Chapter 14 — Collaborating

Scene Cards supports two collaboration modes:

Cloud Walls — real-time sync via the internet. All platforms (macOS, iOS, Android) share one live wall. Anyone with access sees changes as they happen.
Document hand-off — pass the .scenecards file between people by AirDrop, iCloud Drive, cloud storage, or email. Changes are merged using Import Project Data (§12).

This chapter covers Cloud Walls first, then the file-based workflow for offline or iCloud-only setups.

14.1 Cloud Walls — Real-time sync

Cloud Walls keeps one wall in sync across every device on your team — Mac, iPhone, iPad, and Android — in real time, over the internet.

14.1.1 What you need

An internet connection on each device
A Scene Cards account (free — see §14.1.2)
The current version of Scene Cards on every device

You do not need a Google or Gmail account. Scene Cards can sign you in with any email address.

14.1.2 Signing in

Open the “Sync & Account…” sheet:

macOS: click the cloud icon (☁) in the toolbar → “Sync & Account…”
iOS/iPadOS: tap the cloud icon in the toolbar → “Sync & Account…”
Android: tap the cloud icon in the toolbar → “Sync & Account…”

You’ll see two sign-in options:

Option A — Sign in with any email (no Google account needed)

Under “Sign in with any email”, type your email address. Any email works — iCloud, Outlook, Yahoo, a work address, anything.
Tap “Send sign-in link”.
Open your email on the same device — you’ll have a message from Scene Cards.
Tap the link in the email. Scene Cards opens and you’re signed in.

ⓘ Same device — the magic link is designed to be tapped on the same phone, tablet, or Mac where Scene Cards is running. If you open the email on a different device first, Scene Cards will ask you to type your email address again to confirm — just enter the same address.

Option B — Sign in with Google

Tap “Sign in with Google” and choose your account. Requires a Google/Gmail account.

✱ Android tip — most Android phones already have a Google account configured for the Play Store, so “Sign in with Google” is usually the fastest option on Android.

Once signed in, Scene Cards remembers you. You won’t be asked again on the same device unless you sign out.

14.1.3 Setting up a production (the owner does this)

One person — whoever manages the wall — creates the production that the whole team shares. Do this immediately after signing in.

In “Sync & Account…”, type a name in the Production name box (e.g. “Pilot 2026” or “Feature — Aug Shoot”).
Tap “Create Production”. You’re now the production owner.

You can do this on Mac, iPhone, iPad or Android. If you already belong to a production, use “Create New Production…” at the bottom of the sheet.

A production is a named workspace. All your Cloud Walls and team members sit inside it. Every active crew member can see and edit every wall in the production (§14.1.6).

14.1.4 Inviting crew

The production owner invites everyone else by email.

In “Sync & Account…”, find the “Invite by email” field.
Type a crew member’s email address exactly as they’ll use to sign in.
Tap “Invite”. They receive an invitation email.
Repeat for each person.

⚠ Use the same address — when you invite someone, they must sign in with exactly that email address (or a Google account whose address matches). If they sign in with a different address, the invitation won’t be automatically applied.

14.1.5 Accepting an invitation (crew members)

When a crew member signs in after being invited, “Sync & Account…” shows the invitation with Accept and Decline. They tap “Accept” and immediately have access to every wall in the production.

Invited to more than one production? The invitations appear one after another — accept or decline each.
The owner’s crew list updates live: the new member switches from pending (with a Resend button) to active within a second or two.

If the invitation doesn’t appear, ask them to:

Make sure they signed in with the exact email you invited.
Close and reopen “Sync & Account…” — it reloads every time it opens.

14.1.6 Opening a shared wall

Every active crew member sees every wall in the production — there’s no need to share walls one by one. Open “Cloud Walls” (cloud icon in the toolbar) and pick a wall. Changes made by anyone on the team sync within seconds.

How the wall opens depends on what you’re looking at:

You’re on…	What happens
An empty wall	The cloud wall loads into it.
A wall with content — Mac	The cloud wall opens in a new window, named after the wall.
A wall with content — iPhone / iPad	The current wall closes and the cloud wall opens in its place.
Android	Pick it from the wall list. Leaving an empty wall you made removes that empty wall.

✱ New walls — a brand-new wall shows an Empty Wall box with Import Script… and Open Cloud Wall…, so you can go straight to a cloud wall from it.

14.1.7 Step-by-step: first-time setup for a mixed team

Below is a complete worked example for a common scenario: one owner on macOS/iOS, two crew on iOS, one on Android, with a mix of Google and non-Google accounts.

Before you begin — everyone downloads Scene Cards:

macOS and iOS: App Store
Android: Google Play

The owner (macOS + iOS, no Gmail):

Open Scene Cards on Mac.
Click the cloud icon → “Sync & Account…”.
Under “Sign in with any email”, type your email (iCloud, Outlook, etc.) → “Send sign-in link”.
Open your email, tap the link — you’re signed in.
Tap “Create Production” → name it → “Create”.
In the “Invite by email” field, invite each crew member one at a time.

Crew member A — iPhone, has Gmail:

Open Scene Cards on iPhone.
Tap the cloud icon → “Sync & Account…”.
Tap “Sign in with Google” → select their Gmail account.
Tap “Accept” on the invitation prompt.

Crew member B — iPhone, no Gmail:

Open Scene Cards on iPhone.
Tap cloud icon → “Sync & Account…”.
Under “Sign in with any email”, type their email → “Send sign-in link”.
Open their email app on the same iPhone — tap the link.
Tap “Accept” on the invitation prompt.

Crew member C — Android:

Open Scene Cards on Android — it works immediately in local mode.
Tap the account icon in the top bar.
Fastest: tap “Sign in with Google” → select their Google account (Android phones nearly always have one for the Play Store). Or: type their email → “Send sign-in link” → open email → tap link.
Tap “Accept” on the invitation prompt.

Everyone is now connected. Tap “Cloud Walls” on any device to open the shared wall.

14.1.8 What syncs

Item	Syncs in real time
Scene cards (brief, location, comments, revision colour, omit status)	Yes
Still images and reference files	Yes (uploaded on add, downloaded on open; replacing a tile’s image syncs too)
Shoot reports	Yes
Episode titles and wall grid layout	Yes
Local `.scenecards` file on disk	No — Cloud Walls is a separate copy

ⓘ Local vs. cloud — a Cloud Wall lives in the cloud. Your local .scenecards documents (in iCloud Drive or on-device) are separate. You can work locally without a cloud account; signing in and creating a Cloud Wall doesn’t move your local documents.

14.1.9 Switching productions

If you belong to more than one production (e.g. you worked on two shows), pick the production in the Productions list in “Sync & Account…”. Cloud Walls shows every wall in the active production, plus any private walls you have.

14.1.10 Signing out

“Sync & Account…” → “Sign Out”. Your local walls are not affected. Cloud Walls become inaccessible until you sign in again.

14.1.11 Wall access for private walls

Production walls are open to the whole crew. Manage Wall Access… (cloud menu, on every platform) chooses who else can see a particular wall — useful for a wall that isn’t in a production.

14.1.12 Removing crew and leaving a production

Owner — remove someone: “Sync & Account…” → ⋯ next to their name → Remove from Crew. For someone still pending, it’s Cancel Invitation. They lose access to every wall in the production at once; any copies saved on their own Mac, iPhone or iPad are kept.

Crew — leave: “Sync & Account…” → Leave Production…. You lose access to its walls; the owner can invite you back.

Either way, the person’s app shows ““Production” is no longer available — it was deleted or you were removed.” and moves them to another production they belong to (or none).

14.1.13 Deleting a cloud wall

The production owner — or, for a private wall, the person who created it — can delete a wall for everyone:

Mac: Cloud Walls → right-click the wall → Delete from Cloud…
iPhone / iPad: Cloud Walls → swipe left on the wall (or long-press) → Delete
Android: wall list → bin icon next to the wall

This removes the wall, its scenes and all its files from the cloud. It can’t be undone in the cloud — but see §14.1.16.

14.1.14 Deleting a production

Owner only. “Sync & Account…” → Delete Production…. The sheet lists every wall that will go, the number of crew and shared snapshots, and asks you to type the production’s name to confirm.

It deletes all the production’s walls and their files, shared snapshots, crew and pending invitations. If the app is closed part-way, it finishes the next time the owner opens it (“Finishing deleting “…””).

⚠ Check the wall list in the confirmation before typing the name — every wall listed is deleted for everyone.

14.1.15 What other devices see

When a wall is deleted, or someone loses access:

Device	What happens
Mac / iPhone / iPad with the wall open	An alert — “…was deleted from the cloud by the production owner. Your copy on this device has been kept.” (or “You no longer have access…”). The wall stays on screen as a local copy, no longer syncing.
Android with the wall open	A “Cloud Wall Unavailable” message, then it moves to another wall. Android keeps no local copy.

A deleted wall can’t come back by accident — editing a disconnected copy never recreates it.

14.1.16 Restoring a deleted wall

A Mac, iPhone or iPad that had the wall open keeps a local copy. To put it back in the cloud, open that copy and choose Share Wall to Cloud… from the cloud menu. It becomes a new cloud wall in your current production; crew open it from Cloud Walls.

Scenes, schedule, cast and notes come back, plus any images, reference files and shoot reports stored on that device.
Files that were only ever added on other devices went with the deleted wall — add them again.
Share one copy only. Sharing a second device’s copy would make a second wall; open the restored wall from Cloud Walls on the other devices instead.

⚠ Mac: windows opened from Cloud Walls can reopen when the app relaunches and look just like a saved document. If one appears unexpectedly, close it with Don’t Save rather than saving it over a real file.

14.2 iCloud Drive — your own devices

iCloud Drive keeps your local .scenecards documents in sync across all your own Macs and iOS devices automatically — no account beyond your Apple ID required.

14.2.1 Where documents live

Documents appear under iCloud Drive → Scene Cards in the Files app (iOS/iPadOS) or in Finder’s iCloud Drive section (macOS). Create subfolders there to organise productions.

14.2.2 Keeping devices in sync

Edit on one device and save — iCloud uploads the change. The updated file downloads to your other devices in the background. Open it there and it picks up where you left off.

⚠ One editor at a time — iCloud sync is file-level, not real-time. If two devices edit the same document simultaneously and both save, iCloud may keep one version and create a duplicate. Work on one device at a time, or use Import Project Data (§12) to reconcile diverged copies. For multi-person collaboration, Cloud Walls (§14.1) is the better choice.

14.2.3 Downloading a document on a new device

If a document shows a cloud icon (iOS) or download indicator (macOS) it hasn’t downloaded yet. Tap or double-click it to trigger the download before opening.

14.3 Document hand-off

A .scenecards package is self-contained — every still, reference file and report lives inside the bundle. Hand it to anyone by any means that transfers a file.

14.3.1 AirDrop

macOS: Finder → right-click the .scenecards file → Share → AirDrop → select recipient.

iOS/iPadOS: Files app → long-press the file → Share → AirDrop → select recipient.

The recipient opens the file directly in Scene Cards once it arrives.

14.3.2 Cloud storage (Dropbox, Google Drive, etc.)

Place the .scenecards file in a shared folder accessible to both parties. Agree on a hand-off process: one editor finishes and saves, then the other opens the updated file. The last save wins if two people save simultaneously.

14.3.3 Email and Messages

Attach the .scenecards file to an email or message. Large productions with many reference files can be several hundred megabytes — use AirDrop or cloud storage for those.

14.3.4 Merging work from two copies

When two people have worked on separate copies of the same document, use Import Project Data (§12) to bring one person’s work into the other’s. You choose exactly what to merge.

A typical two-person workflow:

Person A creates the main document and shares it with Person B.
Person B adds references, reports, and schedule data on their copy.
Person B shares their updated document back to Person A.
Person A opens File → Import Project Data… (macOS, §12), selects Person B’s document, and picks what to bring across.

See §12 for the full details.

14.4 What isn’t supported

Real-time simultaneous editing of local documents — iCloud Drive sync is file-level. For real-time collaboration, use Cloud Walls (§14.1).

Apple Handoff — picking up mid-session on a different device is not supported. Open the document fresh on the second device after iCloud has synced.

Automatic conflict resolution for local documents — if two devices edit the same .scenecards file simultaneously, the file system handles it (usually keeping one version and creating a duplicate). Use Import Project Data (§12) to reconcile manually.

14.5 Where to go next

Cloud Walls in depth — once the wall is open, everything about building and editing it is the same as a local wall; start at §5.
Import Project Data — the full merge workflow for local documents is in §12.
Shoot reports — a common collaboration use case is importing a day-file into the main document; see §10.6.
Document package layout — understanding what’s inside the package helps when diagnosing sync issues; see §4.8.