Exporting to RTF appears to cause formatting to be lost (but it isn't!)

[Steve]

A number of people have commented both here and in the App Store reviews that exporting to RTF from Storyist for iPad causes formatting to be lost.

 

The formatting isn't lost.

 

But here is why you might initially assume that it is: The RTF previewer that is built into iOS and used by many apps (including Mail, Dropbox) displays only very basic formatting.

 

As you can see in the attached screenshot, the iOS previewer doesn't properly handle:

• Spacing before and after a paragraph.
  
• Line spacing.
  
• Headers and footers.
  

 

The formatting information is still in the file, though, so the solution is to open it in a proper RTF viewer like Text Edit or Word.

 

Unfortunately, I can't reply to the App Store reviews. If you're considering leaving a review yourself, I'd appreciate it if you could mention the limitations of the built-in iOS RTF previewer (without disparaging Apple of course).

 

-Steve

[kjcarey]

Hi, Steve!

 

I realize this is an old topic, but I'm hoping you, or someone, can address it. I apologize if this has been further addressed elsewhere, but since this is the current sticky note on the topic, I presume it's the most up-to-date discussion.

 

Would you please share the steps for opening a *.rtf file exported from storyist in a way that shows the preserved formatting?

 

After reading the post above, I exported the file to e-mail in *.rtf format on my iPhone. I opened the e-mail on a PC, downloaded the attached *.rtf file to my computer, and opened the file using Microsoft Word 2013. The file still showed no formatting.

 

I then saved the file as a *.docx file, closed it, and re-opened it using Word. The file still showed no formatting.

 

So I'm thinking there must be some other step to get the file to show the preserved formatting, but I'm not sure what it would be. Would you please share the steps so I can make this work?

 

Thanks,

KJ

[Steve]

Hi KJ,

 

Sure. The steps in Storyist for iOS are:

 

1. Navigate to the folder containing the file you want to export.
2. Tap Edit.
3. Tap the file you want to export.
4. Tap the Export button.
5. Choose Email Document.
6. Choose RTF in the format chooser that appears.
7. The mail composer appears with the RTF file attached. Send the email.

-Steve