Best Practices for Importing Your Manuscript

Want your manuscript to import perfectly?

You only need to know one thing: Lacuna uses Heading Styles to detect your sections.

The Golden Rule

When Lacuna sees a line of text formatted as Heading 1, it automatically detects it as a new Section.

How to Format Your Document

Stop using bold text or large fonts to mark your chapters. Use the Heading 1 style so Lacuna can organize your book for you.

1. Select your section title. Highlight the text you want to start a new section (e.g., “Chapter 1” or “Introduction”).

2. Apply Heading 1. In the toolbar, click Heading 1 in the Styles pane.

3. Repeat for every section. Apply this to every Chapter, Introduction, Dedication, or Epilogue.

3-Second Pre-Import Checklist

Before you drag your file into Lacuna, verify these three things:

1. File Format: Is it a .docx file?
2. Heading 1: Are all your section titles using the Heading 1 style?
3. Clean Structure: Does your book follow a logical flow? (Front Matter → Sections → Back Matter)

Handling Subtitles

You have two ways to include subtitles. We recommend Method 1 because it’s the most reliable way to keep your title and subtitle together.

Subtitle Formatting

Method 1: Single Line (Recommended)

Put your title and subtitle on the same line, separated by a colon.

In your document (Format as Heading 1):

Chapter 1: The Llama’s Journey

Result in Lacuna: Lacuna picks up the colon and automatically splits it into a Title (Chapter 1) and a Subtitle (The Llama’s Journey).

Method 2: Two Lines

If you prefer separate lines, use Heading 1 followed by Heading 2.

In your document:

Chapter 1 (Heading 1)

The Llama’s Journey (Heading 2)

Result in Lacuna: Lacuna detects the Heading 2 immediately after the Heading 1 and treats it as the subtitle for that section.

Ornamental Breaks

Lacuna automatically detects scene dividers in your manuscript and converts them to ornamental break elements.

Supported patterns:

• *** (three or more asterisks)
• ### (three or more hash symbols)
• --- (three or more dashes)

Simply type these characters on their own line in your Word document, and Lacuna will recognize them as scene breaks during import. You can then style all your ornamental breaks consistently using the ornamental break settings.

What if my import didn’t capture all my sections?

Don’t panic. Lacuna is flexible even after the import is finished.

1. Fix it in the Sidebar: You can drag, drop, and rename sections directly in the Lacuna editor.
2. Re-Import: If too many sections are missing, go back to your document, ensure your titles are Heading 1, and try the import again.