CrownSync Playbooks are designed to be customised. While the baseline content provides comprehensive guidance aligned to industry frameworks, every organisation has unique processes, tools, and contacts that should be reflected in their playbooks. The editing system allows you to tailor content without losing the structure and quality of the original material.

The Split-View Editor

When you click the edit button on any section card, the split-view editor opens. The editor divides the screen into two panes:

Left pane — Markdown editor: A text area where you write and edit content using standard Markdown syntax. The editor includes a toolbar with formatting buttons for common operations.
Right pane — Live preview: A rendered preview of your content that updates in real time as you type. This shows exactly how the section will appear when viewed in the playbook.

The split view ensures you always know how your formatting will render before saving. You can resize the panes by dragging the divider between them.

Markdown support

The editor supports standard Markdown including headings, bold, italic, bullet lists, numbered lists, tables, and inline code. For a quick reference, click the help icon in the editor toolbar. CrownSync uses remark-gfm for GitHub Flavoured Markdown, which also supports task lists and strikethrough text.

Supported Markdown Syntax

The following Markdown features are available in the editor:

Headings — Use ## for subheadings and ### for sub-subheadings within sections
Bold and italic — Wrap text in **double asterisks** for bold or *single asterisks* for italic
Bullet lists — Start lines with - or *
Numbered lists — Start lines with 1., 2., etc.
Tables — Use pipe characters to create structured tables
Inline code — Wrap text in backticks for technical references
Links — Use [text](url) syntax for hyperlinks
Task lists — Use - [ ] and - [x] for checklists

Saving as Draft

When you make changes in the editor, you have two options for saving:

Save Draft— Saves your changes without making them visible to other team members. Drafts are stored against your user account and only you can see the draft content. This is ideal for work-in-progress edits that are not yet ready for the team.
Publish— Saves and immediately makes your changes visible to all team members and collaborators who have access to this section. Publishing creates a new version in the version history.

If you navigate away from the editor with unsaved changes, you will be prompted to either save as draft, publish, or discard your changes. Discarded changes cannot be recovered.

Publishing Changes

When you click Publish, you are prompted to enter a change note. Change notes are brief descriptions of what you modified and why. They appear in the version history and help team members understand the evolution of the playbook content over time.

Good change notes are specific and concise. For example:

“Updated Azure AD steps to reflect new Entra ID naming”
“Added FCA notification contact details for 2025”
“Revised containment steps based on lessons from March drill”

Every publish action is recorded in the audit log with the user, timestamp, section reference, and change note.

Change Notes Best Practices

Change notes serve as a lightweight changelog for each section. They are visible in the version history panel and can be reviewed by auditors. Keep them factual and focused on what changed rather than why you were editing. If the reason for the change is important (for example, a lessons-learned action from an incident), include it briefly.

Resetting to Baseline

If your customisations have diverged too far from the original content, or if the baseline has been updated with important new guidance, you can reset a section to its baseline state. Resetting replaces your customised content with the latest version of the original CrownSync-authored content.

To reset a section:

Open the section in the editor
Click Reset to Baseline in the editor toolbar
Confirm the action in the dialog that appears

The reset creates a new version in the history, so your previous customisations are not permanently lost — you can always view them in the version history and revert if needed.

Baseline resets are versioned

Resetting to baseline does not delete your previous work. It creates a new version entry so you can always compare and revert. However, you should still exercise caution, as the current published content will be replaced immediately.