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Importing a Scrivener Project

Atlas can import a Scrivener 2 or Scrivener 3 project as a new Atlas project. The binder becomes your Organizer outline, your text becomes Markdown, and snapshots, keywords, and comments come along. Your Scrivener project isn't changed, so you can keep it as a backup.

Starting an Import

On Mac, choose File > Import Project > Scrivener Project…, pick the .scriv project, and click Import. You can also open a .scriv from Finder or drag it onto Atlas. The menu items are available from the projects window.

On iPhone and iPad, open the More (…) menu in the project picker and choose Import Project > Scrivener Project…. You can also open a .scriv from the Files app.

Atlas imports Scrivener 2 and Scrivener 3 projects. If a project was saved in another format, the import stops and tells you which version it found.

Note

Importing a project counts like creating one. In Atlas Preview, the plans screen appears instead of the import sheet when you've reached the project limit.

While It Runs

A sheet shows "Importing..." while Atlas reads the project and converts your documents. When it finishes, you see one of two screens:

  • Import Complete with the number of items imported
  • Imported with Notes when Atlas had to approximate something. Expand the list to see each item and what happened to it.

Choose Open Project to go straight to the new project, or Done to stay where you are. The import always creates a new project, and it takes its title and author from your Scrivener compile settings. If those aren't set, Atlas uses the project's properties, and then the name of the project file.

What Comes Across

In Scrivener In Atlas
Binder folders and documents Folders and documents in the same order. A folder that has its own text gets a first child document with the same title
Text Markdown. Title becomes #, Heading 1 becomes ##, and so on down. Block Quote and Code Block carry over, and the Code Span style becomes inline code
Other text styles Attribution, Caption, Centered Text, Verse, and No Style become plain body text
Typed lists and scene breaks Typed markers (-, •, 1.) become real lists. A scene-break line (* * * or #) becomes a horizontal rule
Inline images Media documents nested under their document
PDFs, images, and audio Media documents
Web archives Web page documents
Snapshots Document versions, with the device name "Scrivener"
Labels and Status Selection fields named Label and Status
Custom metadata Metadata fields. Checkboxes become Boolean fields, lists become selections, dates become dates, and everything else becomes text
Keywords Tags, with their hierarchy and colors
Synopsis, notes, and dates The same synopsis, notes, and created and modified dates
Comments and footnotes Annotations and footnotes
Links between documents Atlas document links
Template Sheets Atlas templates
Draft items with Include in Compile off Documents excluded from export on their parent folder

Placeholders

Scrivener placeholders become document variables, so a title page or header keeps working:

Placeholder Becomes
<$projecttitle> {{project}}
<$fullname>, <$author> {{author}}
<$title> {{title}}
Date placeholders, such as <$date> and <$year> {{export.date}} in the matching format
Word-count placeholders, such as <$wc> {{export.words}} in the matching format
<$label>, <$status> {{metadata:Label}}, {{metadata:Status}}
<$custom:X> {{metadata:X}}

All-capital placeholders get an uppercase filter. A placeholder with no Atlas equivalent stays as text, and Atlas lists it in the notes.

What Doesn't Carry Over

Atlas lists these in the Imported with Notes screen when they apply:

  • Items in Scrivener's Trash
  • Bookmarks, collections, and word targets
  • Custom icons, which Atlas replaces with its default icons
  • Index card images
  • Label colors. Labels become a Label field, and their colors aren't kept.
  • Compile formats and settings. Use the Export Tool to produce output instead.
  • Text in a style Atlas doesn't know, which becomes normal text
  • A comment that spans several paragraphs, which keeps only its first paragraph
  • Links to items that were in the Trash, which become plain text

After the Import

Open the Imported with Notes list first, since it tells you where to look. Then open the project and check a few chapters. If you compiled your draft in Scrivener, set up the same output with the Export Tool, which can combine a folder into one ePub, PDF, or HTML file.

See Also