Lore & LilacImport & switching
Bring the book you've already written
Upload a zipped Scrivener project, a Word document, RTF, EPUB, Markdown or plain text. The studio shows you the chapters and scenes it found, and everything that couldn't come across, before a single scene is created.
No AI involved Importing is done by our own converters on our servers. Nothing you import is sent to an AI provider.
What you get
Import & switching, in detail
- Scrivener: a zipped .scriv project. The Draft (Manuscript) folder comes across in binder order — folders as chapters, documents as scenes — with each document's synopsis
- Scrivener research, character and place documents, and document notes, can come across as notes if you tick the box
- Word (.docx) with headings, emphasis, links and scene breaks — and its comments, placed in the margin on the paragraphs they belong to
- RTF, EPUB (in reading order; cover, title and contents pages skipped) and Markdown, as well as plain text
- Chapter detection for files without heading styles: lines like “Chapter 12”, “CHAPTER TWELVE”, “Chapter XII”, “Prologue” or “Part One” start chapters, and “* * *” or “#” become scene breaks. Switch it off if the split looks wrong
- A fidelity report listing everything left out — footnotes, images, tracked deletions, Scrivener labels — so nothing disappears silently
- Your original file is kept with the import, and is never changed
- Restore a complete project archive from the studio (or a desktop backup) as a new book
How it works
In practice
Choose the file
Word, RTF, EPUB, Markdown or plain text up to 20 MB, or a zipped Scrivener project up to 60 MB. Moving from Scrivener? Here's how to zip a project.
Read the preview
See each chapter with its scenes, word counts and the opening lines of every scene. Chapters found by pattern are marked, so you can check them.
Decide what comes along
Tick whether to bring Word comments into the margin and Scrivener's research documents in as notes. Rename the book if you like.
Import
Only now is the book created. Nothing was added to your library before you confirmed, and cancelling deletes the upload.
Where we draw the line
What it never does
- Create anything before you've seen the preview
- Drop text silently — anything left out is listed
- Change the file you uploaded
- Send what you import to an AI provider
These follow from our commitments. The studio never writes, suggests or rewrites your prose, anywhere.
Before you start
Questions writers ask
How do I import a Scrivener project?
Close the project in Scrivener, then zip the whole .scriv folder: on Windows, right-click it and choose Send to › Compressed (zipped) folder; on a Mac, Control-click it and choose Compress. Upload the .zip. The Scrivener moving guide explains what comes across and what doesn't.
What doesn't come across from Scrivener?
Documents marked “not included in compile”, the trash, snapshots (the current text of each document is imported), PDFs, images and web pages in the research folder, inline comments and footnotes, and labels, status, keywords, custom metadata and compile settings. Each is listed in the report.
Do Word comments and tracked changes survive?
Comments do: they're listed in the preview, replies and resolved ones included, and can be added to the margin on the paragraphs they're about. Tracked changes are taken as they appear on screen, with insertions kept and deletions left out; the report says how many.
Can I import an EPUB I bought?
Only books you have the right to edit. EPUBs protected by DRM are refused. For your own EPUB, the chapters come across in reading order; styling and fonts don't, but emphasis, links and lists do.
What about Google Docs, Pages or another writing app?
Export from that app as Word (.docx), RTF, EPUB or Markdown and import the file. Our guide to moving from another writing app covers the common ones. Legacy .doc files need saving as .docx first.
Try import & switching on your own draft
Import your draft from Word, Scrivener, RTF, EPUB or Markdown, or start on a blank page. The 14-day trial needs no card, and your book is exportable from the first word.