A book in OmniCon has four levels. Getting comfortable with how they nest — and how to move things between them — makes the editor feel natural instead of bureaucratic.
The four levels
- Book — the top. A title, a description, and a list of Parts. One book belongs to one channel.
- Part — the major divisions of a book. Think "Part I: Foundations", "Part II: Practice". Contains Chapters.
- Chapter — a unit of reading inside a Part. Usually has an introduction and a handful of Sections.
- Section — the leaf. A Section is roughly a page's worth of content. Most of the writing lives here.
When to use each level
- Short book (≤ 20 pages). One Part, a few Chapters, Sections inside each. The Part is mostly ceremonial but keeps things consistent.
- Medium book. Two or three Parts that each group related Chapters. Sections carry the prose.
- Large book / textbook. Several Parts, each with 5–10 Chapters, each with 3–8 Sections. This is where the hierarchy earns its keep.
Ordering
Every Part, Chapter, and Section has an OrderIndex. That's what controls the reading order (and the order things appear in exports). You change it by dragging in the editor — the UI updates the OrderIndex on the item you moved and on anything that shifted around it.
Reordering is scoped to the parent: you drag a Chapter within its Part, or a Section within its Chapter. Moving a Chapter from one Part to another isn't a simple drag — it's a delete-and-recreate. Plan the Part boundaries before you've written a lot.
What "content" means at each level
| Level | Has Content field | Typical use |
|---|---|---|
| Book | No (just title + description) | Front-matter metadata only. |
| Part | Yes | Short intro framing the Part's Chapters. Often left empty. |
| Chapter | Yes | Overview paragraph before the Sections. Often left empty. |
| Section | Yes | The main writing. Expect most Sections to be filled. |
AI reference data
Part, Chapter, and Section each have an AIReferenceData field in addition to Content. It's not shown to readers — it's context you give the AI generator at that level. See AI-assisted drafting.
Choosing the right depth
Don't use a level just because it's there. A Chapter with exactly one Section is usually a sign the Chapter should be a Section, and vice versa. Let the outline drive the structure, not the other way around.