Do not proofread a broken structure
Developmental editing comes first. Confirm the audience, promise, order, pacing, chapter purpose, and ending before spending time on commas or page breaks.
Use Structure and Binder targets to make the shape visible, then record decisions in the selected document's notes.
Run the copy pass for consistency
Check names, capitalization, tense, terminology, point of view, headings, references, and repeated explanations. AI drafts often sound consistent sentence by sentence while drifting across a chapter.
Organize search, Tags, and Saved Views help collect every occurrence so you can make a deliberate global decision.
Use Clean for mechanical residue
After the editorial decisions are made, remove chat labels, prompt scaffolding, duplicate headings, unwanted blocks, and repeated phrases with previewable rules.
Awtter's Clean presets keep that work repeatable without silently rewriting the author's voice.
Proof the actual exports
Proofreading is about the files a reader receives. Check page breaks, headings, links, table of contents, front matter, images, and any conversion artifacts in every supported format.
Save a History checkpoint before applying final changes and keep the reviewed export package for the record.