Looking for problematic RTF files

[Steve]

Hi Folks,

 

I've seen a couple of blog posts like this one saying that Storyist for iPad can't import RTF. This isn't true, of course, and I suspect that either

• The RTF file they're trying to open is corrupted or isn't actually an RTF file.
  
• The RTF reader they're using isn't reading files correctly.
  

If you run across issues with specific RTF files, I'd appreciate it if you could send them to me (if they don't contain sensitive information) at the support address.

 

Thanks!

 

-Steve

[marguerite]

I'll check some files for you over the next few days. Gearing up for a critique group meeting, so I have some spare RTFs hanging around—originating in Word for Windows, no less.

 

I like to use Storyist to convert them to ePub, for reading on my iPad. I make the conversions on my Mac, of course, but I can use the RTFs as test files for the iPad.

Best,

M

[marguerite]

Tested this with my Sir Percy RTF (I'll check the imported from Word for Windows files later) via Dropbox. I imported all 300+ pages, both as a standalone RTF and as a new manuscript in a novel project created just for the purpose. Styles, formatting, chapters transferred perfectly. And I had no trouble styling or editing the imported text.

 

The only small glitch was that, although Storyist recognized my section breaks and section separators in the manuscript window, only the chapters showed up in the iPad's equivalent of the Project View and as index cards in Project View and manuscript. That does not, it seems to me, justify the blogger's statement that importing and editing don't work in Storyist for iPad. Obviously, they do.

 

I did notice that the blogger could not open an e-mailed RTF file in Storyist and in fact wrote that "Storyist did not recognise e-mail messages." So I wonder if this is another case of confusing a Mail/Setup problem with a Storyist problem. Or confusion about what one can reasonably expect of Storyist: why should it recognize e-mail messages, as distinct from attached files?

 

But I will check a couple of files that are likely to be thornier. I styled and exported Sir Percy in Storyist, so his file already had all the styles and formatting applied. I will also try e-mailing myself an RTF and see what happens.

Best,

M

[Steve]

Thanks M,

 

The only small glitch was that, although Storyist recognized my section breaks and section separators in the manuscript window, only the chapters showed up in the iPad's equivalent of the Project View and as index cards in Project View and manuscript.

 

You probably want to turn on the display of body text sections (off by default for RTF files). To do so:

1. Open the manuscript in Storyist for iPad.
   
2. Tap the Action (gear) button.
   
3. Set the "Show Body Text" switch to ON.
   

-Steve

[marguerite]

Good to know. Thanks!

M

[zengeek]

Using Word 2007, I saved my manuscript as a .RTF (rich-text format).

 

My issue is getting the style to work around the imported text. If that doesn't make sense, here is what I mean. I have my RTF file and import it into Storyist. When I go to 'style' - the chapter style is missing. While this is minor, it would be nice to have the default styles on RTF files.

 

The other issue I had was exporting RTF files. I lost all formatting. However, I just tested it and it works now. (It could have been me.) I liked the product, but stopped using it because of this issue. I'll give it another shot tonight and let you know how it goes.

 

[Steve]

Hi Zengeek,

 

Thanks for the post. Could you send a short sample of the Word 2007 RTF file for which the chapter style is missing? The text doesn't particularly matter (it could be lorem ipsum).

 

And if you do find an exported RTF file that loses the formatting, I'd love to know about it. If it's a Storyist problem, I'll fix it right away.

 

-Steve

[zengeek]

Thanks, but don't laugh if I'm the problem.

 

I'll write out the setups I took as well.

 

To whom do I send the file?

[Steve]

Hi zengeek,

 

You can send the files to the support address.

 

-Steve

[Steve]

Hi All,

 

Several people have now contacted the support address with the "formatting lost on RTF export" issue (thanks!), and in each case the problem turned out to be that they were previewing the RTF file generated by Storyist using the built-in iOS previewer--which, it turns out, supports only basic RTF formatting.

 

Opening the RTF file in Text Edit or Word solved the issue for them.

 

I've pined a post describing the iOS RTF previewer limitations here.

 

-Steve

[johnboy]

Steve, would you have an interest in an attempt to export to RTF that failed due to something in the text. If so, I may be able to provide an example.

[Steve]

Hi Johnboy,

 

I would certainly like to see the example. I'll PM you my email address.

 

-Steve

[zengeek]

I'm back - I followed your instructions and everything worked. I was able to export RTF to Word, make edits, and import back in without issues.