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Importing a manuscript
Bring in a book you already wrote and carry on from where it stands.
What it is
Manuscript import brings a book written somewhere else into CharmWriter as a real project: chapters in the manuscript, and a Story Bible built by reading the prose. It happens in two halves, and the difference matters. Reading the file, working out where the chapters begin and saving them costs nothing at all — no credits are spent and your book is in the app before any price is mentioned. Building the Story Bible from that manuscript is a separate step you agree to afterwards, quoted in credits before it starts, and one you can decline or postpone without losing the import.
Where to find it: Dashboard → "Finish the book you started", the right of the three tiles.
What this covers
- Import from Word (.docx), Markdown (.md) or plain text (.txt)
- Chapter breaks detected from Word headings, chapter titles or scene separators
- A review step where you confirm or correct the chapters before anything is saved
- Italics and bold kept as written
- Book language detected from the prose
- Story Bible built from the whole manuscript: characters, places, plot arcs, relationships
- Genre, point of view, tense and tone read from your opening pages
- The manuscript import itself costs nothing
- A price shown in credits before the Story Bible is built
- Resume a part-built Story Bible later
How to use it
- 1
Choose your file
On the dashboard, click "Finish the book you started" and pick your file. Word (.docx), Markdown (.md) and plain text (.txt) are supported, up to 500,000 words.
- 2
Check the chapters
CharmWriter shows you the chapters it found, with the first line and the word count of each. Nothing has been saved yet. If two chapters should be one, click "Merge with previous". Three buttons below the list — "Detected chapters", "Import as one chapter" and "Split by length" — let you switch between the ways of dividing the book as often as you like; the one in use is highlighted, and you can always go back to what CharmWriter detected.
- 3
Confirm the title and language
The title is taken from the filename and the language is read from your prose. Correct either if they are wrong — the book language decides what language Charm writes and answers in, so it is worth a glance.
- 4
Create the book
Click "Create the book". Your chapters are written into a new project and you can open and read them straight away. Nothing has been charged.
- 5
Build the Story Bible, or not
CharmWriter then offers to read the whole manuscript and build your Story Bible, with the cost in credits shown before it starts. Choose "Build my Story Bible" to run it now, or "Not now" to open your book and decide later.
- 6
Leave it running or come back to it
The build works through your manuscript one chapter at a time and shows you where it is, with a progress bar. Your Story Bible fills in as it goes — characters and places appear in the sidebar chapter by chapter, so you can watch it being read. Open your book while it is running and it carries on there — you do not have to start it again. You can also close the tab: your manuscript is already saved, and reopening the book offers to carry on from the chapter it reached.
What it gives you
Your book arrives before any bill does
Reading the file, splitting it into chapters and saving them is free. If you decide against building the Story Bible, you still keep the whole manuscript in CharmWriter.
You approve the chapter split
CharmWriter never quietly decides where your chapters begin. You see the proposed list and can correct it before a single file is written.
The Story Bible comes from your own prose
Characters, places, plot arcs and relationships are read out of the book you actually wrote, so Charm can discuss chapter 30 knowing who everyone is.
An interrupted build is not a lost one
Progress is saved after every chapter. A closed tab, a lost connection or an empty credit balance stops the build where it stands and lets you resume.
Good to know
- PDF files cannot be imported. A manuscript PDF is either a text layer with the paragraph flow destroyed or a scan needing character recognition, and both produce text that looks fine and reads wrong.
- Importing into an existing book is not supported — an import always creates a new book.
- Chapter detection relies on Word heading styles, chapter headings ("Chapter One", "Розділ 1", "Kapitola 1"), or scene separators such as * * *. A manuscript with none of these is imported as one chapter unless you choose to split it by length.
- Images inside a Word document are not imported; the prose is.
- Building the Story Bible costs credits — roughly in proportion to the length of the book, and more per word for Ukrainian and Czech than for English. The exact price is shown before it starts.
- The Story Bible is built from what the manuscript says. It does not invent backstory you never wrote.
- Manuscripts up to 500,000 words and files up to 25MB.
Questions
Does importing a manuscript cost credits?
Importing does not. Reading your file, splitting it into chapters and saving them into a new book are free, and no credits are spent before your manuscript is in the app. Building the Story Bible from that manuscript does cost credits, and CharmWriter shows you the price before it starts so you can decline.
What file formats can I import?
Word documents (.docx), Markdown (.md) and plain text (.txt). Word is the format most manuscripts are actually written in, and Google Docs can export to it. PDF is deliberately not supported.
How does CharmWriter know where my chapters begin?
It looks for Word heading styles first, since those are the most reliable, then for chapter headings such as "Chapter One", then for scene separators such as * * *. Whatever it finds, it shows you the proposed chapters and waits for you to confirm or correct them before saving anything.
What if my manuscript has no chapter breaks at all?
CharmWriter says so rather than guessing. You can then import it as one chapter, or have it split into chapters of roughly equal length at paragraph boundaries. Either way you can reorganise the chapters afterwards in the normal chapter view.
What happens if I close the tab while the Story Bible is being built?
Your manuscript is safe — it was saved before the build started. The build stops where it was, and when you next open the book a banner offers to carry on from the chapter it reached.
What happens if I run out of credits half way through?
The build stops cleanly and tells you how many chapters it managed. Everything it read is already in your Story Bible, and topping up and reopening the book lets you continue from there rather than starting again.
Can I import a manuscript into a book I have already started?
No. An import always creates a new book, because merging a manuscript into chapters you have already written raises questions about ordering and numbering that are better answered by you, chapter by chapter, in the editor.
Can I re-import a book I exported from CharmWriter?
Yes. A CharmWriter Markdown export carries a title block and a Story Bible appendix that the app wrote rather than you, and both are recognised and skipped so you get your manuscript back as chapters rather than as dozens of entries called "Description". The wizard says so when it happens. Only those two machine-written blocks are removed — every word of your prose is kept.
Will importing change my prose?
No. Your text is stored as you wrote it, with italics and bold preserved. The Story Bible is built by reading the manuscript, not by rewriting it.
Start your first chapter
Every new account starts with two free credits, enough to talk a whole chapter through, have it drafted, and see how it reads.
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