Moving from Novelcrafter

What you’ll need (2 minutes)

A full Novelcrafter ZIP export containing novel.docx and the codex entry folders. Keep the ZIP intact and retain your original project.

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 Novelcrafter, choose Export at the bottom of the left sidebar. Export the whole novel with prose and codex included, using Word DOCX for the manuscript inside the full ZIP bundle. A standalone DOCX brings the manuscript only. Scene summaries are optional; include them only if you want to review their detection in Mythwrite.

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 prose from novel.docx, with chapters and scenes detected from its headings and scene markers.
• Supported codex entries become Archivum entries: names, entry text, aliases, tags and summaries where supplied. Characters, locations, factions and items map to their corresponding types; other categories become custom entries.
• Scene summaries can be extracted from recognised summary blocks in the bundled DOCX. Detection is heuristic, so check the result against your export.

What does not come across

• Acts are not rebuilt as a separate outline level. Their titles may appear in the text or be interpreted as chapters; check the preview.
• Chats and snippets are not restored by the Projects import, even when the summary detects them. Separate project notes are not imported as notes; text stored in a supported codex entry can come across as entry text.
• Codex nesting, relationships, external reference links and AI context settings are not recreated. Entries sharing the same name are deduplicated.
• A codex.html index alone cannot supply Archivum entries. The ZIP needs the individual entry folders. There is no promise of every summary or original scene division being recovered.

Tips for checking your structure

If you only need the manuscript, export prose without summaries or scene subtitles to reduce extra text. Turn off act titles if you do not want them in the manuscript. Keep codex entry folders at the ZIP’s top level; do not wrap the whole export in an extra folder. 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.