Quillen imports an existing manuscript directly from a Word document (.docx). It automatically detects chapters from Word's "Heading 1" style and recognizes scene breaks written as *** or ###, so a manuscript you've already written elsewhere can come in with its structure already recognized, instead of you rebuilding it scene by scene.
Before you import: prep the .docx
The import is only as clean as the document you give it. Two things matter most:
- Chapter titles need the "Heading 1" style applied. Not just a bigger font or bold text, the actual paragraph style. In Word or Google Docs, select the chapter title line and apply "Heading 1" from the Styles menu. Every paragraph styled this way becomes a new chapter.
- Scene breaks need a dedicated line. Wherever you currently mark a scene break (a blank line, a centered symbol, or nothing at all), replace it with its own line reading either
***or###. Quillen turns each of these into a scene break and starts a new scene.
If your manuscript doesn't have consistent chapter headings or scene markers yet, it's worth spending twenty minutes fixing that in Word before you import, rather than cleaning it up inside Quillen afterward.
What happens during import
Once you import the file, Quillen reads through the document and builds your book's chapter and scene structure automatically, based on the Heading 1 and scene-break markers you set up. Bold and italic formatting carry over as-is. Everything else, fonts, colors, custom spacing, and any other formatting, is flattened to plain text, because Quillen's manuscript editor applies its own industry-standard formatting automatically once the import is finished. You're not meant to keep managing formatting yourself after this point.
After the import: what to check
- Chapter count. Compare the number of chapters in Quillen against your original document. A mismatch almost always means one or more chapter titles weren't styled as Heading 1.
- Scene breaks. Skim through for any scene break that didn't get picked up, usually because the original marker wasn't on its own line, or wasn't exactly
***or###. - Word count. A rough total-word-count check against your original file is a fast way to confirm nothing got dropped.
Common questions
Will I lose my formatting when I import a manuscript into Quillen?
Bold and italic are preserved. Everything else, including fonts, colors, and custom spacing, flattens to plain text, because Quillen applies its own industry-standard formatting automatically once the import is done.
What if Quillen doesn't detect my chapters correctly?
This almost always means the chapter titles in the source document weren't styled as Word's "Heading 1". Go back to the .docx, apply the Heading 1 style to each chapter title specifically (not just a larger or bold font), save, and re-import.