What are Eras and how do I set them up?

What Eras are

Eras are named time periods that appear as a colored band across the top of the timeline. They give your life story a chapter structure — for example, "College Years," "Living in Austin," or "Early Career."

Unlike events, Eras are purely organizational. They do not appear in the events list or story output — they exist to help you (and others viewing your timeline) orient within a long span of time.

How to create an Era

Open the timeline and look for the Add Era option in the timeline toolbar. Give the Era a label, set a start year (and optionally an end year), and choose a color.

Eras can be open-ended. Leave the end year blank to mark an ongoing era.

Managing and editing Eras

Select Manage Eras from the timeline toolbar to view all your eras in one place. From there you can edit any era's label, dates, or color, or delete ones you no longer need.

Eras can overlap. If two eras cover the same period, both bands are shown.

Rules of Thumb

• Use Eras for major life chapters, not individual events.
• Three to eight Eras across a lifetime usually reads cleanly.
• Name Eras after where you were, what you were doing, or how you felt — not just a date range.

Common Mistakes

• Creating too many short eras that clutter the top band.
• Duplicating era content as events on the timeline.
• Leaving all eras unnamed or using generic labels like "Phase 1."