FAQ

Beemgee GmbH is an independent limited company based in Berlin, Germany. The company offers a story development web-app under Beemgee.com as a FREE tool or as a PREMIUM subscription.
Our small team comprises experts from the fields of publishing, film and TV, as well as web design and development. Find out more about us.

You don’t need to register for a trial, you just TRY FOR FREE.

The standard functions of our storytelling tool are free. Sign up for a FREE or PREMIUM account to save as many projects as you like. With PREMIUM you benefit from a host of special features and functions that will help you professionalise your story development.

Beemgee offers individual developmental editing or story consultancy services. We also hold talks and workshops on storytelling and the craft of dramaturgy. See Services.

See also our news and subscribe to our newsletter to stay up to date.

Subscribe to our newsletter for monthly news about functions, features, blog posts, events, special offers and more. There is a lot in the pipeline. Stay tuned.

Continually. We’re working on new features all the time. With a PREMIUM account, all our updates and new features are included. You’ll receive notification mails when there is something new.
Subscribe up to our newsletter in order to be informed about new features.

Beemgee works on desktop computers in popular browers such as Chrome, Firefox or Safari. The software also works on many mobile devices such as tablets, though some browsers may not be supported.

However, the software is not designed to work on smartphones!

If you are not logged in, you will see these buttons top right:

If you are not logged in but are already a registered user, click LOGIN.

When logged in, if you open the global menu (the burger icon top left next to the logo), you’ll see your user name top right, and your projects as well as user settings.

When you’re logged in to a PREMIUM account, your project looks essentially the same as if you were using the tool FREE, but you can access all the features and functions – such as Detail Views, Exports, Point of View, Motifs, Project Permissions, etc..

If you are logged in and then your internet connection is lost, you will be able to continue to work on your project. However, you may find that when you are back online, you are no longer logged in. All the work you have done should be synced when you are back online, so nothing gets lost, but you may have to log back in again in.

You don’t. Beemgee saves your input automatically.

If you have signed up to an account, FREE or PREMIUM, you can log out and close the project window at the end of each session. The next time you log in, go to the global menu top left next to the logo.

In the menu you will find “All stories”. Select the project you want to work on.

SaveSave

Press the share icon to the right in the top menu bar. People you share your project with don’t need to register in order to see the project. With a PREMIUM account you can choose the project permission level: can view, or can edit. Click the share icon top right in the Beemgee web-app. Send the link per e-mail. The e-mail will contain the link and the project name.

Important note: Avoid having one project open simultaneously with a collaborator. Having several Beemgee project windows open at the same may result in some of your input being overwritten.

Basic collaboration

With a PREMIUM account, you can invite people to collaborate with you, i.e. make changes in your project. If you have set the Permission to can edit, this person will then be able to make changes in the project. We recommend sending copies of projects to collaborators and keeping the master version private.

Or you can assign view-only rights when you use the e-mail share function to send somebody an e-mail inviting them to open your project.

Clicking ALL STORIES under the heading PROJECT in the Global Menu shows you all the projects associated with your account and what their Permission setting is. The global menu is the icon top left next to the logo.

With a PREMIUM account, you can export PDFs of your project, your step outline, or your character sheets.

Whether FREE or PREMIUM, you can invite somebody to your project using the share button top right of the web-app.

With a PREMIUM account, you will be able to invite somebody to view your project in “read only” mode. That way, any change the recipient makes to your project will not be saved.

Anyone you invite with the Permission set to “Can edit” will be able to make changes in your project. This simple solution allows basic collaboration. A co-author can add story information or new characters, an editor or agent can check and edit the step outline, and so on.

Be aware, however, that any changes made to a project are final and will overwrite what is there already. We recommend you “clone” a project, meaning that before you invite anyone to collaborate with you, you save your original draft.

Furthermore, when two or more people work on one project at the same time, so-called “race conditions” may occur and some input may be lost.

Use the zoom slider to zoom in or out of your timeline.

Grab the timeline and pull it in order to scroll left or right. There is also a scroll bar at the bottom of your view port.

You’ll find tips about each dramaturgical function in the Beemgee web-app under the | ? |. These texts explain why the function you have activated is relevant to your story. The more about button links to an article which provides background information on the particular topic.

You can turn on the tour in your profile preferences in the global menu.

If you need help using the tool, you’ll find it under the category How to Beemgee in the blog.

Encryption
We protect your content. Any data you input is encrypted before being transmitted by SSL (256 byte). This encryption certifies that data remains private while being transmitted between your device and our server and back again. You can see the encryption certificate in the URL, which begins with https.

Server
Beemgee’s servers are located in Germany. They are superbly connected to the European and worldwide web and provide maximum protection for your data.

Data
Any content you save on Beemgee.com is your property. We will never in any way divulge, disseminate or otherwise do anything with user content or data other than provide the service we offer. It’s not our story, after all. It’s yours.

Premium
With a PREMIUM account, you’ll be able to decide whether to assign read-only or collaboration rights when sharing your project. Anybody you give access to projects set to “can edit” may make changes in it, so be careful with whom you share your projects!

Beemgee works on desktop computers and many tablets, irrespective of operating system or processor.  If the processor is old or slow or there is comparatively little main memory, then Beemgee can feel somewhat sluggish. Beemgee is not designed to work on smartphones.

Beemgee in parts utilises some modern technology which is not equally well-supported by all browsers. In our experience, Chrome and Safari work very well, and the new Firefox should not pose any problems. In other browsers, Beemgee may appear quirky or in places a little broken. Beemgee does not work well on Opera or Edge. We’re working on achieving even greater browser compatibility.

It is advisable that you have a stable internet connection. In certain rare edge cases, instability in the internet connection can lead to work in a Beemgee project being lost. That said, it is possible to continue working on a Beemgee project if the internet connection is completely severed. When you are back online, the project will sync.

Log in from the web-app via the global menu (the burger icon top left next to the logo) or from the homepage with your e-mail address and your password. You are not logged in if you see this top right:

When you are logged in and you open the global menu, you’ll see your user name top right, and your projects as well as user settings.

Once you’re logged in, your project will look essentially the same as when you were using it in guest mode, but the project you are working on will save automatically. If you are logged in to a Premium account you will be able to access all features and functions.

If you have not completed a sign up at some stage and try to log in with that e-mail address later, you’ll be directed into the payment process. If you experience any problems, write us: service@beemgee.com.

We did once upon a time have certain edge cases where individual users lost part or all of their input. In the overwhelming majority of cases, way way over 99 %, this was simply not an issue, and we haven’t heard of such problems for a long time now. For the unlucky few who were affected by this problem it was of course deeply frustrating – as it was for us. There seemed to be a particular combination of factors involving the location, device, operating system, browser and internet connection of the user that led to input loss.

We implemented safeguards to on the one hand forestall such issues, on the other to aid recovery should they occur. We installed a backup system which saves all projects separately and should help us to retrieve any lost input. If you experience problems, contact service@beemgee.com and provide the following: name of the project, your operating system and browser version, and a date and time just prior to the loss of input.

Furthermore, we recommend you a) do not work on the same project simultaneously on more than one device or in more than one window or tab, b) do export your project every now and again, and c) do make a version copy every now and again as backup, especially when working on a project with collaborators.

The most frequent reason why users cannot open a Beemgee project is that the browser is set to “private” modus. This prevents input and cookies from being saved to your browser’s cache. However, since Beemgee works offline too – by calling on information saved in the cache –, the software may not start if it cannot access the browser cache.

If you are having problems opening Beemgee, make sure your preferences are not set to “private”, that you have not opened a “new private window”, and that cookie blockers as well as ad-blockers are turned off.

This occurs only if you are using the Mac browser Safari. This browser is set to allow up to 5MB to be stored locally in the cache. Saving a project in the browser’s cache is great, because it means you can continue to work on your story even when you are offline. The next time you go online again, your project syncs automatically. A Beemgee project is much smaller than 5 MB. However, if you create several projects with lots of plot events and characters, you may reach the 5MB limit. That’s why we have increased the space needed for the Beemgee app. Safari asks the user to confirm the increase. Simply click “Allow”. 

One of the best things about Beemgee is that it can help you learn the craft of dramaturgy. In the web-tool, you’ll find on-site help whatever you’re doing – whether it’s checking the dispersal of your motifs or the motivation of your protagonist – when you click the | ? | in the tool bar. A slider opens that briefly explains how the feature you are currently using helps you tell a better story. If this quick explanation isn’t enough, click the MORE ABOUT … button. That will lead you to an article in our blog which gives you lots of background information about the specific aspect of storytelling that you are dealing with at that moment.

However, we haven’t written every single article yet. We’re working on it! Bear with us.

Sign up to our Beemgee blog in order to receive notifications when new articles go online.
Or subscribe to our newsletter and stay in touch.