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BluePencil

How it works

Everything below is a photograph of the live service. You do structural work in the browser and prose work in Microsoft Word; BluePencil keeps the two in step and remembers every round.

Nothing to install except the Word add-in — a minute, once.

How BluePencil works, end to endYour source materials go in once. In the browser you set the outline, agree the terminology and the plan, and ask for a draft. That draft opens in Microsoft Word, where you edit it with tracked changes and send it back. BluePencil shows exactly what changed; you approve it, and the approved chapter becomes the authoritative text that later drafting builds on. Drafting and reviewing repeat for each chapter.IN THE BROWSERIN WORDYour materialPrior edition, articles,notes, transcriptsSet up the bookOutline, glossary,and the plan you approveDraft a chapterWritten from your sources,one chapter at a timeYou edit itTracked changes andcomments, as alwaysSend it backBluePencil shows exactlywhat you changedYou approve itThat chapter becomesthe authoritative textThen the next chapter, informed by what you approved
You drive it chapter by chapter. Nothing is drafted or changed without you asking.
  1. BrowserUpload your sources, set the outline, approve the plan, request a draft
  2. WordPull the draft in, edit with tracked changes, send it back
  3. BrowserSee exactly what changed, approve — that text becomes authoritative

Browser

Sign in

Go to bluepencilbooks.com, enter your email and password, choose Sign in.

The BluePencil sign-in screen with email and password fields
BluePencil is invite-only. Your invitation email contains a temporary password; signing in with it activates your account.

Browser

Find your way around

The Dashboard puts your book first, with the next thing to do underneath. The sidebar is the whole product: sources, then outline, planning, glossary, drafting and review, with the Journal recording every decision.

The BluePencil dashboard showing the book, reference library, plan status and recent activity
The dashboard. Recent activity shows the real workflow events as they happen.

Word · once

Install the Word add-in

On the Dashboard, choose Install the Word add-in. Download the file the page gives you, then follow the section for your version of Word. The quickest route, which works on any computer, is Word in your browser.

The Word add-in installation page showing the manifest download and instructions for each version of Word
Word on the web, Word for Mac, and a route for IT to install it for everyone at once.

Need it now? Open the installation page.

Browser

Add your source materials

Choose Reference library and drop in your files — Word documents and PDFs both work. Each one is converted and indexed; you will see it move from processing to indexed. A long chapter takes a few minutes.

The reference library, with the upload area above and the uploaded documents and their status below
Upload everything the book should draw on — drafts are only as well-grounded as the material you give it. The library tracks every file from processing to indexed.

Browser

Set the outline

Paste your table of contents, using # for a part and ## for a chapter. Every chapter becomes a section — the thing you draft, review and approve.

# Part II: Jurisdiction in Civil and Commercial Matters
## Chapter 3: The Defendant's Court
## Chapter 4: Connections Between the Matter and the Forum
The outline workspace showing imported parts and chapters
The outline becomes the spine of the book.

Browser

Build the glossary

Choose Extract terms. BluePencil reads your sources and proposes the terms of art with definitions drawn from your own material. Approve the ones you want used consistently and correct any definition that is not quite right.

The glossary workspace listing extracted terms with their definitions and statuses
Approved terms are then used consistently in every draft — this step repays the time.

Browser

Generate the plan

You get a prioritised list of what each section needs, grounded in what your sources actually say. Read it as a proposal and approve what you agree with.

The planning workspace with prioritised, source-grounded plan items
Each item names the doctrine, authority or gap that makes the work necessary, and says what in your sources calls for it.

Browser

Request a draft

Pick a section and choose Request draft. It takes a couple of minutes, then the section moves to Ready for review.

You draft one chapter at a time, on purpose. BluePencil never drafts the whole book by itself — chapters stay Planned until you ask for them. So a book part way through looks exactly like this: one or two chapters written and reviewed, the rest waiting. That is the normal state, not a problem.

The drafting workspace showing sections and their draft status
Drafts are grounded in your sources, and BluePencil never invents a case, statute or holding. If drafting fails you get an error — never placeholder text dressed up as a draft.

Browser

Send it to Word

Choose Review. Every chapter shows where it stands. Open one and you see the whole loop — drafted, exported, returned, compared, approved — with the actions for wherever you are.

The review workspace listing every chapter with its workflow status
Status at a glance across the book.
A chapter expanded in review, showing the workflow stepper and available actions
Choose Export to Word, then Download .docx. The file arrives with track changes already switched on.

Word

Review in Word

Open the BluePencil Reviewer panel from the ribbon. It recognises the document and shows which chapter it belongs to. Edit exactly as you always would, using Word’s own tracked changes and comments — rewrite freely, that is the point — then choose Send Back to BluePencil.

Microsoft Word with a drafted chapter open and the BluePencil Reviewer pane bound to it
The real thing: a drafted chapter in Word with the panel bound to it.

After the first round you can stay in Word. Pull latest draft brings each new round into your document as a redline against what you had.

The BluePencil Reviewer task pane, bound to Chapter 6, after sending the document back
The panel, close up: it names the chapter it is bound to, and the two things you can do with it.

Working with an assistant? Put the document on OneDrive or SharePoint and you can both edit at once — Word handles that natively. BluePencil records who made each change and captures comments as review notes, so it is always clear whose edits are whose.

Browser

Approve the section

Back in Review, BluePencil shows what changed: each edit and comment attributed by author, a before-and-after comparison, and how substantial the revision was. If it is right, choose Approve section — that text becomes the authoritative version of the chapter, later drafting builds on it, and the Journal records the decision.

If it needs another pass, request another draft round instead. The section keeps its whole history.

Browser

Add your colleagues

In Settings & team, enter an email address and pick a role. Owners have full control including approving sections; collaborators can draft and send back edits but cannot approve. They receive an email with a temporary password and a link.

Workspace settings showing the workspace details and the invite form
Invitations are the only way in — there is no public sign-up.

When something goes wrong

A step failed
The reason is shown. Retry from the same place — it genuinely re-runs the work.
The draft is wrong or thin
Normal. Edit it in Word and send it back; your corrections inform the following rounds.
The panel says you are not signed in
Sign in inside the panel — it uses the same account as the website.
The add-in is not on the ribbon
Revisit the installation page. On Word for Windows, use Word in the browser or ask IT to deploy it centrally.
You are blocked and cannot use the add-in
Review has a fallback: download the .docx, edit it, and drag it onto Return reviewed document. The add-in remains the intended way to work.