How do I import a manuscript from Word or Scrivener into Folio?

Last reviewed November 4, 2026

Folio Premium imports Word (.docx), Markdown, plain text and Scrivener 3 projects. Headings become chapters and scenes, and Folio shows a preview before anything is created. The result is always a new project, so your original file is never touched. Keep the original as your backup.

Importing is a Premium feature. Free accounts can still restore a Folio backup file. See what's included in Free and Premium.

Before you start

• Keep your original file or Scrivener project as it is. Folio reads it and builds a new project; it never changes your original.
• Older Word .doc files need to be saved as .docx first.
• You'll see a preview with chapters, scenes and word counts before anything is created, and you can change the title and settings there.

Importing a Word, Markdown or text file

1. On your projects page, choose the import option and pick your file.
2. Check the preview: the chapters and scenes Folio found, with word counts.
3. If the chapters aren't where you expected, change the chapter level (see below).
4. Confirm to create the project.

How Folio finds chapters and scenes

• Headings become chapters. By default the shallowest heading level in the file is used. You can pick a different level in the preview.
• The next heading level down becomes scenes. So do scene-break lines such as * * *, --- or a lone #.
• A single top heading above the chapters, or a Word "Title" paragraph, becomes the project title.
• No headings at all? Folio treats lines like "Chapter 3", "Part II" or "Prologue" as chapter titles, and tells you it did.
• In Word, use the built-in Heading styles (Heading 1, Heading 2) for the cleanest result.

Importing a Scrivener project

Folio imports Scrivener 3 projects. A Scrivener project (a .scriv file) is really a folder, and Folio reads only its text, never your images or settings.

1. On a Mac, Finder treats a .scriv as one file, so drag it into the import window instead of using the folder chooser. You can also choose a zip of the project.
2. Review the preview. You can choose which top-level groups to bring in, set which folder depth counts as a chapter, and decide what happens to index-card synopses.
3. Confirm to create the project.

How Scrivener's binder maps to Folio

What doesn't come across

Folio lists what it left out at the end of the preview, so you can decide before you confirm. From a Scrivener project, expect these to be dropped or simplified:

• Footnotes, comments and annotations are left out.
• Pictures inside the text are not imported, and tables are flattened to plain paragraphs.
• Links to other Scrivener documents become plain text.
• Notes in Scrivener's inspector on folders aren't imported, because chapters don't have a notes field.
• Chapters that share a name get numbered so they stay distinct.

Check the result

1. Open Plan and confirm the chapters are in the right order.
2. Spot-check the first and last scene of a few chapters.
3. Compare the total word count with your original.
4. Look through the world or research entries if you imported them.
5. If something is off, delete the new project (it goes to Trash for 30 days) and import again with different settings.

If an import looks wrong and you can't see why, use the Help button in the app and attach a screenshot.

If you're coming from Scrivener