Importing a manuscript or screenplay into Pendrilo

Ways to import a manuscript

Pendrilo can turn a manuscript you wrote somewhere else into a Pendrilo book, with its chapters found for you. It reads Word documents (.docx), ebooks (.epub), PDFs (.pdf), Markdown (.md) and plain text (.txt). In Studio, it also reads screenplays in Fountain (.fountain) and Final Draft (.fdx) format.

To start an import, use any one of these:

• Click Import a Book (EPUB, Word, PDF)… on the welcome screen or on My Books.
• Choose File → Import….
• Choose Book → Import a Book or Script….
• Drop the file onto the Pendrilo window.

When the import finishes, Pendrilo tells you what it found: the number of chapters and parts, front matter pages, pictures and notes, and which book details it filled in. A newly imported book starts with the Classic theme and a 6 × 9 paperback trim. You can change both at any time.

Save the book to keep it as a Pendrilo project. Choose File → Save (Ctrl+S) and pick where to keep it. A Pendrilo book is saved as a single file ending in .pendrilo.

Word documents

Headings become chapters. Italics, bold, footnotes, tables, links and page breaks come across. Word styles for text conversations, verse, written notes and centered text are converted into Pendrilo's own blocks.

Ebooks

Pendrilo reads the ebook's own table of contents to find its chapters and parts, and it takes the real chapter headings and subtitles from the file.

The title, copyright, dedication, epigraph, About the Author and Also by pages go into Book Details instead of becoming ordinary pages. Pictures, footnotes, scene breaks, quotes, lists and tables come across too.

PDFs of finished books

Use a PDF only when you no longer have the original manuscript. A PDF records only letters placed on pages, so Pendrilo works out the chapters, paragraphs, italics and scene breaks from the layout. It leaves out running heads and page numbers.

Look the result over carefully, because some things don't come across:

• Pictures and footnotes aren't brought in.
• Tables and pages set in more than one column aren't brought in.
• A scanned PDF needs text recognition (OCR) before you import it.
• A hyphen at the end of a line may be lost.
• Poetry and other text without indents or spaces between paragraphs may not split into paragraphs correctly.

You can add missing pieces by hand in the editor after the import.

Markdown and plain text

Pendrilo also accepts Markdown (.md) and plain text (.txt) files. Open one the same way as any other manuscript, then check the chapters Pendrilo found before you go further.

Screenplays in Fountain and Final Draft

Studio can import screenplays written in other programs, in two formats: Fountain (.fountain) and Final Draft (.fdx). Use one of the import options listed above to open the file. These two formats are read in Studio only, so open the script there rather than in the Formatter.

When the import finishes, check the script in Studio before you go further. Save it as a Pendrilo book in the same way as any other import.

After the import

Before you publish or generate your files, read through the imported text in the editor. For a manuscript, check the chapter breaks, paragraphs, italics and scene breaks. Then look at the typeset pages in the preview to confirm the book looks right. In Studio, use the Format workspace. In the Formatter, the real typeset pages are on the right of the main screen.