Switching writing apps partway through a novel feels riskier than it is. You've already written 60,000 words; the last thing you want is to lose any of it, or spend a week rebuilding structure you already had. Moving a manuscript from Google Docs into Quillen takes a few minutes, provided the file is set up correctly first.
Step 1: Check your chapter headings
Quillen detects chapters by looking for Word or Docs' Heading 1 paragraph style, not by font size or bold text that merely looks like a heading. Open your manuscript and confirm every chapter title actually uses Heading 1 (select the line, check the style dropdown in the toolbar). If some titles were formatted manually instead, reapply Heading 1 to each before moving on.
Step 2: Check your scene breaks
A line reading *** or ### on its own is what Quillen looks for to split a chapter into scenes. If you've been using a different marker (a row of dashes, a blank line, something else), a quick Find and Replace across the document to standardize on *** before exporting will save you from doing it by hand after import.
Step 3: Export as a .docx file
From Google Docs, use File > Download > Microsoft Word (.docx). Quillen imports from .docx, not directly from a Google Doc, so this export step is required regardless of which app you're moving from.
Step 4: Import into Quillen
Create a new book in Quillen and choose the import option, then select your exported .docx file. Quillen scans the document, turns every Heading 1 into a chapter, splits each chapter into scenes at every *** or ### line, and carries your bold and italic formatting across. Everything else, fonts, colors, manual sizing, is flattened to plain text rather than silently dropped, since none of it is needed once Quillen's own formatting takes over.
Step 5: Check the result
Once the import finishes, look through the sidebar tree to confirm chapters and scenes landed where expected. A heading that was missed or a scene break that used the wrong marker are the two most common gaps, and both are quick to fix manually inside Quillen once you spot them, using the same drag-and-drop reordering and one-click "Add Scene Break" tools you'd use for any other chapter.
What doesn't carry over, on purpose
Fonts, colors, and manual formatting don't survive the import, and that's intentional rather than a limitation. Quillen's editor renders in industry-standard manuscript format automatically, so there's nothing to preserve from your old file's formatting choices. The only things that matter, your words, your chapter and scene structure, and your bold and italic emphasis, are exactly what carry across.
For more detail on the import process itself, including how to troubleshoot a messy or inconsistently formatted file, see our full guide on importing a manuscript into Quillen from Word.
Common questions
Will I lose my formatting when I move my manuscript out of Google Docs?
Bold and italic formatting carry over when you import into Quillen. Fonts, colors, and manual sizing don't, but that's intentional: Quillen applies its own consistent manuscript formatting automatically, so nothing needs to be preserved or fixed by hand.
Do I need to manually split my manuscript into chapters before importing?
No, as long as chapter titles use Word or Docs' Heading 1 style, Quillen detects them automatically on import. A line reading *** or ### is read as a scene break within a chapter. Plain text with no heading styles imports as a single unbroken document, which is the one case worth fixing before you import.