged project has that name once, with all of their Beats.

Your choices. Every other place where the two copies differ gets a row: the old text on one side, the new text on the other, and the choice in between. Click ‹ Current, Incoming ›, or, for a script, Both. Both keeps the two scripts as versions of one Beat, with yours active. When one side is empty, the row starts on the side that has something. Keep All Current and Take All Incoming decide every row at once.

The text shows what changed:

Added text is green.
Removed text is red and struck through.
Replaced text is amber on both sides.
A format change, such as action that became a transition, is underlined with dots and labeled.

Scripts show in screenplay format, and cast lists show as Character chips.

Merge waits until every row has a choice. The choices left button at the bottom takes you to the first open one.

What the merge takes care of

Renamed Characters. If one of you renamed a Character, it keeps one name. The name you choose also replaces the old one in every scene from the other copy, cues and mentions both.
Replace All. A Replace All that only one of you ran is offered for the other copy’s scenes too, so a changed name or term doesn’t come back with their pages.
Story order and layout. Your order and layout stay. New cards go next to their neighbors from the other copy.
Screenplay or Rich Text. The merged project keeps your mode. Scripts from the other copy are converted to it.

After a merge

The whole merge is one step: Cmd/Ctrl+Z takes it back. Before it writes anything, Throughline also saves an autosave labeled before merge, which you can bring back with Restore from Autosave at any time. See Autosaves.

Then send the merged file back to your partner, and you both carry on from the same project.