Moving from Atticus

What you’ll need (2 minutes)

A DOCX export of your Atticus book. Keep your Atticus project for its formatting and publication settings.

Preparation takes about two minutes if your export is ready. Import time depends on the size of your book.

Move your manuscript

1. Prepare your export

   In Atticus, open the book and choose Export docx in the status bar below the content editor. Save the DOCX and check that your chapter titles and scene separators appear in it. Use this manuscript export for the steps below.

2. Open Import

   In Mythwrite, open Projects and choose Import. In Import files, choose browse files and select your export. Start with one file, up to 50 MB.

3. Review the detected chapters and scenes

   Choose Import 1 File to open Import preview, or use the eye button labelled Preview structure. Expand the chapters and compare the titles, scene divisions and text with your original. You can rename or merge detected chapters and scenes before importing. Remove only material you do not want to keep.

4. Complete Book Setup

   In Import Options, complete Book Setup. Review Genre, perspective, tense and English style. Keep the detected structure unless you want the whole manuscript in one scene.

5. Bring in the book

   Choose Import with Structure. Read the Import complete summary and any warnings. Open the new book and compare the start and end of every chapter, text around scene breaks, and bold and italic passages with your original.

What comes across

• Manuscript text and basic emphasis, such as bold and italics, from the DOCX.
• Chapters and scenes that the preview detects. This is a reconstruction from the document, rather than a copy of the original app’s project structure.

What does not come across

• Atticus themes, decorative chapter designs, trim size, print layout and publication settings do not transfer through DOCX. Set up the book’s design again in Mythwrite when you are ready to publish.
• A PDF or EPUB is not accepted by the Projects manuscript import. This guide uses DOCX; it does not describe the separate Atticus JSON backup route.
• Story bible entries, planning notes and summaries are not created as separate fields from a normal DOCX. Acts are not rebuilt as a separate outline level.

Tips for checking your structure

For predictable chapter detection, use standalone titles such as Chapter 1: Arrival. Heading 1 with Chapter 1 works; Heading 1 with an arbitrary title alone is not enough. Multiple Heading 2 titles are also recognised as chapters. Use a standalone ***, --- or # between scenes. Numbered Heading 3 or Heading 4 titles such as Scene 1: Arrival can mark scenes. Page breaks and blank lines alone do not mark scene boundaries. Short lines of prose can be mistaken for chapter titles, and text before the first detected chapter can be left out of the outline. Check front matter as well as the chapter text.

A hand with your book

Stuck? Email us your export at [email protected] and we’ll set it up for you.