How do I start a new draft and see what changed?

Start a fresh draft of a book when a full pass is done, then compare any chapter with the earlier draft and carry a passage forward if you want it back.

Before you start

If you just want to try something out, work on a copy of your project first.

Steps

Click the Drafts icon in the activity bar.
Under the book you want, press + Start New Draft.
Each book has its own Start New Draft button.
Choose what the new draft begins with. Copy everything keeps every chapter exactly as it is; Create empty chapters keeps the titles but blanks the text; Start from scratch starts with nothing. Your earlier draft is kept as it is.
The dialog names the book and the new draft number.
The new draft opens on its own page, marked Current. From now on the Manuscript section shows this draft.
The new draft is now Current; the old one is kept below it.
Revise a chapter as usual.
To compare, click the earlier draft in the Drafts panel, for example Draft 1. Its page lists every document with a badge such as Same as current or Different from current. Compare with chooses which draft it is compared against.
On a row that differs, press Compare with Current.
Only the changed chapter is marked Different from current.
The two versions open side by side. The bar at the top says which draft is on which side. Removed text is red and added text is green.
The new sentence in Draft 2 stands out on the last line.
To bring an older passage back, press Merge into Current Draft, or Replace Current Chapter… to swap in the whole chapter. Otherwise just close the tab.
To go back to writing, open the chapter from the PugWriter sidebar as usual. It always opens the current draft.

Click a screenshot to see it larger, then use the arrow keys to step through them.

Check it worked

Only the chapters you changed are marked Different from current.
The change you made is the only highlighted difference in the compare view.
The earlier draft still opens and reads exactly as it did.

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