There are good reasons to move a Word document into Markdown. A plain text file opens in any app on any computer, it never needs a licence to read, and it will still open long after today's file formats have changed. Many writers keep old work in Word files they can barely open, and Markdown is a way to set it free.
Saving a Word document as plain text loses its headings, lists, footnotes and emphasis. Converting it to Markdown keeps them, as marks in the text. This guide shows how Retroprose does it when you upload a Word file, and what comes across.
How to convert a Word document
- Save it as .docx. Retroprose reads Word's own format, .docx. An older .doc file needs opening in Word, or another office app, and saving again as .docx first.
- Upload it. In the editor, choose File, Upload. In List files (F5), press 6. On the dashboard, use Upload, or drag the file onto the page. Files of up to 10 MB are accepted.
- Read the status line. It tells you if anything was left out, for example "Left out: colours, fonts and 2 images. Underline became bold".
- Open the new document. NOTES.DOCX becomes NOTES.MD, in the folder you uploaded it to, ready to edit.
You can upload many Word files at once. On the dashboard you can also drag in a whole folder, or a zip file, and the folders inside it are made for you, so a folder of chapters arrives as a folder of chapters.
If a document of the same name is already there, Retroprose asks whether to overwrite it, keep both or skip the new one. Overwrite keeps the old text as an older version, so you can still get it back.
Uploading Word files is free on every edition. It needs a connection, as the file is read on our server, in memory: it is never saved there as a file.
What comes across
| In Word | In Markdown |
|---|---|
| Title, Heading 1, Heading 2 and so on | #, ## and ### headings |
| Bold and italic | **bold** and *italic* |
| Bulleted and numbered lists, with their levels | - and 1. lists |
| Tables | Pipe tables, with the first row as the header |
| Footnotes and endnotes | Markdown footnotes, [^1], with the notes at the end |
| Page breaks | \newpage |
| Links | [words](address), for web and email addresses |
| Quote styles | > quotes |
| Centred, right-aligned and justified paragraphs | ::: centre, ::: right and ::: justify |
| Underline | Bold, since Markdown has no underline |
Tracked changes come across as if every change had been accepted: insertions are kept and deletions are left out. Hidden text is left out.
What is left out
A Markdown document holds words and their structure, not their look. So these are left out, and the status line names them:
- Colours and fonts. The exports choose fonts for you, from a template.
- Images and text boxes. Retroprose documents are words only.
- Comments. Resolve them in Word first if they matter.
- Headers and footers. Only the body of the document comes across.
Get a better result
The importer reads the structure Word knows about, so a little tidying in Word first goes a long way.
- Use heading styles. A heading made by hand with large bold text is only a bold paragraph to Word, and it comes across as one. Apply Heading 1, 2 or 3 to each heading before you upload, and they become real Markdown headings.
- Use real lists. A line that starts with a typed hyphen or number is only a paragraph to Word. Word's own list buttons make lists that come across as lists.
- Accept or reject changes. Decide on tracked changes in Word first if you do not want them all accepted.
- Keep one document a chapter if you are bringing in a book. See How to organise a novel.
After the import
The new document is plain Markdown, so everything in Retroprose works on it: spell check, the thesaurus, reveal codes, word goals and footnotes. Words that came in from a Word file never count towards your daily goal, so your streak stays honest. And when you need a Word file again, Ctrl+E and 1 make a fresh one, as How to turn Markdown into a Word document explains.