FAQ and troubleshooting

Answers to the questions writers ask most, and what to do when Leathercase shows a message you did not expect. Most answers about how your folder is read can be checked against your own story: open How this story is read from the breadcrumb's view menu, or press Ctrl+K (Cmd+K on macOS) and type its name. It lists what Leathercase found, what it left out and why, and offers a fix where something looks off.

The basics

Will it change my files?

No. Leathercase reads your manuscript and your notes and never writes into them: not a heading, not a property, not a comma. It writes only its own files, in folders named suite/, in Writer/ for the cards you make, and in Suite.md at the root of your writing home. Files Leathercase writes lists every one.

Even its own Markdown files are written with care: the old version is kept in a hidden .history/ folder before each change, and a file Leathercase cannot read is left alone rather than overwritten.

Does it work with Obsidian, Scrivener, Word or Final Draft?

Your app	Works
Obsidian	Yes. Point Leathercase at your vault or a folder inside it. Front matter, [[links]], aliases and %% comments %% are read, and a passage opens in Obsidian at its heading
Scrivener 2 and 3	Yes. Leathercase reads the .scriv project's binder and texts. A passage opens the project in Scrivener
Microsoft Word, LibreOffice Writer	Yes, .docx files. Use Word's Heading styles for scenes
Google Docs, Pages	Download or export as .docx into your writing home
Highland, Fade In, Slugline, Beat	Yes, .fountain files
Final Draft	Export the script as Fountain
iA Writer, Typora, Ulysses, Bear, any text editor	Yes, .md files (export from Ulysses or Bear first)

You keep writing in your own app. See Files Leathercase reads.

Can I keep writing while Leathercase is open?

Yes, that is how it is meant to be used. Leathercase watches your story's folder and reads a save within moments; the title bar says when the story was last read, and the Desk says what changed.

Do I need an account or an internet connection?

No. Leathercase works offline, with no account. It goes online only when you ask it to check for updates or to download the meaning search model. See Privacy.

Is my writing sent to an AI?

Not by Leathercase. The mate, Leathercase's own assistant, runs on your computer and wakes no model. An outside agent such as Claude Desktop reads your stories only if you connect it and only the homes you grant; what its own app does with what it reads is up to that app. See Connect an agent.

Can I sync it, or use it on two computers?

Yes. Everything Leathercase keeps for your stories lives in your writing home, beside them. Put the home in Dropbox, iCloud Drive, OneDrive, Google Drive or a git repository and open it on each computer; its stories open as they were left. If two computers change the same Leathercase file before they sync, Settings, Storage lists the conflicted copy under Conflicts, with Compare, Keep this computer's and Keep the copy. See Files Leathercase writes.

Which systems does it run on?

Windows (x64 and Arm), macOS 12 or later (Apple silicon and Intel) and Linux (x86_64 and Arm, as an AppImage or a .deb). It is a desktop app; there is no phone version.

Stories and scenes

Why is my scene missing from the plot grid?

Go through these in order; How this story is read shows most of them for your own story.

1. The grid has not taken it yet. The grid is its own file, PlotGrid.md, made from the story the first time it opened. It never changes by itself: a scene you write later shows as new in the story, and the grid asks what it becomes: Put it in the grid where the story's order puts it, It is the planned scene…, Leave it out of the grid, or Not a scene. Choose Decide later and it waits. If you once chose Leave it out of the grid, the grid file keeps a left out: comment for it.
2. The file is not read as prose. Only the files declared as the story's prose make scenes. A file added after you declared the story, in a folder nothing claims, waits as unsorted, and Leathercase asks what it is. Answer the question, or say what the folder holds in Story settings. See How a story is read.
3. It has no heading. Leathercase splits scenes only at headings, never at ---, * * * or blank lines. A file with no heading is one scene, named after the file. How this story is read says so under What looks off: "has 2,400 words and no heading, so it is read as one scene."
4. The heading is not a heading to Leathercase. It sits inside a %% comment %%, an <!-- comment --> or a code fence. In Word, it is bold Normal text rather than a Heading style.
5. The file is left out. An ignore pattern in Story settings matches it, its front matter says creative-writer: false, it sits in a hidden folder or a suite/ folder, or it is the story's note (with story: true or a writing-target). How this story is read lists it under Notes left out, with the reason.
6. The file is typed. A note with type: character, or one in a Characters/ or Places/ folder, is part of the cast, never a scene.
7. The format is not read. .doc, .odt, .rtf, .txt and .pdf files are listed and left alone. Save the chapter as .docx or .md.

manuscript: false keeps a note off the manuscript page only; it does not affect the grid.

Why are two scenes read as one, or one scene as two?

Every heading starts a scene, at any level, and a scene runs to the next heading. Give each scene its own heading to split it; remove a heading (or make it plain text) to join two. A heading with no prose under it yet is a scene planned, not written.

I kept an Outline.md; where did my planned scenes go?

Into the plot grid's own file. The first time Leathercase read the story, it made PlotGrid.md in the story's suite/ folder and carried in the planned scenes of an Outline.md it found in the story's folder (or its suite/ folder). Outline.md is read only that once and never written: it stays where it was, unchanged. A planned scene you add from then on, with New scene, Plan a scene or a beat card sent to the grid, goes into PlotGrid.md. Carried scenes for a chapter you have since written are marked from the old outline; see Plot grid.

My research notes show up as scenes

Notes about the story, such as memos, research and reviews, are not scenes. Leave the folder out with an ignore pattern in Story settings, such as _Work/**, or say what the folder holds when Leathercase asks: plan, record, work notes, research or scraps. Folders called Research/, Outline/, Journal/, Cuts/ and their equivalents in five other languages are recognised by name. How this story is read offers Leave _Work/** out as a fix when it finds such a folder read as story.

A character note shows up as a scene

Leathercase did not know it was a character. Put it in a Characters/ folder (or People/, Cast/, Personagens/ and so on), or add type: character to its front matter. See Front matter.

Leathercase keeps asking what some files are

Those files are unsorted: nothing says what they are, or their type: is a word the story does not know. They are never scenes until you say so. Answer once and every file like them is settled, including ones you write later; choose Later to be asked again, or Don't ask again to leave them unsorted for good.

The story says its folder was not found

The Desk shows The story's folder was not found and "moved, renamed or not mounted" when the folder is not where the home says. If you moved or renamed it, choose Find it and point at the new place: the story's suite/ folder moved with it, so everything comes back. If it lives on an external or network drive, connect the drive.

The title bar says the folder cannot be read

The story's folder cannot be read. The views show the last reading. The folder was removed, unmounted, or its permissions changed. Everything you see is the last good reading; nothing is lost. Reconnect the drive or restore the folder.

The title bar says Leathercase looks for saves every few seconds

The system cannot tell of saves here, so Leathercase looks for them every few seconds. Some network drives and sync folders do not report changes. Leathercase works the same; a save shows a few seconds later.

My Scrivener changes do not show

Leathercase reads what is on disk, and Scrivener writes its project when it saves. Save in Scrivener (or wait for its autosave) and the change shows.

The exported book says "Chapter" in a Portuguese story

The book's words follow the story's language, which Leathercase tells from the prose until you set it. Set it in Story settings, Language. See Languages.

Names and the Graph

Why is a name not in the Graph?

A character, place or thing is in the Graph when it has a note (typed by type: or by its folder), or when the prose names it three times or more without one; the second kind shows dashed, as a candidate. A name may be missing because:

• It has no note and appears fewer than three times. Write its note, or make one from the find field.
• You told Leathercase it is not a name. Words you dismissed in the Graph, and the plugin's story-ignore: list, are kept in Story settings as ignored names. Remove it there.
• It only ever starts a sentence. A capital at the start of a sentence counts only for names Leathercase already knows, so "Rain fell" is not a person called Rain.
• It is a common word or a title. Pronouns, honorifics, months, days and the like are never names, in any of the six languages Leathercase reads.
• Two notes share it. "Vidal" alone does not resolve when Nora Vidal and Tomás Vidal both have notes; the full name, or an alias, does.
• It sits only in notes left out of the story, such as research notes.
• The tab hides its kind. A graph tab can show some kinds only, such as characters for a Truby tab; Whole story shows them all, unless you changed what it shows.

The Graph shows a word that is not a name

Pin it in the Graph and say it is not a name. Leathercase keeps that in Story settings, never in a note.

The Graph shows Nora and Nora Vidal as two people

Tell Leathercase they are one: add aliases: [Nora] to Nora Vidal's note, or confirm in the Graph that Nora is another name for Nora Vidal. The second is kept in Story settings and never written into your note. A first name or surname that only one note has finds that note on its own.

"She" is read as the wrong character

Leathercase reads she and he back to the nearest character it knows with that pronoun. Set a character's pronoun with pronouns: she/her in their note, or in the Graph. It does not know an epithet, so "the boy" is not read as Zak.

Messages you may see

Message	What it means	What to do
"file" cannot be read, so Leathercase leaves it as it is rather than write over it. Mend it by hand, or wait for your sync to finish, then try again.	One of Leathercase's own files is half synced or was broken by a hand edit	Wait for your sync, or open the file and mend it; kept versions and daily snapshots hold earlier copies
"folder" is your whole home folder and cannot be a writing home.	You picked your user folder	Pick the folder inside it that holds your stories
"folder" is the root of a drive and cannot be a writing home.	You picked a drive	Pick the folder that holds your stories
"folder" belongs to the system and cannot be a writing home.	You picked a system folder	Pick a folder of your own
"folder" is where Leathercase keeps its own data and cannot be a writing home.	You picked the app's data folder	Pick a folder of your own
The folder "folder" already holds the story "story".	Two stories cannot share a folder, since each folder holds one suite/	Choose another folder, or open the existing story
That folder is outside the home; a story lives inside its home's folder.	A story's folder must be inside the writing home	Move the story into the home, or add its folder as another home
A story needs a working title.	The name is empty	Type a working title
"title" cannot be a story's folder: a name of only dots or spaces is the home itself, or the folder above it.	The title would make an impossible folder name	Give the story a title with a letter in it
path is outside every declared story; declare its folder to open it from here.	You tried to open a file no story reads	Declare its folder as a story, or open it in your own app
The grid file changed outside the app since the grid was shown, and the row this change was for is no longer in it. Nothing was written; the grid now shows the file as it is.	You or a sync edited PlotGrid.md meanwhile	Make the change again on the grid as it is now
This story has no Fountain files: the Fountain export gives a script back as it was written. Choose another format for it in Settings › Export.	The story was exported as Fountain but is not written in Fountain	Pick Word, PDF, EPUB or Markdown in Settings › Export
Open a writing home first; a capture lands in its Writer.	Capture to Writer has no home to send to	Open or add a writing home
No home is open.	An action needs a home	Open or add a writing home
Leathercase did not start cleanly	A step of the start failed; the detail says which	Quit and open Leathercase again
Leathercase could not reach its releases. Check the connection and try again.	The update check could not go online	Check your connection, then Try again
This copy of Leathercase cannot check for updates. Newer versions are on the download page.	This kind of install has no update feed	Download new versions from the releases page
The download did not finish: …	The meaning search model's download stopped	Try again; it resumes where it stopped
3 anchors no longer match their prose	A thread stop, comment or cell quotes a sentence you have since changed	Open the manuscript and step through the broken anchors; re-anchor or remove each one

Undoing and recovering

• On the grid, Ctrl+Z (Cmd+Z) undoes the last change, whole, and Ctrl+Shift+Z redoes it. An undo leaves alone a file you changed outside Leathercase since.
• Earlier versions of Leathercase's Markdown files (the grid file, threads, comments, cards, beats) are kept for 30 days in the hidden .history/ folder beside each, as plain Markdown.
• Daily snapshots of every suite/ folder are kept for 14 days in the home's suite/daily/. Settings, Storage, Daily snapshots, Show opens the folder. To restore, copy a file back by hand.
• Grid snapshots of earlier days open as read-only tabs beside Now on the plot grid.
• Conflicted copies: the side you let go of goes to the system's trash, so nothing is lost.
• Your manuscripts are your own app's and your sync tool's to recover; Leathercase never changed them.

Installing and updating

Windows says it protected my PC

The Windows installer is not yet signed, so SmartScreen warns before it runs. Choose More info, then Run anyway.

macOS says the app is damaged or cannot be opened

Versions 0.24.2 and 0.24.3 could be refused on macOS 14 with a message that the app is damaged. This was fixed in 0.24.4: download the newest version from the releases page, drag it to Applications over the old one and open it. The Mac app is signed with an Apple Developer ID and notarised, so it opens without overriding Gatekeeper. It needs macOS 12 or later.

Meaning search is not offered on my Mac

Intel Macs cannot run the meaning search model. Word search works as always.

The Linux .deb does not update itself

A package your system installed cannot be replaced by the app, so Open download page opens the release instead. Install the new .deb the way you installed the first. The AppImage does update itself.

How do I uninstall?

See Updates and uninstalling. Your writing always stays.

Agents

The agent says	What to do
Leathercase is not running	Open Leathercase once, then ask again. If it is not installed, the message says where to download it
It is not connected	Connect it in Leathercase under the id its settings use
Its token was refused	You revoked it, or connected it again since. Connect it again in Leathercase

ChatGPT cannot connect for now: it reaches only servers on the internet, and Leathercase will not relay your stories through one. See Connect an agent.

See also

• How a story is read
• Files Leathercase reads
• Files Leathercase writes
• Privacy
• Plot grid
• Connect an agent