---
title: "Getting a Scrivener Project Into Word Without Wrecking It"
description: "How to compile a Scrivener project to a clean Word document for an editor, an agent or another tool, and the settings that cause most of the mess."
source: https://usegalley.com/blog/scrivener-to-word
---
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# Getting a Scrivener Project Into Word Without Wrecking It

July 26, 2026 [Guides](https://usegalley.com/blog/tag/guides)

![A double-spaced manuscript page headed Doyle / HOLMES / 1, marked up in red: Compile →.docx, separator ✓](https://usegalley.com/images/blog/thumbs/scrivener-to-word.png) TLDR Use Compile, not Export. Compile for Microsoft Word (.docx), pick a plain manuscript format rather than a styled one, check that your chapters are assigned the right section layout, set a scene separator, and decide what happens to comments and inline notes before you click Compile. Open the result and check the first chapter, a scene break and the last page.

At some point every Scrivener book has to leave Scrivener. An editor wants a Word file. An agent wants a manuscript. Or you’re moving the book into a formatting tool. And the first time you try, you get a document with no chapter headings, your notes to yourself in the middle of the text, and every [scene break](https://usegalley.com/glossary#scene-break) gone.

It’s fixable. Here’s the order to do it in. (These steps are for Scrivener 3. The menus are the same on Mac and Windows, with small differences in where things sit.)

## Compile, don’t export

Scrivener has two ways to get text out. **File → Export** saves each binder item as its own file, which gives you a folder full of separate documents. **File → Compile** joins everything into one manuscript. You want Compile.

## Step by step

1. **Choose the output.** At the top of the Compile window, set *Compile for* to **Microsoft Word (.[docx](https://usegalley.com/glossary#docx))**.

2. **Pick a plain format.** On the left, choose a manuscript format like **Manuscript (Times)** rather than one of the styled ones. If the file is going to an editor or another tool, you want it plain. The design comes later.

3. **Check what’s included.** On the right, the contents list shows every document that will be compiled. Untick your research, character notes and anything in a “cut scenes” folder.

4. **Assign section layouts.** Click **Assign Section Layouts** and make sure your chapter folders are using a layout that prints the chapter title, and your scene documents are using one that prints only the text. This is the step that goes wrong most. If your chapter headings vanish, it’s almost always here.

5. **Set the separators.** Under the format’s settings (the pencil icon to edit it), the separators decide what goes between documents. Set scene documents to a custom separator like `#` or `* * *`, or you’ll lose your scene breaks entirely.

6. **Decide about notes.** Comments, inline annotations and footnotes each have options in the compile settings. For an editor, you might want comments kept as Word comments. For anyone else, remove inline annotations, or your notes to yourself end up in the text.

7. **Compile, then check.** Open the.docx and look at the first page, the start of chapter two, one scene break, any italics, and the last page. Those are where it breaks.

## Common problems

- **Chapter titles missing or doubled.** Section layouts again. Either the folder and the first document both print a title, or neither does.

- **Everything is in the wrong font.** The format overrides your editor font on purpose. That’s fine for a manuscript. Choose a different format if you need something else.

- **Italics gone.** Rare, but it happens if you used a style that the format maps to plain text. Check the format’s style settings.

- **Scene breaks gone.** No separator set, or your scene breaks were blank lines, which compile drops.

## Then what

If the file is going to an agent, it needs to be in [standard manuscript format](https://usegalley.com/glossary#standard-manuscript-format), which has its own rules: [standard manuscript format, and what agents check](https://usegalley.com/blog/standard-manuscript-format).

If you’re moving the book into another tool, keep it plain and let the new tool do the design. Galley’s import takes a.docx (or Markdown, or plain text) and splits it into chapters on your headings and “Chapter N” lines, and shows you what it found before anything is saved. Your Scrivener research folders don’t come across, so keep Scrivener for research if you rely on it. The [Scrivener comparison](https://usegalley.com/compare/scrivener) is honest about what each is better at, and [import a manuscript](https://usegalley.com/docs/import-a-manuscript) has the details.

## More on guides

- [Vellum on Windows: Your Actual Options](https://usegalley.com/blog/vellum-on-windows)Vellum only runs on a Mac and its makers have said that won't change. Here are the real options if you're on Windows: renting a Mac, buying a cheap one, or using a formatting tool that runs anywhere.
- [The Best Book Writing Software for Self-Publishing Novelists (2026)](https://usegalley.com/blog/best-book-writing-software)A no-hype guide to the writing tools novelists actually use (Scrivener, Vellum, Atticus, Ulysses, Dabble, Reedsy, and Galley), sorted by what you need each one to do.
- [Book Writing Software Without a Subscription](https://usegalley.com/blog/writing-software-without-subscription)Every serious book writing and formatting tool you can buy once instead of renting, what each one costs, and the subscription tools that also sell a lifetime licence.

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