Your first week with StoryFolder

You don't need to learn everything on day one. This guide is a gentle, day-by-day tour through every major part of the app. Skip ahead any time — and skip days entirely if you already know what you want.

Day 1 — Import and explore

Goal: get comfortable with the editor.

• Import one short video. (How)
• Open the storyboard.
• Try the three view modes: B (storyboard), L (list), T (thumbnail grid).
• Click around. Press Space to play the video.
• Don't take notes yet — just see how the shots are laid out.

Day 2 — Refine the shot list

Goal: make the storyboard match what your eye sees.

• Drag the AI shot detection sensitivity slider on the left. Lower = fewer shots; higher = more.
• Press C to switch to the Split tool. Click where you want to split a shot.
• Press J for Merge. Click shots that should be one section.
• Press F for Frame Selector. Pick a better thumbnail for any shot.
• Press D to return to the default cursor.

Full reference: Splitting & merging shots.

Day 3 — Take notes

Goal: capture your first observations.

• Click a shot. The notes panel opens on the right.
• Try the default fields: Key Takeaways, Interpretation, Story, Action, Messaging, Emotional Tone, Visuals / Cinematography.
• Select multiple shots (Shift-click) and take a single note across all of them.

See Adding notes.

Day 4 — Make it yours

Goal: customize your note fields.

• Open Preferences → Notes & Data.
• Create a new category — e.g. Lighting or Brand strategy.
• Add a custom field. Pick a type: text, dropdown, tag, or checkbox.
• Try the AI field discovery tool: type a topic ("cinematography", "ad analysis") and let the assistant suggest fields you can add with one click.

See Custom fields and AI field discovery.

Day 5 — Share

Goal: get a beautiful link you can send to anyone.

• Click Share Link in the top-right of the editor.
• Click Publish.
• Choose a privacy level: public, link-only, or password-protected.
• Copy the link. Paste it in Slack, email, or a doc.

The shared page is mobile-friendly and lets viewers switch between storyboard, grid, and list views.

See Publish a share link.

Day 6 — Export

Goal: get your work out of StoryFolder.

• Press X or click the workflow switcher and pick Export.
• Toggle the formats you want: PDF storyboard, image set, shot list spreadsheet Pro, video clips Pro, scripts Pro.
• Pick a destination folder.
• Click Add to Queue.

See Export options overview.

Day 7 — Analyze

Goal: see your storyboard as data.

• Press A or switch to the Analyze view.
• Look at the duration metrics: average, median, longest, shortest shot.
• Scroll through the distribution charts. Each non-text note field becomes a bar chart showing how often each value appears.

See Shot duration metrics.

After your first week

You now know every major workflow in StoryFolder. From here:

• Pick a video you've always wanted to break down and go deep.
• Build a category of custom note fields tailored to your work.
• Bookmark Keyboard shortcuts — they make a huge difference.
• If you're on the Free plan and bumping into limits, see Compare plans.

Welcome aboard.