Importing Your Data

Penpoint lets you bring content into your books from outside files. There are two kinds of import, and which one you want depends on what you're bringing in:

Bringing in chapters you wrote somewhere else (in Word, say)? That's manuscript import.
Bringing back notes about your characters, places, and things? That's worldbuilding import.

Either way, importing never deletes your existing work, and it only changes something you already have when you tell it to.

Export Data

Export worldbuilding data: characters, locations, items, notes, chapters, and arcs. To export your manuscript prose, use the Export option in Manuscript Mode.

You can choose a specific type of archetype or export everything.

Import Data

Import data from markdown files exported from Penpoint.

Import data from single files or entire folders. The wizard will guide you through validation and conflict resolution.

Templates

Generate blank markdown templates that match your current Penpoint book structure.

Use these templates with AI tools to generate new content that can be imported back into Penpoint.

Manuscript Import

Import an existing manuscript from .epub, .docx, .rtf, .md, or .txt files into your book's Manuscript Mode.

The importer detects chapter structure automatically and lets you preview before importing. Bold, italic, and other inline formatting are preserved.

Figure 1.1 - The Import section in Settings

Worldbuilding Import

This brings your worldbuilding (characters, locations, items, notes, chapters, and arcs) back into your book from markdown files (the text files Penpoint creates when you export). Edit those files, then import your changes back. The Import Wizard in Settings walks you through it: it checks each file, shows you what it found, and, if a file has the same name as something already in your book, asks how you'd like to handle it before writing anything. New entries appear alongside your existing ones; nothing you already have is touched unless you choose to overwrite it.

See Importing Data for the full walkthrough.

Manuscript Import

If you have a manuscript written in another app, you can import it directly into Manuscript Mode (where you write your prose). It accepts a Word document (.docx), an ebook file (.epub), a rich text file (.rtf, which is what Scrivener compiles to), a plain text file (.txt), or a markdown file (.md). Open it from Settings, from the row of buttons at the top of Manuscript Mode, or from the welcome screen you see the first time you open Manuscript Mode in a book with no chapters yet.

Chapter breaks are found automatically, and you get to look everything over and fix it before it's final
Bold, italic, and other formatting are kept
Imported chapters are added to your book — your existing writing is never replaced

Tip: Worldbuilding import always uses markdown files. Manuscript import accepts a Word document, an ebook file, a rich text file, a plain text file, or a markdown file. They are separate tools, opened from different places in the app.

Tip: Looking to open a whole book from a .penpoint file (one you exported, or that someone shared with you)? That's a different feature. Double-click the file, or use Import Book… on the Your Books screen. See Importing a Book.