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Scenarios let you safely explore changes without immediately changing Main. Use them for budgets, hiring plans, downside cases, board scenarios, or any work where you want to compare assumptions before making them official.

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Main vs. draft scenarios

Your Main scenario is your live, official model. To protect it from accidental changes, Runway automatically creates a draft scenario when you make data edits in Main. Once in draft, edits remain local. They do not affect Main or another scenario unless they are merged.
Draft scenario flow showing edits staged before merge

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What counts as a data edit?

These actions create a draft when performed in Main. In a non-Main scenario, the impact stays scoped to that scenario until a user with merge access merges it into Main.
  • Drivers: Creating, renaming, deleting, editing formulas, modifying values, moving drivers, adding or removing drivers from blocks, marking KPIs, and changing formatting.
  • Models or databases: Creating or deleting models or databases, adding or removing database rows, editing formulas, modifying cells, or changing database schema.
  • Pages: Creating, renaming, deleting, reordering pages, creating or deleting blocks, editing blocks, or creating and updating sidebar sections.

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What does not count?

The following changes apply directly to Main and to scenarios with automatic updates enabled:
  • Table view changes such as filters, sorts, groups, visible columns, and column width.
  • Adding, editing, or removing integration credentials.
  • Adding, editing, or removing integration queries and configuration.

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How to tell you’re in a draft scenario

Look for the DRAFT label in the scenario name.
Scenario name with Draft label

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Managing a draft scenario

When working in a draft scenario, available actions depend on your permissions:
  • Save draft as scenario… creates a standalone scenario for your edits.
  • Compare & merge compares your edits with Main and merges them if you have merge access.
  • Discard draft removes the draft edits and returns you to Main.
Draft scenario menu with save, compare, and discard actions

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Creating a new scenario

1

Open scenarios

Open the scenarios list in the top-left area of Runway.
2

Create the scenario

Click + New scenario.
3

Name it

Give the scenario a name and choose an icon or emoji.
4

Start editing

The new scenario starts as a copy of Main. Edits you make affect only that scenario unless merged.
Create scenario dialog
You can also save a draft as a scenario using Save draft as scenario….

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Duplicating scenarios

Use Duplicate scenario when you want a new scenario that starts from an existing scenario’s assumptions. Duplicating a normal scenario creates a copy named {Name} (Copy) that keeps pulling updates from Main. Duplicating a locked scenario creates a locked copy. The menu item changes to Duplicating… while Runway creates the copy. Duplication is not available on Main, on drafts, or when you do not have scenario-creation access. See Permissions for access details.

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Pulling updates from Main

By default, scenarios inherit non-conflicting updates from Main. To prevent Main updates from affecting a scenario, open scenario settings and set Pull updates from Main to Disabled.
Scenario setting with Pull updates from Main disabled
To resume updates, set Pull updates from Main back to Automatic. Re-enabling automatic updates can pull in existing and future non-conflicting changes from Main, so review the scenario after switching it back.

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Locked scenarios

Locked scenarios preserve a version of the model so it cannot be edited accidentally. You can create locked scenarios from two places:
  • On Main, use Save draft as scenario… to save the draft as a scenario.
  • In the activity history pane, use Save as locked scenario from a change’s overflow menu.
Locked scenarios are not editable. When managing access, the share sheet can show this notice: To manage access in locked scenarios, please switch to the locked scenario and then open the share sheet again.

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Scenario settings

In the scenarios list, open settings next to a scenario name to adjust:
  • Renaming and icon: Update the scenario name or emoji/icon.
  • Pull updates from Main: Choose Automatic or Disabled.
  • Allow Merging: Allow or block merging into Main.
  • Editing: Control whether edits can be made.
  • Who can view: Control who can access the scenario.
  • Copy link: Copy a link to the scenario.
  • Delete: Remove a scenario you no longer need.
Scenario settings menu

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Merging scenarios

Scenarios work by layering edits on top of Main. Merging applies the scenario’s selected changes to Main. Merge access is controlled by permissions; see Permissions.
1

Open the scenario

Navigate to the scenario you want to merge.
2

Compare with Main

Click Compare and merge to compare the scenario against Main.
3

Review and confirm

Review the changes, then confirm the merge if the scenario should update Main.
Compare and merge button in a scenario
If you cannot merge a scenario, share it with someone who has the right access. Open the scenario from the scenarios list and use Copy link.
Scenario menu showing Copy link

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How merging affects other scenarios

Each scenario keeps its own edits until those edits are merged. For example, if two people edit Driver A in separate drafts, each draft keeps its own version. If one draft merges first, the other draft still keeps its own Driver A edit until it is merged or discarded. When the second draft later merges, its Driver A change can overwrite the first merged version in Main. If a scenario has Pull updates from Main set to Automatic, non-conflicting changes merged into Main can appear in that scenario. Its own scenario-specific edits remain local.

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Comparing scenarios

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Tabular comparison in pages and models

1

Open a model or driver table

Open a model or create a Driver table block on a page.
2

Add drivers

Add the drivers you want to compare across scenarios.
3

Open Compare

Click Customize, select Compare, then choose the scenarios.
4

Review variance

The default comparison view includes variance rows. You can also add or remove Variance and Variance % from the same menu.
5

Choose layout

Show scenarios as rows or columns.
Driver table comparing scenarios with variance rows
Variance color follows the driver’s comparison-color setting. To reverse colors for a driver, set its goal direction, such as lower is better for expenses.
Driver comparison color setting
When a block compares scenarios as rows, edits made in a scenario’s comparison row write into that scenario without switching the page’s active scenario. Variance and variance-% rows are computed and are not editable.

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Graphical comparison in pages

1

Create a chart

Create a Driver charts block on a page.
2

Add drivers

Add the drivers you want to compare.
3

Choose scenarios

Click Compare, then choose the scenarios.
Chart comparing a driver across scenarios

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FAQ

Yes. Switch Pull updates from Main back to Automatic. Runway will pull in non-conflicting existing and future changes from Main, so review the scenario after re-enabling it.
Yes. Duplicate scenario preserves the locked state, so the copy is also locked.

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What’s next