Publishing

This page covers what happens when a work leaves your desk: checking a note before you publish it, exporting a short story, a book or a collection as a manuscript or an EPUB, publishing a book chapter by chapter, and keeping track of where you sent it. Escrita never sends anything anywhere. It checks, it writes a file, and it records what you tell it.

Other pages: Features and settings, Writing, Screenplays and The world. Each part has its own switch in Features › Publishing: Publish check, Export and Submissions.

• Check a note and mark it published
• Send a short story to a magazine
• Export a note or a book
• Export an EPUB
• Export a screenplay
• Export a collection of stories
• Publish a book one chapter at a time
• Record a submission
• Settings
• Commands

Check a note and mark it published

Open the note and run Publish this note (or choose Publish… in the file menu). A window lists what Escrita found. It reads the text you see in the editor, saved or not.

Blockers are things a reader would notice:

• A %% comment that never closes, so everything after it is hidden. An odd number of %% inside a closed <!-- --> comment counts too. A %% inside a $$ math block is part of the math, not a comment.
• A <!-- comment that never closes, at the start of a line (new in 0.8). A <!-- in the middle of a line is plain text. Reading view hides the rest of the note, while the words still count.
• A placeholder left in the text (the marker word is a setting, XXX by default).
• A note with no text.

Warnings don’t stop you:

• A beat with no prose after it.
• A recommended property that is empty (the list is a setting).
• A piece over its limit.

Each line says what is wrong, and a line with a place in the note has a Go to line link. With no blockers you just press Publish. With blockers, tick Publish anyway: Escrita can’t know every case, so the choice is yours. Warnings never need that tick.

Publishing sets the status property to your word for the published stage, and the date property to today. You can pick another day, even a future one. If the note already has a date, Escrita keeps it, unless you pick one here. If Snapshots is on, it takes a snapshot first (Before publishing). It needs the status property to be set in the settings.

Unpublish this note is offered for a published note. It puts the earlier status back, or your word for the ready stage if Escrita doesn’t know the earlier one.

Send a short story to a magazine

The usual path, with the three parts together:

1. Finish the short story and clear what blocks it. Publish this note is optional, and “published” may not be the right word before the magazine answers; you can skip it.
2. Open the short story and run Export…. Choose DOCX and the template for the magazine: Shunn for an English market, pt-BR for a Brazilian one. Press Preview to look at it, then Export.
3. Send the file from the export folder.
4. Run Record a submission. Type where you sent it. Escrita makes one note for the submission, with the result still pending.
5. When the answer comes, change the result in that note to accepted, rejected or another of your values, and fill responded.

Export a note or a book

Open a note (or a chapter, or a book’s note) and run Export…, or choose Export… in the file menu. You can export any Markdown note, except a snapshot, a submission note or a file already in the export folder.

The window is titled Export “Title”. What it exports depends on where you opened it:

• From a note outside a book (a short story, an essay): that note.
• From a book’s note: the whole book.
• From a chapter: a What row offers This chapter or The whole book. The first time, it is on The whole book.

Chapters (for a book):

• All (n): every chapter.
• From … to …: a range, by position. 1 to 3 means the first three chapters.
• Choose…: a list with a tick for each chapter and All and None buttons. The line under it says, for example, “3 of 12 chosen”. Choose none and Escrita says “No chapter is chosen”, and Export waits.

A chapter whose property is false is always left out. The property is a setting (Left-out property, compile by default), so compile: false in a chapter’s properties keeps it out. The window says how many are left out and which ones.

Chapter headings. A chapter with a number gets the template’s heading: “Chapter 1: The arrival” (Shunn) or “Capítulo 1 — A chegada” (pt-BR). Number every file as usual (01 Preface, 02 Prologue, 03 The arrival, 04 Interlude, 05 The cellar, 06 Epilogue). A chapter whose title is in Chapters without a number (Settings, Books) gets its title alone and is not counted, so that book exports as Preface, Prologue, “Chapter 1: The arrival”, Interlude, “Chapter 2: The cellar”, Epilogue. The list is comma-separated and ignores case and accents; a title also matches when it starts with a listed word followed by a space or punctuation (“Interlude: the letter”). The default list is English (Prologue, Preface, Foreword, Introduction, Interlude, Epilogue, Afterword); in a Portuguese vault add your words, for example “Prólogo, Prefácio, Interlúdio, Epílogo, Posfácio”. The older ways still work: a 00 prefix (“00 Prólogo”) sorts first and gets its title alone, and a file without a number in its name goes last and also gets its title alone. Numbers count only the chapters left, so none of these shifts them and a left-out chapter leaves no gap. The numbers are counted before the range or the ticks narrow the list: exporting chapters 5 to 7 keeps “Chapter 5”, “6” and “7”. If a chapter has no title beyond its number, the heading is just “Chapter 1”. A heading at the top of the chapter that repeats the chapter’s own heading or title is dropped, so it doesn’t show twice (for a single note, a heading that repeats the note’s title). You can change the format in Chapter heading (see Settings).

Dedication and epigraph. On the book’s note, add a property that links to a note:

dedication: "[[Dedicatória]]"
epigraph: "[[Epígrafe]]"

The text of each linked note becomes a page of its own, with no heading, before the first chapter. The window shows them in its “Title page with…” line. Only a book has them. A single note has only its title page. The property names are settings.

Format. DOCX (the default) or Markdown. (A note whose form is screenplay offers PDF and Fountain instead. See Screenplays.)

Template. Shunn (Letter, English) or pt-BR (A4, dialogue dash). The one that matches Obsidian’s language is listed first and is chosen the first time. Both set the same layout:

• Times New Roman, 12 pt, double spaced, one-inch margins, a half-inch first-line indent.
• A title page, then the text. A single note starts below its title on the first page.
• A running header from page 2 on: Surname / Title / page number.
• # for a scene break, and an end mark after the last line.
• Italics and bold kept, and dialogue dashes kept as you typed them.

They differ in these:

	Shunn	pt-BR
Page	US Letter	A4
Chapter heading	Chapter 1: Title	Capítulo 1 — Título
Byline	by Name	por Nome
Count on the title page	about 4,200 words	cerca de 4.200 palavras
End mark	END	FIM

The template is independent of Obsidian’s language, so a Brazilian writer can send a Shunn manuscript to an English magazine.

Markdown uses only the template’s byline, scene break and chapter headings. The page layout, header, count and end mark are for DOCX.

The title page. In DOCX, the top left has your name and your contact lines, and the rounded count sits at the right margin on the first line. The title and byline come below. For a book this is a page of its own. The count is the work’s measured size, rounded the way manuscripts do it: to the nearest 100 below 10,000, and to the nearest 500 from 10,000 up (never below 100). It is in words, or in characters for a piece that counts characters.

What the manuscript leaves out. Comments, beats and placeholders don’t go into the file, and links become their text. Embedded items (![[…]]) are left out. Footnotes stay as text.

The warnings and “Export anyway”

At the top of the window, a Before you send box lists what Escrita found in the text it will export: placeholders left, a comment that never closes (%% or <!--: the rest of the note disappears), beats with no prose after them, and an empty note. It checks every chapter you chose, and each item has a Go to line link that opens the note there. An empty chapter in a book is not a problem. A single empty note is.

If there is anything on that list, the main button says Export anyway instead of Export. Embedded items are listed too, only to tell you they are left out; they don’t change the button.

The preview

Preview shows the document as the file will have it. Click a paragraph to open the note at that line (the tip reads “Open Title, line 12”). Back returns to the options. The dedication, the epigraph and the text are marked apart. The preview is only a look: nothing is written until you press Export.

Where the file goes

Into the Export folder (Escrita/Exports by default). A note is named Title.md or Title (Shunn).docx (Title (pt-BR).docx). Escrita writes the file and says “Exported: name”, with a link, Show in the file explorer.

If a file with that name exists, Escrita asks. The file already exists gives:

• Cancel: nothing is written.
• Keep both: the new file gets the date and time in its name, such as Title (Shunn) 2026-10-05 14h32.docx.
• Replace: offered only when the old file is in the export folder and is one of Escrita’s exports. If Escrita recorded it as the last export of a work, it is written over. If not, the old file goes to the trash first, so a file you made yourself is never lost.

Escrita never writes over a note of yours, and the export folder’s files never count toward your goals or become works.

Export again

The window remembers, for each work, the format, the template and the chapters, and shows “Last export: DOCX · Shunn · 12 chapters · 3 Oct, 14:32” with the file’s name (a link to open it; “(file moved or gone)” when it isn’t there). It has an Export again button, and there is an Export again command.

Export again repeats the last export with the same choices. It writes at once, with no window, when there is nothing to confirm and it is the same kind of export: the whole book, or the same chapter. A chapter you exported alone is repeated from that chapter. Otherwise it opens the window with those choices, and the button reads Export anyway when there are warnings.

It writes over the last file only if that file is still where Escrita wrote it, with the same name. If you moved or renamed it, or it is gone, Escrita asks Where to write: “The last export is not where it was written. Write …?”, with Write and Cancel. If another file already has the usual name, you get The file already exists instead. The memory follows if you rename or move the work or a chapter. Renaming the export folder in Obsidian doesn’t count as moving the file: the setting and the memory follow the folder, and Export again writes over the file without asking.

Author name, surname and contact

In Settings › Escrita › Export:

• Author name goes on the title page and the byline.
• Surname for the header is the “Surname” in the header. It is also added after the name in the byline, the contact block and the file’s author, unless the name already has it. So “Ana” and “Souza” give “by Ana Souza”. Empty uses the last word of the name.
• Contact lines: address, email, phone, one per line, at the top of the title page.
• Author property (author by default): a property on a note or a book’s note that names the author for that work. It overrides the name above. For that work the surname is the last word of that name.

Export an EPUB

An EPUB is a book for an ebook reader. Open the note or the book and run Export…. In the format row choose EPUB. The rest of the window works as before: the chapters, the warnings, the preview and Export again.

An EPUB is not a manuscript, so it looks different from the DOCX:

• It has a title page, the dedication and epigraph pages if you have them, a contents page and one page per chapter. A book made of one note has the same, with one chapter.
• Chapter headings follow the template you chose, as in DOCX.
• It has no running header, no word count and no end mark. A line only for a manuscript is left out.
• The scene break is a line of your own choice (see below), never at the start or end of a chapter.
• The contents page says Contents (Sumário with the pt-BR template).

Add a cover. Put a link to an image in the cover property of the book’s note, or of the note itself when you export a note alone:

cover: "[[cover.jpg]]"

The image must be a JPEG or PNG in your vault. The EPUB then starts with the cover. With no cover property there is no cover and no warning. If the property is there but the image is missing, can’t be read or isn’t a JPEG or PNG, the Before you send box says “Cover not found or unreadable”, and the EPUB goes without a cover. The button then says Export anyway.

The file name. Title (Shunn).epub or Title (pt-BR).epub, in the export folder, like the DOCX. If the file exists, Escrita asks the same questions as for any export. Exporting the same book again keeps the book’s identity for your reader, until you rename the book.

The scene break. Your --- lines become the line in the setting EPUB scene break (* * * by default). It is not the # of the manuscript template. Empty goes back to the default.

You don’t need to check the file yourself. Open it in your ebook reader to read it.

The preview of an EPUB shows the cover and the contents in their own places.

Export a screenplay

A note whose form is screenplay exports as a PDF (US Letter or A4) or as a Fountain file, and as nothing else. The window, the warnings, the preview, Export again and the file names work as above. A book or a collection with screenplay notes inside still exports as prose. The whole story, from the form to the title page and the page breaks, is in Screenplays.

Export a collection of stories

A collection is a note that lists short stories in reading order. It exports like a book: one file, a title page, each story on a new page under its title alone.

Make one from the file explorer.

1. Select two or more notes in the file explorer (Ctrl-click, or Cmd-click on a Mac).
2. Right-click and choose Create a collection….
3. Type the title and press Create.

Escrita makes a note with that title beside the first story and opens it. The stories are in the order the explorer shows them, not the order you clicked. The window says how many stories go in the property, for example “3 stories, in this order, go in the “contents” property.”

The note holds only a list of links:

---
contents:
  - "[[The cellar]]"
  - "[[The long way home]]"
---

You can also write it by hand, or reorder and remove lines. The property is a setting (Collection property, contents by default). The items in that property are always [[Name]] wikilinks, whatever your vault’s link setting, because Obsidian only follows renames in properties through wikilinks.

Export it. Open the collection note and run Export…. The window says “Collection: 3 stories”, and the Stories row lets you choose which ones go in, as chapters do in a book. The dedication and epigraph properties on the collection note work as on a book note, and in an EPUB so does the cover. A story link that points at nothing is left out, and the warning names it (“Story not found: …”).

A folder with a book in it is still a book, even if its note has a contents list. A collection is never a book. It becomes a work only if you give it a status, and then it moves through the stages like any note. Create a collection… adds no status, and “New notes start as draft” skips it. Its own text is a list of links, so it adds almost nothing to your goals.

Publish a book one chapter at a time

If you publish a book as a serial, Escrita keeps track of what comes next. It uses the status of your chapters: a chapter whose status is your word for the published stage is published. It asks nothing more of you.

The line in the outline. Once one chapter is published, the outline header shows a line:

Gap: 04 · Next: 04 The stairs · last published 30 Sep

• Next is the first chapter that isn’t published, in book order.
• last published is the date of the last published chapter, as written in its date property (a date in the future too). If it has no date, the line shows the chapter’s name instead.
• Gap appears only when a chapter before the last published one is not published. It lists the numbers. It is a warning, never a block.
• When every chapter is published, the line says “Every chapter is published”.

A chapter left out with compile: false, and a chapter with no number (a prologue, an interlude, anything in Chapters without a number), is not in the sequence.

Publish the next one. Press Publish next in the outline header, or run Publish next chapter with a chapter or the book note open. If you have only one book in the vault, the command works from any note. Escrita opens the first unpublished chapter and shows the usual publish window, with its checks. Nothing is published until you press Publish. If every chapter is published, a notice says so.

The gap warning. In the publish window of any chapter, a line says “Every earlier chapter is published”, or warns “Previous chapter not published: 04. A reader would skip a chapter.” It names every earlier chapter that isn’t published. It is a warning: you can still publish.

Dates in the future. You can pick a day ahead in the publish window, to schedule a chapter. Escrita only writes the date. It publishes nothing by itself, and the outline line shows the future date as written.

Record a submission

Run Record a submission (or Record a submission… in the file menu) from a work. It asks for:

• Work: shown for you (its stage and size). You don’t choose it.
• Where to: a magazine, a contest, an editor. The three most recent places are listed under Recent places: click one to fill it in.
• Sent on: today, in YYYY-MM-DD. Change it if you sent it earlier.

A line says what it will create: “Creates … with …, …”. Record needs a place and a real date.

Which work it picks. From a chapter or a book note, the work is the book. From a note outside a book, it is that note, when it is tracked and has a stage (a short story marked rascunho, say). A note without a stage says ”… isn’t a work: give it a stage to record a submission.” A submission note, an export, a snapshot or a note that isn’t Markdown says “Open a story or a book to record a submission.”

The note it makes. One new note in the Submissions folder (Escrita/Submissions by default), named like 2026-10-05 Cartas de Lisboa – Revista Pessoa.md. If that name is taken, a number is added. It has only properties, and an empty body for you:

---
work: "[[Cartas de Lisboa]]"
market: "Revista Pessoa"
sent: 2026-10-05
result: pending
responded:
---

The five property names are settings. The result starts as the first of your Result values: pending, accepted, rejected, withdrawn by default, separated by commas. Change the result in the note to one of the others when you hear back, and fill the date in responded. Results are compared ignoring capitals.

If you rename the work, Obsidian updates the work link and the submission still points at it. If you rename the submissions folder in Obsidian, the setting follows it.

The pending count. With Submissions on, the home block shows, next to the ready count, how many submissions still have the first result value: “2 pending”. Click it to list them, newest first, each with its place and date, and click one to open the note. If the home block shows only some folders, it counts only the submissions of works in those folders. Turn Submissions off and the count goes.

Tables. Escrita has no table of submissions. They are ordinary notes with properties, so Bases, Dataview or any plugin that reads properties can list them, by work, by place or by result.

Notes in the submissions folder, and files in the export folder, never count toward your goals and never become works. If you already use a folder with one of those names for something else, change the folder in the settings. A folder that already has your own files is refused.

Settings

Publishing · the check (Settings › Escrita):

Setting	What it does
Date property	The property that gets the publication date. date by default.
Recommended properties	One per line. The check warns when one is empty. description by default. Empty skips the check.

The status words are under Stages, and the status property under Books.

Export:

Setting	What it does
Export folder	Where manuscripts are written. Escrita/Exports. It lives in Properties and folders and shows even when Export is off.
Left-out property	A chapter whose property is false stays out. compile by default.
Dedication property	On the book note: a link to the note that becomes the dedication page. dedication.
Epigraph property	The same, for the epigraph page. epigraph.
Author property	A property on the work that names its author. author.
Author name	On the title page.
Surname for the header	The header’s “Surname”. Empty uses the last word of the name.
Contact lines	Address, email, phone, one per line, at the top of the title page.
Chapter heading	Use {n} for the number and {title} for the title. Empty uses the template’s own.
Cover property	On the book note, or on a note exported alone: a link to a JPEG or PNG image, used as the EPUB cover. cover.
EPUB scene break	The line an EPUB shows between scenes. * * *.
Collection property	A note with this property, a list of links to stories in reading order, exports as a collection. contents.

The export section also has a Screenplays group, with the page size, scene numbers, the labels and the title page properties. See Screenplays.

Submissions:

Setting	What it does
Submissions folder	One note per submission. Escrita/Submissions. Changing it doesn’t move existing notes. It lives in Properties and folders and shows even when Submissions is off.
Result values	Separated by commas. The first is “pending”.
Work property	The property in a submission note that links to the work. work.
Market property	Where it was sent. market.
Sent date property	The day it was sent. sent.
Result property	The result. result.
Response date property	The day the answer came. responded. Empty in a new note.

The five submission property names must differ from each other. If you type one that another already uses, the field goes back to its old value.

A folder row refuses a folder that is unsafe (see Features and settings). Text fields save when you leave them.

Commands

Command	What it does
Publish this note	Checks the note, then sets status and date.
Unpublish this note	Puts the earlier status back. Offered for a published note.
Export…	Opens the export window for the active note, its book or its collection. Choose DOCX, Markdown or EPUB. For a screenplay, PDF or Fountain.
Export again	Repeats the last export of the work. Offered when the work has one.
Publish next chapter	Opens the publish check of the first unpublished chapter of the book. Offered with a chapter or the book note open.
Record a submission	Makes a submission note for the active work.

The same actions are in the file menu: Publish…, Unpublish, Export… and Record a submission…. With two or more notes selected in the file explorer, the menu also has Create a collection…. Escrita sets no hotkeys; bind the ones you use in Settings › Hotkeys.