Drafts and auto-save
Everything you need to know about editing in the poem composer.
Reviewed regularly to match the current app.
Overview
A poem rarely arrives finished. GS Poetry gives you two safety nets while you work: drafts you save on purpose to finish later, and an auto-save that quietly holds on to work-in-progress so a closed tab or a lost connection doesn’t cost you the poem. This guide explains how each one works and where your drafts live.
Saving a draft
At the bottom of the composer, click/tap Save Draft instead of Publish Now. Your poem is saved to your account, private to you, and nothing goes out to readers. A draft keeps everything you’ve entered — title, poem text, categories, banner, backstory, visibility choice — so you can pick up exactly where you left off. There’s no limit on how many drafts you keep or how long you keep them.
Where your drafts live
Every saved draft appears under My Poems. Use the Status filter above your poems and choose Drafts to see just your unpublished work (the filter also has Published and, for GS Pro members, Scheduled). Open any draft to keep editing, then Publish Now when it’s ready — or leave it as a draft as long as you like.
Auto-save: a crash net, not the cloud
As you write in the composer, GS Poetry automatically keeps a working copy in your browser a moment after you stop typing. If you accidentally close the tab, refresh, or lose your connection before saving, that copy is waiting when you come back: you’ll see a “Restore draft?” prompt (and a “Recovered an unsaved draft” banner) offering to bring your work back into the composer.
Because auto-save is stored in the browser you were using, it only rescues you on that same device and browser — it doesn’t sync to your account or reach your phone. It’s a recovery net for accidents, not a substitute for saving. For anything you want to keep or reach from elsewhere, click Save Draft so it’s stored to your account.
Editing a poem you’ve already published
Changed your mind after publishing? Open the poem from My Poems and click/tap Edit. You’re back in the composer with every field editable — text, title, categories, banner, visibility, and the rest. Make your changes and click Publish to save them live. If you step away mid-edit, the editor flags “Unsaved changes” so nothing slips by unsaved. You can also send a published poem back to drafts from the edit page if you want to take it down while you rework it.
If something goes wrong
- “My restored draft is missing something.” Auto-save recovers the text fields it was holding; a large cover image or an attached voice reading may need to be re-added. Check the poem over before publishing.
- “I don’t see my draft on another device.” Auto-recovery is per-browser. A draft only appears everywhere once you’ve clicked Save Draft to store it to your account — then it’s in My Poems → Drafts wherever you sign in.
- “The Restore draft prompt keeps appearing.” Choosing Discard clears the recovered copy; publishing or saving the poem clears it too.
Where to go next
Ready to send a draft out into the world? See How to publish your first poem and Understanding poem visibility. Want a poem to publish itself on a future date? That’s Scheduling a poem for later (a GS Pro feature). Still stuck? Contact support.