Common Tasks

Importing Work

Bring your existing manuscripts into StorytellerOS. Import from Word documents, Scrivener projects, or plain text files.

Why Import?

If you have existing manuscripts written elsewhere, you can import them into StorytellerOS to:

  • Manage all your books in one place
  • Track characters and story details
  • Use StorytellerOS features for editing and revision
  • Connect to your sales and marketing data

Supported Formats

FormatExtensionNotes
Microsoft Word.docxRecommended, preserves formatting
Word (Legacy).docOlder format, may lose some formatting
Plain Text.txtNo formatting preserved
Rich Text.rtfBasic formatting preserved

How to Import

  1. Go to Dashboard → Import
  2. Click + Import Manuscript
  3. Drag and drop your file or click to browse
  4. Wait for processing
  5. Review the import preview
  6. Configure import options
  7. Click Import

Import Options

Book Details

  • Title — Detected from document or enter manually
  • Pen Name — Which author identity
  • Series — Optionally assign to a series
  • Status — Drafting, Editing, Published, etc.

Chapter Detection

StorytellerOS finds your chapters from their headings, and it never drops your words. If a line might be a heading or might be part of your story, it stays in your story.

  • Word files (.docx): chapter titles set in the Heading 1 or Heading 2 style. A subtitle heading right under a chapter heading, like "Chapter One" followed by "The Long Night", stays with that chapter as its first line, even when the two use different heading levels.
  • Markdown files (.md): heading lines such as # Chapter 1: Title. When your file has these headings, only they start new chapters. Every other line stays in the chapter, including numbered lines, dates, Bible references, block quotes and lines that start with "Chapter".
  • Plain text and files without headings: a line that is just a chapter label, such as "Chapter 1", "Chapter One", "Chapter 3: The Road", "Part II" or a number on its own line. A numbered sentence like "1. Calm your heart" stays as text.
  • Prologue, Epilogue and Acts: a Prologue or Epilogue becomes its own chapter. An Act heading's title and any text under it are kept at the start of the next chapter.
  • Front and back matter: headings named Dedication, Epigraph, Foreword, Preface, Acknowledgements or About the Author fill those parts of your title. If your title already has one, the new text is added after it, never over it.
  • No headings at all: the whole file becomes one chapter, and the preview tells you so.

Chapter titles are kept exactly as you wrote them, quotation marks included, and chapters stay in the order they appear in your file.

Tip

For best results, start every chapter with a heading: Heading 1 in Word, or # Chapter 1: Title in Markdown.

A manuscript you upload on the title page is kept as a file. To turn it into chapters, open Writing Studio and choose Import.

Scene Detection

Optionally detect scenes within chapters:

  • By scene break markers — ### or *** or blank lines
  • No detection — Each chapter as one scene

Import Preview

Before finalizing, review:

  • Detected chapters and their titles
  • Word count per chapter
  • Formatting preview
  • Any import warnings

You can adjust chapter breaks in the preview before importing.

After Import

Once imported:

  1. Review each chapter for formatting issues
  2. Adjust scene breaks if needed
  3. Add character entries
  4. Fill in metadata (blurb, keywords, etc.)
  5. Link to series if applicable

Note

Import is non-destructive. Your original file is unchanged. You can delete the imported book and re-import if needed.

Importing from Scrivener

Scrivener projects need to be exported first:

  1. In Scrivener, select File → Compile
  2. Choose Word (.docx) as the output format
  3. Compile to create the .docx file
  4. Import the .docx into StorytellerOS

Importing from Google Docs

  1. In Google Docs, select File → Download
  2. Choose Microsoft Word (.docx)
  3. Import the downloaded file into StorytellerOS

Formatting Considerations

What Imports Well

  • Bold and italic text
  • Paragraph breaks
  • Chapter headings (with heading styles)
  • Scene breaks (standard markers)

What May Not Import

  • Complex tables
  • Images embedded in text
  • Headers and footers
  • Page breaks (converted to scene breaks)
  • Comments and tracked changes

Accept All Changes First

If your document has tracked changes, accept or reject them all before importing. Tracked changes may not import correctly.

Troubleshooting

Chapters Not Detected

  • Check that chapter titles use Heading styles (Word) or start with # (Markdown)
  • Read the notes at the top of the import preview: they say what was found
  • Numbered titles like "1. The Arrival" aren't detected; add "Chapter" before each number
  • Import as single chapter and split manually

Formatting Lost

  • Plain text files have no formatting
  • Try importing as .docx instead
  • Some special formatting may not be supported

Import Failed

  • Check file is not corrupted
  • Try a different file format
  • File may be too large (check size limits)

Bulk Import

To import multiple books:

  1. Import each book separately
  2. One file per book
  3. Each becomes a separate title

Take Your Time

Import is the first step. Take time after importing to clean up formatting, add character profiles, and fill in metadata. A well- organized import saves time later.

Best Practices

  • Prepare your document — Use heading styles for chapters
  • Accept tracked changes — Before importing
  • Use .docx format — Best formatting preservation
  • Review after import — Check each chapter
  • Keep original file — As a backup