Get your writing out of a Scrivener project, without Scrivener
A Scrivener project is a folder (on a Mac it looks like a single file) holding the binder and every document as a separate file, so no other program can open it. If your licence or trial ran out, you moved to Linux or a Chromebook, a co-author sent you a project, Scrivener refuses to open it, or it is an old Scrivener 1 or 2 project, this tool reads the project directly and gives you the writing back: the manuscript in one Word document, every document on its own, and the binder with its synopses, notes and metadata.
What to upload
| Your project | Upload |
|---|---|
My Novel.scriv on a Mac (Scrivener 1, 2 or 3) | right-click it in the Finder, choose Compress, upload the .zip |
My Novel.scriv folder on Windows (Scrivener 1 or 3) | right-click it, Send to > Compressed (zipped) folder, upload the .zip |
| A backup Scrivener made (a ZIP from its Backups folder) | the backup ZIP as it is |
| Several projects or backups | one ZIP holding them all; each project is converted |
Only the .scrivx file | the file itself: you get the binder outline, but the text lives in the project's Files folder, so upload the whole folder for the writing |
Projects synced with Dropbox, iCloud or Google Drive work the same way; make sure the whole folder has finished downloading before you compress it.
What you get
- The manuscript as a Word document (DOCX): the documents of the Draft (or Manuscript) folder in binder order, folder titles as headings by depth, a separator between scenes. Comments stay Word comments on the same words, footnotes become Word footnotes, inline annotations become comments. Fonts, sizes, bold, italic, underline, colours, alignment, indents, line spacing, lists, tables, pictures and links are kept, and Scrivener's paragraph styles become Word styles of the same name. It opens in Word and in other programs that read Word documents.
- The manuscript as an EPUB e-book with a table of contents and footnotes, and as Markdown with footnotes, and comments kept in CriticMarkup.
- A Fountain screenplay when the project uses script mode for a screenplay: scene headings, action, characters, parentheticals, dialogue and transitions, for Highland, Fade In, WriterSolo and other screenwriting apps that read Fountain.
- Every document on its own in a ZIP that keeps the binder's folders and order: each text as Word, RTF and Markdown, its document notes next to it, the project notes, and the research files (PDFs, pictures, audio and video) copied out under their binder titles.
- The snapshots of every document, each with its date and title.
- The binder outline as Excel and CSV (title, folder path, type, label, status, keywords, include in compile, words, target, synopsis, dates and your custom metadata) and a report with the synopses and notes.
The result page shows the binder, the project's facts and the start of the first document before you download anything.
Choosing what goes into the manuscript
By default the manuscript holds what Scrivener would compile: the documents of the Draft folder
that are marked Include in Compile. You can include everything in the Draft folder, or every
text in the binder except the Trash. Titles can be headings for folders and top-level documents
(usually the chapters), for every binder item, for folders only, or not at all. Between two scenes
you can put * * *, #, an empty line or a page break.
Versions
Scrivener 3 for Mac and Windows, Scrivener 2 for Mac, Scrivener 1 for Mac (projects with a
binder.scrivproj), Scrivener 1 for Windows and the Scrivener for Linux beta. Projects in other
languages keep their text, including Chinese, Japanese and other scripts stored in older code pages.
When Scrivener won't open the project
If the .scrivx file is missing or damaged, the binder is read from the copy Scrivener keeps in the
project's Files folder (binder.autosave or binder.backup), and you are told so. If that copy is
gone as well, the documents are still recovered one by one, with their titles from Scrivener's search
index where it has them. Comment files damaged by a sync or version-control conflict are read entry
by entry.
What does not come across
Scrivener's compile settings are not part of the project's text: section layouts, title prefixes
such as "Chapter One", and placeholders like <$n> or <$PROJECTTITLE> stay as you typed them.
Pictures that were only linked from a place outside the project appear as a note with their file
name. Label colours, keywords and status are in the outline and the report rather than in the Word
document.
Privacy
Results are deleted after 30 minutes, or straight away with "Delete now". Projects are not shared with anyone.