Import and export

FoxQuill imports text, Markdown, Word, EPUB, Scrivener, and its own book and backup files, and exports Word, PDF, EPUB, Markdown, and text. It can also save a dated PDF copy of a book for your records.

Importing#

Settings has an Import section. The book list has an Import a book button too, and you can drop a file anywhere on that page. Both open the same import, with the same preview, and the book always arrives as a new one. It reads these formats.

Text and Markdown#

Splits chapters on a level-one heading, and scenes on a level-two heading, a line of *** or * * *, or a bare #. A first heading with nothing under it before the next one is the book’s title. A file with no # headings at all, typed in a plain editor, splits chapters on lines such as “Chapter One,” “CHAPTER 7,” or “Part Two: The Crossing,” in any case, when two or more of them are there. What follows a colon is the chapter’s title. A line with only the number leaves the chapter untitled, and it shows its number. A short line under a bare “Chapter One” that reads like a title, as in FoxQuill’s own text export, becomes the title. A sentence that happens to start with “Chapter” or “Part” is left as prose. A short line above the first of those lines, with nothing else above it, names the book instead of becoming a chapter, as in “The Well” over “Chapter One.” A blank line is the break between paragraphs and does not become an empty paragraph. The preview shows the split before anything is written. A file with one # and several ##, the way Compile writes Markdown, splits chapters on ##. Text before the first chapter becomes a chapter of its own. The Library at the end of FoxQuill’s own Markdown is left out.

Word (.docx)#

Splits chapters on Heading 1, and scenes on Heading 2, the Scene Break style, or a line of ***. A first line in Word’s Title style names the book. When a heading comes right under it, the line is not kept as a chapter. Otherwise, in a file from somewhere else, it stays as words you wrote. The title page of FoxQuill’s own Word file is left out, and its dedication comes back as a dedication.

EPUB#

One chapter per content document, skipping the cover, the title page, the copyright page, the contents, and pages that hold only a picture. Scenes split on a drawn line, on the scene break FoxQuill’s own EPUB writes, or on a line of ***.

A page the EPUB marks as a dedication, foreword, prologue, epilogue, afterword, or acknowledgments comes in with that section type. A preface or an introduction comes in as a foreword, and a short page with no heading before the first chapter that has one comes in as a dedication. Italics and bold come across.

Scrivener#

Reads the Draft folder of the binder from a zipped .scriv folder, whatever it is called. Research and Trash stay behind. A folder becomes a chapter, its documents become scenes, and a synopsis card becomes a scene summary. Italics, bold, and underline come across. Annotations, comments, and footnotes stay behind.

FoxQuill book (.foxquill)#

The whole book from another computer, pictures and all. See Move a book to another computer.

FoxQuill backup (.json)#

Restores drafts, cards, links, notes, plans, sprints, statistics, and goals, but no pictures.

The whole-data backup#

The backup from Settings > Files > Backup is a different thing: it is a zipped copy of every book, locked with a password or not. Import does not read it. It says “This is a FoxQuill backup. To restore it, use Restore in Settings > Files > Backup,” and asks for no password. Press Restore in that section instead. See Restoring a backup.

What happens next#

Nothing is written until you have seen the preview. FoxQuill shows every chapter it found, how many scenes are in it, how many words, and the first line, and waits.

You then choose whether it becomes a new book or is added to the end of the book you are in. A new book from a Word, text, Markdown, EPUB, or Scrivener file starts the way any new book does: your name as the author, and the look and theme you chose under Settings > This app > New books. A FoxQuill book or backup file keeps its own. A FoxQuill book or backup always becomes a new book. Adding to a book only ever appends. Nothing already there is changed or removed.

Chapter break shows up once you have chosen a text or Markdown file. It lets you split on your own line instead of a heading. Type CHAPTER and every line starting with that word, in capitals or not, begins a new chapter, with the rest of the line as its title. A line starting with “Chapters” does not count. Any text before the first break becomes a chapter of its own. Press Split again to read the same file again with your word, and the preview changes before anything is written.

FoxQuill’s own Word, EPUB, text, and Markdown files come back without the “Chapter One” label, and a part comes back as a part. A chapter that had no title comes back with none, and shows its number.

Compiling the manuscript#

The Compile the manuscript button in Settings opens a dialog. It opens with Preset, Format, and Export, which is all most exports need. Everything else is under More options.

• Preset: a ready-made setup to start from. See below.
• Format: Word, PDF, EPUB, Markdown, or plain text.

Under More options:

• Sections: check the ones you want, or press All or None. A section with no words says “Not written yet” and is left out of every format. A part goes in only when a chapter after it, up to the next part, has words.
• Only scenes told by: shown when your scenes have more than one point of view, and the point of view tool is on (see Show more tools in Every setting). Check the people whose scenes you want. Leave them all unchecked for every scene. A chapter left with no scenes is left out. The line under the list says how many scenes will go in, for example “42 of 48 scenes.”
• Scene separator: what gets printed between scenes. *** by default. Leave it empty for a blank line. A manuscript does not ask for it, because it marks every scene break with #.
• Include chapter titles and Include a title page: on by default. With chapter titles off, the chapter numbers still print.
• Set as a manuscript (Word and PDF): the standard manuscript format, described below.
• Name the point of view above each scene: prints the name from each scene’s point of view field above it.
• Page and type (Word and PDF): page size, font, type size, line spacing, indent, margins, where chapters start, the running head at the top of the page, page numbers, and a straight right edge. A PDF can also carry a watermark, pale words across every page.

Press Export when the setup is right. A line under the button names the file once it is saved. Every file button in Settings > Files shows the same line: each row under Export, the dated copy, Download backup now, This book only, and Move this book to another computer. The options mean the same in every format. The drop cap follows the book (see Paragraphs and drop caps) in a PDF or an EPUB, and is left out of a Word file and of a standard manuscript.

Every format prints “Chapter One” above a chapter’s title and “Part One” above a part, counted over the whole book, so chapter five exported on its own is still Chapter Five. Markdown writes ## Chapter One: Title. A title that only repeats its number prints once. A prologue and the back matter are not numbered. A book set to a language other than English gets the figure alone. A chapter with no title prints its number as the heading, as large as a title, in a PDF.

Presets#

Picking a preset sets the format and the page. It keeps your sections, scene separator, title choices, and point of view filter. Change anything after that and the picker says Your own setup.

Standard manuscript#

The format most agents, editors, and contests ask for. Check each one’s own guidelines too. It is 12 point Times on US Letter, double spaced, with one-inch margins and half-inch first-line indents. Choose the preset, or check Set as a manuscript on a Word or PDF setup.

• Page one has your name at the top left, with the lines of Contact for manuscripts under it, single spaced, and a rounded word count at the top right, such as “about 5,800 words.” Fill the contact lines in under Settings > Book. The title and “by” and your name sit about halfway down. There is no copyright line and no publisher.
• From page two, the top of every page reads your surname, the title in capitals, and the page number, such as “Alcott / LITTLE WOMEN / 7.”
• Each chapter starts a third of the way down a new page, with a plain heading.
• Every scene break is a #, whatever the scene separator says, and the manuscript ends with END.

Print title page and layout#

A print PDF, Word file, or EPUB opens with the title in large type, the subtitle in italics, and the author lower down. The copyright line, publisher, and ISBN sit at the foot of the next page. Every preset opens a chapter the same way: no running head or page number, the first paragraph flush left, and the heading a third of the way down the page.

Justified English PDFs are hyphenated, and facing pages end on the same line where they can. An EPUB keeps the same identity every time you export it, carries your cover picture as a JPEG, and has a copyright page. A cover drawn by FoxQuill is not exported: an EPUB has a cover only when you have added a picture. The Word file names you as its author.

To keep a setup, choose Save this setup as a preset and give it a name. It is saved with the book and appears in the picker next time. Saving again under the same name replaces it. Remove preset takes it away. Saving presets is one of the tools behind Show more tools; the built-in presets are always there.

Sending a paperback to a print service#

The three paperback presets and Large print make a PDF that Amazon KDP accepts for a paperback:

• The pages are exactly the trim size, with no bleed.
• EB Garamond is built into the file. Print services turn away a PDF whose fonts are not inside it, so use EB Garamond for any PDF you send to print. Times, Sans serif, and Typewriter are not built in.
• The margins mirror. The wider one is always on the bound edge, and for a long book FoxQuill widens it a little more, as KDP asks.
• In the paperback presets each chapter starts on a right-hand page, with a blank page before it when needed. Large print starts chapters on the next page, to keep a long book thinner.
• Page numbers and running heads are left off the title page, blank pages, and the first page of each chapter, and they stay half an inch clear of the edge.
• The page count is always even. KDP needs at least 24 pages.

When you set up the paperback, choose the same trim size as the PDF and No bleed. KDP’s previewer then shows each page as it will print. Look through it before you order a proof.

IngramSpark asks for a PDF/X-1a or PDF/X-3 file, which FoxQuill does not make. Convert the PDF first, for example with the Preflight tool in Adobe Acrobat Pro.

A Word file on a paperback size keeps the page size, mirrored margins, and running heads, but Word decides where its pages break. For the printer, use the PDF.

Italics, bold, and the rest#

What you set in the text comes out set the same way. Italic, bold, underline, and struck-through words keep their look in Word, PDF, and EPUB. Markdown writes italics as *word* and bold as **word**. Plain text has no way to show them, so it gives the words alone.

A heading you put inside a scene comes out as a small heading, a quote stays a quote, and a list keeps its bullets or numbers. A centered line stays centered.

The Word file uses named styles, the way an editor expects. The prose is Normal, a chapter title is Heading 1, and the break between scenes is Scene Break. Change one style in Word and every paragraph that uses it follows.

Pictures in your scenes do not come out in any format, and a scene that holds only a picture is left out. Your cover picture goes into the EPUB, not into Word or PDF.

A PDF can only print the letters its font has: the Latin alphabets, not Cyrillic, Greek, or Japanese. Compile tells you when your book has letters that would print as question marks. Word, EPUB, Markdown, and plain text keep every letter.

Import keeps italics and bold from a Word file or an EPUB, and italics, bold, and underline from a Scrivener project. Underline in a Word file does not come back. A Markdown file keeps *italic*, _italic_, **bold**, and ~~struck~~ words as marks, and a backslash before an asterisk keeps it as a plain character. A plain text file keeps its asterisks as typed. For a copy that comes back exactly as it went out, use a FoxQuill book file (.foxquill).

A dated copy#

Settings > Files > Export > Save a dated copy (PDF) saves the whole book as a PDF in one click, named after the book and the day, such as “Little Women 2026-10-20.pdf.” It uses the look of the beta-reader copy: Letter size, page numbers, and the book and chapter at the top of each page.

The title page says when the copy was saved, in your computer’s local time, and carries a fingerprint: a SHA-256 hash of the book’s text, a string of 64 letters and numbers split over two lines. The hash is worked out from the title, the section headings, and the text of every scene, in reading order, the same words a manuscript would hold. Archived sections, empty sections, and flags are left out. Change one letter and the fingerprint changes. Formatting, page settings, and the date do not change it.

To show later that a text has not changed since a date, keep the PDF and compare its fingerprint with the one on a newer copy. Two copies of the same words have the same fingerprint, whenever they were saved. The date is the one on your computer’s clock, so it records when you saved, not proof of when.

Everything else that comes out#

Export holds files you open somewhere else. For a copy to keep or restore from, use Backup.

The book

Notes and Library

Files are named after the book: “Little Women.docx”, “Little Women chapters.zip”, “Little Women notes.zip”, “Little Women cards.csv”. One section on its own is named with its title, such as “Little Women, Playing Pilgrims.docx”.

The section menu in the sidebar also has Export as Word, which sends one section straight out as a Word file.