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How to Import and Export with Google Docs and Notion in WriteinaClick

If you draft in Google Docs or Notion, you can connect your account and move work in both directions: bring a document into WriteinaClick as a new book, or push a book back out to keep a copy in Google Docs or Notion. No copy-and-paste, no exporting files by hand.

Where can I use this?​

Importing, pushing, and syncing with Google Docs and Notion are available on both the web app and the mobile app. You connect your account once per workspace; after that the connection is shared, so a document you connect on the web is ready to use on your phone too.

Who can connect and sync?​

Connecting an account, pushing a book, and syncing all write to shared content, so they need an editor role or above in the workspace. Viewers and commenters can read a synced book but can't start or change a sync.

How do I connect my account?​

  1. On Home, click Start a new book to open your books page, then click Import / Upload Book.
  2. Under Import & keep in sync, choose Google Docs or Notion.
  3. Click Connect Google Docs or Connect Notion. A secure window opens where you sign in to your account and approve access.
  4. Once you're connected, your documents appear in a list you can search.

You only connect once. The next time you import, WriteinaClick remembers your connection and takes you straight to your document list.

How do I import a document?​

  1. After connecting, search for the document or page you want.
  2. Select it to see a preview, set the Book title, and choose an option under Keep in sync (see below).
  3. Click Import. Your document is processed in the background as a new book. Follow progress in the Jobs menu (the clipboard icon in the top bar).

The list shows your most recent documents. If you don't see the one you want, type part of its name in the search box to find it.

Your imported book stays linked​

When you import, WriteinaClick links the new book to the document you imported from, so it shows up in the book's Sync settings right away. No separate push is needed to connect them. Before you import, you pick which way the two should mirror going forward:

  • Pull updates in (the default) - future changes in your Google Docs or Notion document replace the book's chapters.
  • Keep both in step - changes flow both ways, chapter by chapter.
  • Push your writing out - your writing in WriteinaClick updates the document.
  • Just import once (no syncing) - the book and the document stay independent afterwards, and no link is kept.

If you pick one of the first three, automatic sync is on, and changes mirror on a schedule. You can switch Auto-sync off, change the direction, sync now, or disconnect at any time from Sync settings.

How chapters are decided​

The rule is simple and predictable, with no guesswork:

  • Heading 1 starts a new chapter. Every top-level heading in your document begins a new chapter, and its text becomes the chapter title.
  • Heading 2 and Heading 3 stay inside the chapter as sub-headings. They do not create new chapters.
  • Everything before the first Heading 1 becomes the opening chapter.

So if you want a clean split into chapters, mark each chapter's start with a Heading 1 and use Heading 2/3 for sections within it.

What gets imported​

  • Chapters - Heading 1 marks each chapter boundary (see above).
  • Text content - Paragraphs, sub-headings, and lists are brought across as chapter content.
  • Structure - The order of your document is preserved.

What may not transfer​

  • Complex formatting - Basic formatting (bold, italic, headings) is preserved; more elaborate layouts may be simplified.
  • Comments and suggestions - Review notes may not always transfer; check after import.
  • Images, tables, and footnotes - Support for richer block types improves over time; the first import focuses on headings and text.

Tips for best results​

  1. Use headings for chapters - Structure your document with top-level headings where each chapter should begin.
  2. Clean structure - A clear heading hierarchy maps most cleanly to chapters.
  3. Review after import - Check that chapters landed where you expect, and merge or split as needed.

How do I push a book to Google Docs or Notion?​

You can also send a book the other way, out to Google Docs or Notion, so you have a canonical copy living in your account.

  1. Open the book you want to push.
  2. Find the push action: on the web, open the book in Write, open the File menu, choose Export, and pick Push to Google Docs or Push to Notion; on mobile, open Book settings → Sync and tap Push to Google Docs or Push to Notion.
  3. If you haven't connected yet, you'll be asked to sign in and approve access.
  4. Choose Create a new Google Docs document (or Notion), or pick a document under Update an existing document to push to one you pushed before.
  5. The push runs in the background. Follow it in the Jobs menu.

Pushing again later updates the same document, so it's easy to keep your external copy current.

What gets exported​

  • Chapters become top-level headings in the document.
  • Text content is written in reading order.
  • Basic formatting (bold, italic, headings, paragraphs) is preserved; richer layouts may be simplified.

How do I keep a book in sync?​

Once a book is linked to a Google Docs or Notion document, you can keep the two mirrored automatically instead of pushing by hand each time.

  1. Open the book and go to Sync settings: on the web, open the book in Write, then File > Export > Sync settings...; on mobile, open Book settings → Sync.
  2. For each linked document you can:
    • Choose a direction - mirror your writing out to the document, pull changes in from the document, or keep both in step two ways at once.
    • Turn Auto-sync on or off - WriteinaClick checks for changes on a schedule and mirrors them for you. Automatic sync runs periodically, not instantly, so expect a few minutes' delay rather than live, character-by-character mirroring.
    • Sync now - don't want to wait for the next scheduled run? Tap Sync now to mirror immediately.
  3. Each link shows when it last synced and flags any problems so you always know the two are in step.

When you pull changes in from a document, your previous chapters are kept safely in the trash, so nothing is ever lost. Pulling replaces the book's chapters with the document's, but the old chapters are restorable from Trash.

Keep formatting simple for the cleanest round-trip​

Moving text back and forth between WriteinaClick and Google Docs or Notion is not perfectly lossless. Each round-trip keeps the words and the chapter structure, but elaborate formatting (nested layouts, unusual block types, fine-grained styling) may be simplified along the way. For the most predictable two-way results, keep your formatting straightforward: Heading 1 for chapters, Heading 2/3 for sections, and plain paragraphs with basic bold/italic.

Two-way sync and conflicts​

With two-way sync, edits flow in both directions, chapter by chapter. If you change one chapter in your book while the same chapter was changed in the document, WriteinaClick won't guess. It pauses and asks you to choose:

  1. A Sync conflict flag appears (in the header on web, as a banner on mobile); open Sync settings to review it.
  2. For each conflicting chapter you'll see a short preview of your book version and the document version, side by side on web and stacked one above the other on mobile.
  3. Choose Keep my book, or keep the document's version (Keep Google Docs or Keep Notion on web, Keep the Google Docs document or Keep the Notion document on mobile), to resolve it. Nothing is ever overwritten silently, and the version you don't keep is still recoverable.

Only the conflicting chapters pause. Every other chapter keeps mirroring normally while you decide. One thing to know: chapters are matched by position, so if both sides add, remove, or reorder chapters at the same time, the alignment can't be matched safely and the whole book is treated as a single conflict. To avoid that, do big structural changes (adding or reordering chapters) in one place at a time.

You can disconnect a linked document from the same screen at any time. Disconnecting only stops the syncing; it leaves both your book and your external document exactly as they are.

Managing your connection​

You can disconnect an account at any time from the import dialog. Disconnecting stops WriteinaClick from accessing your documents; it does not change anything in your Google Docs or Notion account.

See also: Import overview, all formats | Scrivener import | Sudowrite import | Exporting your book

Ready to bring your writing over? Open WriteinaClick.