Importing a Book

A .penpoint file is a complete copy of an entire book: every character, location, item, chapter, note, and setting. You import one to open a book a friend shared with you, move a book between your own computers, or bring back a copy you exported earlier.

Two Ways to Import

• Double-click the file: Your computer recognizes .penpoint files, so double-clicking one opens it straight into Penpoint. If Penpoint is already open, it brings you back to your library and starts the import there.
• Import Book…: From the Your Books screen, click the menu in the top-right corner (or right-click an empty area) and choose Import Book…, then pick your file.

What Happens Next

Penpoint looks at the file and does the right thing automatically:

• A book you don't have yet: It's simply added to your library and opened, ready to write.
• A book you already have: Penpoint recognizes it's the same book and asks what you'd like to do: Replace your current copy with the file's version, or Keep Both as separate books. It also tells you which version is newer, based on when each was last saved, so you can choose with confidence.
• A file from a newer version of Penpoint: If the book was saved with a newer version of Penpoint than you have installed, you'll get a friendly heads-up to update first, instead of a confusing error.

Your Books Are Protected

Importing never overwrites anything without asking, and it can always be undone:

• Replace saves a backup first: Choosing Replace tucks away a copy of your current book before bringing in the file's version, so you can undo it.
• Keep Both leaves everything alone: The file comes in as a brand-new, separate book, and your existing copy is untouched.
• Other books are never affected: An import only ever touches the one book in the file.

Syncing a Book Between Computers

Because Penpoint recognizes the same book across files, you can keep a book in step on two computers without any special setup:

• Finish a writing session and use Export Book to save a .penpoint file, for example into a Dropbox or OneDrive folder.
• On your other computer, double-click that file. Penpoint sees it's the same book, tells you it's the newer one, and offers to Replace your older copy.

Making a Book File to Share

To create a .penpoint file to import elsewhere or send to someone, use the Export Book option from a book's menu on the Your Books screen, or from the Saved indicator while a book is open. See Exporting a Book for the full walkthrough.