How to Export Your Book as a Word Document (DOCX)
Click Generate and choose Generate DOCX to save your formatted book as a Word document (.docx). It keeps your sections, headings, notes, pictures and styling, on the same page as your print book unless you choose another.
How to export a Word document
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Click Generate at the top right and choose Generate DOCX.
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Click Generate DOCX and choose where to save it.
When it’s done, click Open File to open it, or Open Folder to find it. The file is named after your book’s title.
How to set the page size and margins
Your Word document starts on your print book’s page: the same size and margins, with facing pages mirrored as in print. Change either one to give the Word document a page of its own.
| Setting | To |
|---|---|
| Page Size | Choose any print trim size, or a paper size: A3 or US Legal. |
| Top, Bottom | Set the margins above and below your text. |
| Inside, Outside | The side margins while the page follows print: inside by the spine, outside by the page’s edge. |
| Left, Right | The side margins once you change the page, the same on every page. |
| Use the print page | Go back to your print book’s page. |
While your Word document follows print, a new trim size or new margins for your print book change it too. Your page is saved with your book and changes only the Word document, never your print book.
Margins show in inches or millimeters, as you choose under Page measurements in Lacuna Settings.
What your Word document keeps
| In your book | In your Word document |
|---|---|
| Sections | Each one starts a new page. Hidden sections are left out. |
| Section titles and subtitles | Word’s Heading 1 and Heading 2, in your title’s style. |
| Subheadings | Word headings below them, Heading 3 and down. |
| Body text | Word’s own font, size and spacing, so it stays easy to edit, with your indents and drop caps. |
| Quotes, callouts, lists, tables, grids, captions, text conversations, ornamental breaks | The look your book gives them, in the fonts you chose. Lacuna puts those fonts in the file. |
| Footnotes and endnotes | Word’s own footnotes and endnotes, where your book puts them. |
| Pictures | In place, with their captions and alt text. |
| Links | Working links to websites and to other sections. |
| Running heads and page numbers | Word headers and footers, as on your printed pages. |
| Table of contents and index | Word’s own. Right-click one in Word and choose Update Field to fill it in. |
Questions
Can I turn my Lacuna book into a Word document?
Yes. Click Generate, choose Generate DOCX, and save it. You can export it as often as you like.
Can I make a 6 x 9 Word document?
Yes. Under Page Size, choose 6 x 9 in. If your print book is 6 x 9, the Word document already is.
Why does my table of contents say “Right-click and select ‘Update Field’”?
Word builds its own table of contents. Right-click it in Word and choose Update Field, and Word lists your sections with their page numbers.
Why isn’t my body text in my book’s font?
Lacuna leaves body text in Word’s own font and size, so your Word document stays easy to edit. Everything you styled, such as titles, quotes and callouts, keeps its look.
Can I export a Word document on the free trial?
No. Everything else works on the trial, but Generate needs a license.