Content Outlines

An outline sets the argument, section structure and search metadata for a Content Bank topic before you write a draft. Use the Content Drafting workspace to generate a researched outline or build one yourself. Saving an outline does not publish anything to your website.

For drafting, importing an existing article, version history and marking content ready, see Content Drafting.

Before you start

• Select the workspace and project that own the topic. The outline stays with that project's Content Bank item.
• For AI generation, the project needs exactly one associated domain. A keyword is optional; if one is assigned to the topic, it must belong to that domain.
• Review the project's audience and brand voice in project settings. Wheremore uses both during planning, writing and review.
• Check the topic title. It is the starting question for the article, but you will also provide an article brief before AI thesis selection.

AI generation, Create suggested brief and Refine with Ask Wheremore use workspace AI credits. Building, editing, saving and copying an outline manually do not.

Open the workspace

From a Content Bank item without saved writing, select Create outline. The topic opens in Content Drafting with its cluster, title and available intent, journey stage, keyword and content type tags.

If you open Content Drafting without a topic, use Choose a topic to select Project, Cluster, optionally Status, and Topic. Subtopics appear indented with ↳. Change topic lets you select another item when you entered without a topic in the page address.

The writing control in Content Bank changes with the item's saved work: Create outline when neither outline nor draft exists, Create draft when an outline exists, and View draft when a draft exists. A saved item's preview can also offer Open outline → or Open draft →. Labelled Outline and Draft buttons in the Content Bank table also open the saved writing. A button with a + starts creation of that content.

For a new item, Start your content offers three routes:

Generate an outline

1. Open the topic and select Generate an outline.
2. Complete Brief this article. Check the suggested project or task details, add your material and either write your point of view or select Create suggested brief. Review and edit any suggested wording.
3. Select Prepare thesis choices. Wheremore proposes three arguments for the article.
4. Choose and, if needed, edit one thesis, or select Write my own thesis. Select Approve thesis and generate outline.
5. Let research, composition and review finish. You can leave the page and reopen the topic to reconnect to the operation.
6. If Wheremore proposes a change to the approved direction, review the evidence concern and choose how to continue.
7. In Review outline, check the argument, sections, sources and metadata. Edit, refine or regenerate as needed, then select Save outline.
8. When the outline is ready for prose, select Create first draft.

Brief this article

This form captures the publishing brand and what it can contribute to the article. It includes Publishing brand or organisation, Brand website, up to four Relevant product, service or supporting pages, Supplementary documentation or notes, an optional reader goal, Your point of view and the reader takeaway, and Relevant product, service, method or experience.

You can type directly into the fields. Create suggested brief is optional and uses AI credits: it reads the supplied public pages and suggests a point of view and contribution for you to check. It also indicates which supplied pages could or could not be read. Regenerate suggestions is available after a suggestion. A point of view is required before Prepare thesis choices.

The checkbox These notes may be used as factual material in the article changes how supplementary notes are treated. Unchecked notes guide planning only. Notes you mark publishable are material you intend Wheremore to consider for the article; keep their figures, population and limits accurate. A brand page can establish what its product or service offers, but does not independently prove effectiveness or customer outcomes. Wheremore should surface a conflict or missing scope for your review rather than silently invent support.

Choose the article's thesis

The thesis is the article's central argument, not a verified fact. Select one of three options to copy it into the thesis field, edit it, or choose Write my own thesis. The field allows up to 700 characters. Restart thesis selection prepares another set of choices. Research then tests the approved argument against supporting and contrary evidence.

Research, composition and review

The progress panel shows Researching, Composing, Reviewing, Improving and Finalising, with a status line. Research investigates the approved thesis and practical limits, reads available web pages and PDFs, and retains passages as evidence. The outline draws on that research, the approved brief, project context and relevant other articles in the cluster.

Automatic review checks factual support, reader relevance, structure, voice, internal production wording and overlap with other articles. Material findings can trigger one correction pass. Read the resulting outline yourself: an automatic review or an empty findings list does not establish that every claim is correct. If review cannot complete, check the outline before drafting.

Publishable notes from the article brief can provide bounded first-party material even when they have no public URL. External factual claims still need suitable support. Private notes are planning context, not publishable evidence.

If research cannot complete for an approved thesis, Wheremore stops rather than substituting an unresearched outline. Reopen the workspace to see the error and retry when research is available.

If the evidence challenges your direction

The Review the proposed direction change panel shows the previously approved thesis, proposed title, reason and proposed thesis. The proposed thesis cannot be edited there. Depending on the result, the panel offers:

Review the warning before using a claim in published copy. Additional research or retaining your direction is an editorial decision, not proof of a factual premise.

Leave and return

A content record is created when AI outline generation starts. Reopening the topic reconnects to work in progress, including a thesis or direction decision awaiting you. Content Bank can show that an outline is being created, that an unsaved AI outline needs review, or that generation needs attention. Its background message can include a pause awaiting your choice.

Save the generated outline promptly. Unsaved generation results normally remain available for seven days from the start of the request; they are not a substitute for a saved outline. If a session expires, copy any unsaved wording before generating again.

Email notifications

In Notifications, enable Content Outline if you want emails when thesis choices or a proposed direction need your review, and when the completed outline is ready to review and save. Emails can be skipped if you have already viewed the result or viewed or resolved the decision.

An email link opens the saved result or decision. Opening it does not approve a thesis or start new generation. If the decision has already been resolved or replaced, open the current article from Content Bank. Brief suggestions and intermediate research steps do not send separate emails.

Review and edit the outline

Review outline holds the complete editable outline. Review in the top bar opens the research sources. Open relevant pages and confirm that they support the planned claims. A source list is a starting point for your editorial check, not a guarantee of accuracy.

The editor includes:

+ Add section, + Add bullet and + Add subsection extend the structure. Copy outline copies the outline as plain text. The draft has its own section structure after generation, so later outline edits do not change existing draft prose.

Refine with Ask Wheremore

For an AI-generated, unsaved outline, select Refine with Ask Wheremore and give an instruction of up to 2,000 characters. The outline needs at least two usable sections. Choose the structure that develops the argument; there is no fixed target number of sections.

Refinement can adjust the angle, order, headings, bullets, subsections, framing, meta titles and meta description using the retained research. It does not run new research or introduce unsupported factual claims. The instruction does not change the current article title, project audience, content type, intent or journey stage.

The result explains whether the request was applied fully, partly or refused, with notes on what could be changed. Check the revised outline and its source support.

Undo refinement restores the outline as it was before the latest applied refinement. It is available within the current session until you make a manual edit or start another refinement. When the session reaches 20 applied or partly applied refinements, save the outline; further changes can be made in the saved outline editor.

Regenerate starts again from thesis selection and replaces the unsaved outline. Copy any wording you want to keep first.

Build an outline manually

Select Build an outline manually to open the editor with the topic title and metadata and one blank section. Add the argument, sections, bullets, subsections and search metadata yourself, then select Save outline. A manual outline has no generated research, so a draft made from it has no research sources for generated links. Leaving before saving triggers an unsaved-changes warning.

Save and return to an outline

Save outline stores it against the Content Bank topic, normally moves an Idea topic to Brief Ready, and opens the saved Outline tab. If the saved article title differs from the Content Bank topic title, a notice offers Update Content Bank title or Not now; saving alone does not rename the topic.

Edits to a saved outline autosave after a short pause. Save changes saves immediately. Once a draft exists, the heading becomes Outline reference. To build a new draft from later outline changes, use Generate again from outline on the Draft tab. That replaces the current draft; see Content Drafting for recovery points and version history.

Regenerate outline starts a new thesis and research run for a saved item. The existing outline and draft remain until you save the replacement. Saving a generated replacement creates a recovery point that you can inspect in Review → History.

Outlines from Action Board tasks

An eligible Action Board content task can prepare a Content Bank topic and continue through outline and draft creation. The outline still pauses for thesis approval in the workspace. After you approve the thesis, the task can save the outline and start drafting automatically, then show Draft ready for review. Task information supplied by you is not independently verified merely because it appears in the brief.

Delete an outline

Use Outlines & drafts in Content Bank to delete saved writing. Deletion removes the outline, draft and recovery history permanently and cannot be undone. A topic at Brief Ready returns to Idea, and a linked Board task is reset. A Content Bank topic cannot itself be deleted while it still has an outline or draft, including one being generated.

Troubleshooting