Exporting Projects

Kindling exports your work to multiple formats so you can move between outlining, drafting, and publishing workflows.

Export Dialog

Open Export from the project toolbar or menu, then choose a format and scope.

Supported Formats

Format	Output	Best For
DOCX	`.docx` file	Standard Manuscript Format submissions
Treatment	`.docx` file	1-page or 5-page synopsis/treatment
Scrivener	`.scriv` bundle	Roundtrip with Scrivener 3
Markdown	Folder of `.md` files	Plain text workflows or backups
Longform/Obsidian	Index + scene files	Roundtrip with Obsidian
EPUB	`.epub` file	E-readers and ebook previews

Export Scopes

Scope	What It Includes
Project	All chapters and scenes
Chapter	Only the selected chapter
Scene	Only the selected scene

DOCX (Standard Manuscript Format)

DOCX exports are designed for manuscript submissions. Formatting options include:

Title page — Uses app settings and project pen name (see Settings)
Chapter heading style and page breaks
Scene break markers
Font family and line spacing
Optional beat markers and scene synopses

The output follows Standard Manuscript Format conventions used by literary agents and publishers.

Treatment (DOCX)

For screenplay and novel projects, Kindling can generate a treatment document from your synopses and scene titles. Two lengths are available:

1-page treatment — A concise overview of the full project
5-page treatment — A more detailed scene-by-scene breakdown

Treatments are DOCX files you can send to producers, agents, or collaborators. They pull from your scene synopses, so the more detail you’ve added, the richer the output.

Treatment export is available from Export → Treatment in the project menu.

Scrivener (.scriv)

Kindling can export to Scrivener 3’s native bundle format, letting you move your outline and prose into Scrivener for further drafting or compilation.

Two export modes:

New bundle — Creates a fresh .scriv project from your Kindling project
Update existing — Merges changes back into an existing .scriv bundle, with a match preview showing exactly what will change before you confirm

What Gets Exported

Project structure — Chapters and scenes as Scrivener binder items
Scene titles and synopses — Written to Scrivener’s metadata fields
Prose content — Written to each scene document
References — Characters and locations as named notes in dedicated binder sections

Markdown

Markdown exports create a folder structure like:

My Project/
  01 - Chapter One/
    01 - Scene One.md
    02 - Scene Two.md

Beat markers can be included as headings
You can delete an existing export folder before writing new files

Longform/Obsidian

Longform exports are optimised for Obsidian + Longform workflows, making it easy to round-trip between Kindling and Obsidian.

Output layout:

My Project/
  My Project.md          # Longform index
  Scene One.md
  Scene Two.md
  characters/
  locations/
  items/
  objectives/
  organizations/

Scene files include:

YAML frontmatter (type, project, status, characters, setting, synopsis)
Scene title heading and synopsis block
 metadata and beats marker

Reference notes are written into subfolders for characters, locations, items, objectives, and organizations.

EPUB

EPUB exports include:

Metadata — Title, author, description, language
Theme selection — Classic, Modern, or Minimal
Optional cover image
Optional beat markers and scene synopses

Theme descriptions:

Theme	Style
Classic	Serif body text, traditional chapter headings with drop caps
Modern	Clean sans-serif, minimal ornamentation, generous whitespace
Minimal	Body text only — no chapter styling, no decorative elements

EPUB files can be opened in any e-reader app (Apple Books, Kindle, Calibre, etc.) for previewing your manuscript as a finished book.

Export Settings

Several settings affect export output. See Settings for the full list, but the key ones are:

Author name and contact info — appears on DOCX title pages
Pen name (project-level override) — replaces the author name for a specific project
Genre and description — included in EPUB metadata

For importing or syncing exported content back into Kindling, see Importing Projects and Sync & Reimport.