Aeon Timeline
Grow big ideas into brilliant narratives
About Aeon Timeline
Aeon Timeline is desktop and mobile timeline software for Mac, Windows, and iOS that helps writers, lawyers, researchers, and project planners organize complex chronologies. It combines an interactive timeline with spreadsheet, relationship, subway, narrative, outline, and mindmap views over one dataset of events, people, places, and custom items. Writers can sync their plot two ways with Scrivener and Ulysses, and the app is sold as a one-time perpetual license with optional yearly update plans.
Pros & Cons
Pros
- One-time $65 purchase covers Mac, Windows, and iOS on up to 5 devices, with no mandatory subscription
- Seven views (timeline, spreadsheet, relationship, subway, narrative, outline, mindmap) all edit the same underlying data
- Narrative view separates story order from chronological order, which suits flashbacks and non-linear plots
- Two-way sync with Scrivener and Ulysses avoids entering scenes twice
- Flexible enough for legal case chronologies, historical research, and project planning, not only fiction
- Files stay on your own device or chosen storage service rather than a vendor cloud
Cons
- Steep learning curve; reviewers report spending months tuning settings and sync behavior
- Scrivener sync is manual and can produce conflicts that need reconciling
- No real-time multi-user collaboration; each license is for one person and files are shared as read-only
- Scrivener/Ulysses sync and auto backup are unavailable on iOS
- Continued updates cost $35 per year after the first year
Key Features
Interactive timeline canvas
Create and edit events directly on the timeline with drag-and-drop snapping, infinite zoom, a minimap context bar, and calendar markers for milestones and periods.
Seven linked views
Work in Timeline, Spreadsheet, Relationship, Subway, Narrative, Outline, and Mindmap views over the same data, and split the screen to use two views at once.
Narrative and outline views
Arrange scenes into chapters and folders on digital index cards, independent of chronological dates, to test flashbacks, alternate scene orders, and endings.
Entities, tags, and relationships
Build collections of people, places, documents, or custom item types, tag events with them, and define custom relationship types to track who was involved in what.
Custom properties and templates
Add text fields, dropdowns, links, and attachments to events, nest item types into hierarchies, and use structures such as Hero's Journey, Story Grid, and Save the Cat.
Grouped and stacked timelines
Group events by category, stack one timeline above another, and compare parallel arcs, team tasks, or conflicting witness accounts to spot gaps and discrepancies.
Scrivener and Ulysses sync
Two-way sync of narrative documents, folders, keywords, and custom fields with Scrivener (Mac and Windows) and Ulysses (Mac).
CSV import and export
Import events, people, or custom elements from CSV, export data back to CSV, and print or export images of any view.
Free read-only sharing
Share a timeline file with anyone, who can browse, search, and filter it in the free read-only mode of the app.
Pricing
- Full app for 14 days
- Read-only mode stays free for viewing shared timelines
- Perpetual license to the current version
- 12 months of free updates
- Up to 5 devices across Mac, Windows, and iOS
- All view types and split screen
- Scrivener and Ulysses sync (desktop)
- Another 12 months of updates and new features
- Cancel anytime and keep your current version
- Buy again later whenever you want
Best For
Novel plotting and worldbuilding
Fiction writers track character ages, arcs, places, and scene order, then sync the scene list into Scrivener or Ulysses to draft.
Legal case chronologies
Litigators build fact chronologies, tag witnesses and documents to each event, and stack timelines to compare conflicting accounts.
Historical and academic research
Researchers consolidate dated events from many sources into one timeline and analyze them by person, place, or theme.
Project planning
Planners map tasks, milestones, dependencies, and RACI-style assignments on a visual timeline with spreadsheet detail.
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