yWriter Comprehensive Help File

This document was recovered from the lost yWriter google sites page, and is still a work in progress

IMPORTING AND EXPORTING. How do I ?

? import and export?

Go to http://sites.google.com/site/yWritersj/faq/chapter-export-import
I found the description here quite frightening. Suppose I have written a chapter. Don?t I simply export that to RTF in Word and then (if desired) covert this into a Word document?
You can export to Docx now.

? import (copy?) in a new project the Location / Character / Item lists that exist in an old project?

Look at Project/Export Data and Project/Import into current project. It should do exactly what you want.
1. Open the project you want to export from.
2. Project/Export Data/ (type of data).
3. yWriter will create the export file, then tell you the path and file name. If you forget to make a note of it, it will be in this project's Export folder.
4. Open the project you want to export into. You may close the project you exported from at any time.
5. Project/Import into existing project/ (type of data).
6... Navigate to the exported file - again, if you didn't note its location, it's in the Export folder of the project you exported from.
7. Open the file and it will bring in the data.

? import an rtf or txt file?

To import an .rtf or .txt file into a new scene, go to Project/Import into current project/Scenes (RTF/TXT files). Note that it creates new scene(s) in the selected chapter. It does not add to or overwrite existing scenes. For completeness, let me add that if scenes aren't in the correct order or in the correct chapters, you just drag and drop them to where you want them.
You can also drag and drop txt or rtf files directly onto the scene list to import them.

? move scenes and notes into another yWriter project?

Highlight one or more chapters in the list, then use Export Selected Chapters. You can then Import these chapters into another yWriter project, where they'll be appended to the end. All scenes, content, characters, items, etc used in those chapters will also be transferred
In a lot of cases, yWriter allows you to select objects (chapters, scenes, characters, etc) and then copy them to the clipboard. In another project, you can then paste them.

? move scenes and notes into another document?

It produces an .rtf file, which you can then open in Word. Just treat it as a .doc file with a different extension.

Does exporting affect the project in YWriter? Does yWriter send out a copy and leave the original intact?

The .rtf file is a separate copy of the book. Exporting doesn't change anything in the yWriter project.