Reviewing Suggestions

This is the most important habit in Collaborator: read the suggestions, then choose. Collaborator proposes; you dispose.

Proposed property updates

After a run, the center list is headed Proposed property updates. Each row is one field on a story element, for example Premise or ProtGoal.

The header counts them. (3: 1 free, 2 need review) means three proposals waiting: one that applies on its own, and two that will not move until you say so.

A Property Updates list headed 'Proposed property updates (3: 0 free, 3 need review)', each row showing a field name, its kind, and the proposed text

What the row labels mean

Under each field name is a label saying how Collaborator classified it:

Label What it means What Accept all changes does
New The field is empty Applies it
Refresh Collaborator wrote this field earlier in the same session Applies it
Has your text You, or your past edits, already filled the field Skips it. Use Review Each if you want to replace your words
Update A field that holds a list rather than a single value, so there is nothing to compare line for line Applies it

A single Property Updates row: the field name Weather, the label New beneath it, and the proposed text alongside

New, Refresh, and Update rows are the free ones in the header count. Has your text rows are the ones that need review.

That protects your writing when you re-run a workflow on a half-filled outline.

Accept all changes

Accept all changes sits at the foot of the list. It applies every New and Refresh update and leaves every Has your text field alone.

Use it when you started from empty fields and want the first pass written in quickly. Afterwards, open StoryCAD and skim the forms.

Review Each

Review Each walks one field at a time.

For each field you see:

  • Yours: what is in the outline now
  • Proposed: what Collaborator suggests

Then choose:

Button Effect
Accept Write the proposal into this field only
Skip Keep yours; drop this proposal
Accept Free Remaining Apply every remaining New and Refresh field in one step; still leave Has your text fields for Accept or Skip

A Review Property Update card: the field name, Yours reading empty, the proposed text below it, and Accept, Skip, and Accept Free Remaining buttons, marked 1 of 6

Accept Free Remaining is not “accept every empty field only.” It also applies Refresh rows, which are fields Collaborator wrote earlier in this session. It never bulk-overwrites a Has your text field.

Try Again

Try Again discards the current pending set for a new run of the same workflow (see Running a Workflow). Use it instead of accepting a weak pass.

Nothing is permanent until you accept

Closing Collaborator without accepting leaves those fields as they were. Accepting writes the text into your outline right away, so there is nothing further to do to keep it.

If you accept a suggestion and dislike it later, edit the field in StoryCAD. You are not locked in.