How to Import a Microsoft Word (DOCX) File
If you’ve been writing for long, you probably have a mountain of random Microsoft Word files from various writing projects. But Microsoft isn’t well-known for inspiring deep creativity, and Word is more at home in a business environment than in storytelling.
Likewise with Google Docs, which is more at home in an HR department than in building deep, immersive worlds. Fortunately, since Google Docs can also export Word documents, you can bring all your writing projects from your Google Workspace into your Shaxpir workspace, where you can use all the amazing creative tools we have to offer.
That’s why we developed our new DOCX import functionality: to help you seamlessly bring all your precious manuscripts into your Shaxpir writing home.
(This is an exclusive feature of Shaxpir Pro.)
Importing Your Files
To import a Microsoft Word file (with a .docx file extension), just follow these easy steps:
Click on the little red Create Content button in the left-hand navigation panel, revealing the Create Content Menu. At the bottom of this menu, you'll see a section labeled Import Content and a menu item labeled Microsoft Word (DOCX).
Clicking on the Microsoft Word (DOCX) menu item will summon a new Import Word Document dialog.
Click the Choose a File… button.
Use the File Dialog to pick a Microsoft Word document from your computer, and then click the Open button.
Shaxpir will read the file contents and analyze the structure of the document, including all its sections (title, parts, volumes, chapters, front-matter, back-matter, etc). When it finishes its analysis, it will show a brief summary of the document:
After seeing this summary, you can click the Cancel button to abandon the import, or you can click the Import button to complete the process. Once your import finishes, Shaxpir will take you to the Book Overview page for the newly imported book.
The new book will have a hierarchical manuscript, cover artwork, title and subtitle, author and publisher, copyright and ISBN number, as long as Shaxpir can find and comprehend those details from your DOCX file upload.
You can perform an import in the Shaxpir browser app, or in the desktop app. Users of the desktop app can perform DOCX import anytime, either online or offline.
How it Works
To determine the structure of your Word documents, Shaxpir analyzes the Styles of all the paragraphs. Microsoft Word has a deeply complicated system of “styles” that allow you to customize the layout and formatting of your document. For example, it's common to have all the headings in your document use the numbered heading styles (Heading 1, Heading 2, etc). Typically, Heading 2 is considered a sub-heading of Heading 1 (and so on). So when Shaxpir ingests your document, it uses the numbering of those heading styles to build up the hierarchy of parts, chapters, scenes (etc) in your manuscript.
At the top of your document, if we see an image before any text, we automatically use that image as the cover artwork for your book.
And if we see styles containing the words Title or Subtitle, we use those styles to infer the title and subtitle of your book.
If we see any styles containing the words Title Page and paragraphs starting with by:, copyright:, publisher:, or isbn: we use those paragraphs to determine the corresponding properties of your book.
It's all very simple and straightforward.
The DOCX files that Shaxpir produces from its Export Panel always conform to these standards, so if you export a book from one Shaxpir account and import it into another account, it will recognize all the properties and structure of the book. (But be careful when you export, that you always include the full names of your chapters, and not just chapter numbers, or else those details won't be available when you import them back in!)
Of course, if the Word documents you already have aren't structured like this, then Shaxpir will do its best to figure things out, and if it can't determine the structure or properties of your file, at least it will import all the text and images.