Importing Documents

Overview

If you have existing work in another application — a manuscript in Microsoft Word, notes in a text file, or a draft in Markdown — you can import it directly into Genesis Writer. The import system converts your file into the editor's rich text format, preserving as much formatting as the source format supports.

When you import, Genesis Writer parses the file, shows a preview of the chapters it detected (with editable titles), and creates a new project in which each chapter becomes its own draft node, ready for editing. From there you can use all of Genesis Writer's tools: AI generation, analysis, comments, styles, and everything else — as if you'd written it directly in the editor.

Supported Formats

Genesis Writer supports five import formats, each with different capabilities:

• DOCX (.docx) — Microsoft Word format with full formatting support.
• EPUB (.epub) — e-book format. Uses the book's own chapter structure and preserves headings, inline formatting, and images.
• Markdown (.md, .markdown) — GitHub-Flavored Markdown with tables, strikethrough, and more.
• Plain Text (.txt) — unformatted text with paragraph detection.
• PDF (.pdf) — text extraction only, no formatting preserved.

How to Import a File

1. From the project hub, click the Import button in the header (next to + New).
2. Drop your file onto the upload area, or click to choose one (.docx, .epub, .md, .txt, or .pdf).
3. Genesis Writer parses the file and shows a preview of the detected chapters. The project title defaults to the filename — edit it and any chapter titles as needed.
4. Click Create Project. Each chapter becomes a draft node in a new project, and the editor opens on it.

DOCX Import

DOCX is the recommended format for importing existing manuscripts. Genesis Writer uses a document conversion engine to convert Word documents, which preserves:

• Headings — Heading 1, Heading 2, and Heading 3 styles map to h1, h2, and h3 elements.
• Bold and italic — inline formatting is preserved.
• Underline and strikethrough — both are carried over.
• Paragraphs and spacing — paragraph breaks are maintained.

Some Word-specific features are not preserved during import:

• Headers and footers
• Page numbers and page breaks
• Tables of contents
• Track changes and comments
• Complex table formatting
• Embedded images (text content only)
• Custom fonts and font sizes

EPUB Import

EPUB is the e-book format used by most digital publishing tools. Because an EPUB stores its own structure — a manifest and a reading order (the “spine”) — Genesis Writer can import it with high fidelity:

• Native chapters — each section of the book's spine becomes its own draft chapter, so the breaks match how the book was authored. Small front-matter sections (cover, copyright, dedication) are merged into the first chapter.
• Formatting preserved — headings, bold, italic, underline, lists, and blockquotes carry over.
• Inline images — unlike DOCX import, images embedded in the EPUB are kept.

EPUB is an excellent choice if your manuscript already lives in an e-book file or you export it from a tool like Vellum, Calibre, or Scrivener.

Markdown Import

Markdown import supports GitHub-Flavored Markdown (GFM) through a Markdown parser. This includes:

• Headings — # through ### for three heading levels.
• Bold and italic — **bold**, *italic*, and ***both***.
• Strikethrough — ~~deleted text~~.
• Lists — ordered (numbered) and unordered (bulleted) lists.
• Blockquotes — > prefixed text for quotations.
• Code blocks — fenced code blocks with ``` syntax.
• Tables — GFM pipe-delimited tables.
• Links — inline [text](url) links.
• Horizontal rules — --- or *** as section breaks.

Markdown is an excellent choice if you draft in plain-text editors like VS Code, iA Writer, Obsidian, or any other Markdown-capable tool. The conversion is fast, predictable, and preserves structure well.

Plain Text Import

Plain text files (.txt) have no formatting, so the import focuses on preserving your paragraph structure:

• Double line breaks (blank lines) are treated as paragraph separators.
• Single line breaks within a paragraph are preserved as line breaks inside the same paragraph.
• Special characters (&, <, >) are properly escaped for the editor.

This format works well for quick imports when you just need to get text into the editor. No formatting is expected, so there are no surprises.

PDF Import

PDF import extracts text only. Due to the nature of the PDF format, formatting, layout, columns, and images are not preserved. The imported content will be plain text organized into paragraphs.

If your PDF contains scanned images of text (rather than selectable text), the import won't extract any content. You'll need to run OCR (optical character recognition) on the file first using an external tool.

Format Comparison

Here's a side-by-side comparison of what each format preserves:

Tips for Best Results

• Use DOCX for manuscripts. If you're importing a full manuscript or a lengthy document with formatting, DOCX is your best bet. It preserves the most structure and maps cleanly to the editor's formatting model.
• Use EPUB for finished e-books. If your manuscript is already an EPUB, import it directly — it brings over the book's native chapter structure and inline images, no conversion needed.
• Use Markdown for structured drafts. If you write in a Markdown editor, import directly. The GFM support handles tables, strikethrough, and other extended syntax.
• Use TXT when formatting doesn't matter. For raw text you plan to format in the editor, TXT is the simplest and most predictable format.
• Avoid importing PDFs when possible. Convert to DOCX or TXT first for much better results. Most word processors and online tools can convert PDFs to DOCX.
• Review headings after import. Make sure your chapter and section headings imported as actual headings (not just bold text). The editor's heading styles affect both formatting and export output.
• Check paragraph breaks. Some word processors use soft returns (Shift+Enter) instead of paragraph breaks. These may import differently than expected. Scan through and adjust any merged paragraphs.
• Review the detected chapters. Import always creates a new project, so it never overwrites existing work. Before clicking Create Project, scan the chapter list in the preview — rename chapters, or choose a different file if the split doesn't look right.