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Lighthouse

Organizing Your Work

Organizing Your Work

Section titled “Organizing Your Work”

Lighthouse doesn’t impose a folder structure — a project is just a root folder, with Groups as far down as you want to nest them, and one Extras group for everything else. Here’s how to put that structure to good use.

Start Simple

Section titled “Start Simple”

You don’t need to plan a full structure up front. A single “Chapters” group with a handful of notes is a complete project. Add more groups as the shape of the work becomes clear — Lighthouse’s group tree is just as easy to reorganize on day 30 as on day one.

Group by the Unit You Think In

Section titled “Group by the Unit You Think In”

Pick groups that match how you actually think about the project, not an arbitrary convention:

  • Novels: one group per act or part, or just one flat “Chapters” group with a note per chapter
  • Theses/dissertations: one group per chapter (introduction, literature review, methodology, conclusion)
  • Blog series: “Published” and “Drafts” groups
  • Documentation: one group per section or product area

Nest When It Helps, Not by Default

Section titled “Nest When It Helps, Not by Default”

Groups can nest to any depth, but nesting is a tool, not an obligation. A single flat group of chapters is often easier to scan than three levels of “Book / Part / Chapter” folders. Nest when a group genuinely has natural subdivisions, not because the option exists.

Let Extras Absorb Everything Else

Section titled “Let Extras Absorb Everything Else”

Character notes, worldbuilding, research, outlines, meeting notes — all of it belongs in the Extras group. It behaves exactly like any other group (you can nest subgroups inside it too), with one difference: none of it counts toward your word goal. See Groups & Extras.

Use Sheet Titles, Not Just Filenames

Section titled “Use Sheet Titles, Not Just Filenames”

Since a sheet’s title in the Library is the first line of the file, a chapter that opens with “Chapter One” or a descriptive first sentence is easier to scan in the Sheet List than a dozen files all titled “Untitled.” The filename still matters for links — it’s shown as a secondary detail — but the first line is what you’ll actually see while browsing.

Reorder Freely

Section titled “Reorder Freely”

Both groups and sheets support drag-and-drop reordering in the Library. Sheet order is what Exporting uses when compiling a project, so keep it in the sequence you’d want the final document to read in.

Review Periodically

Section titled “Review Periodically”

As a project evolves:

  • Merge notes that ended up too fragmented (see Splitting & Merging)
  • Split a note that’s grown into two logical sections
  • Move material that turned out to be research, not prose, into Extras

Next Steps

Section titled “Next Steps”