Formatting your Google Doc for import

This guide covers how to format a Google Doc so it imports into Help This Book smoothly. The basic checklist is:

• Your document is saved as a Google Doc, and not a Word Doc (.docx)
• Chapter titles use the Heading 1 style
• Headings and subheadings inside chapters use Heading 2, Heading 3 and so on
• Lists (both bullet and numbered) are using list styles
• All graphics, including tables, are inline images (not “google drawings”)

Walkthrough

Make sure you’re editing a Google Doc

If you have uploaded a Word document (.doc, .docx) to Google Drive, you need to convert it to a Google Doc. To do this, open the word document in Google Docs and then click  Save as Google Docs. This will open a new document which you should work from for the rest of the tutorial.

Location of “Save as Google Docs” in the File menu in Google Docs (2022)

Chapter titles use the Heading 1 style

Help This Book uses the Heading 1 style to detect where a new chapter begins. This means if you've made your chapter titles standout through custom formatting (e.g. making it bold and changing its size manually) then Help This Book will not know where that chapter begins. Make sure each chapter title uses this style.

Subheadings and section title use Heading 2 and so forth

All other headings in a chapter use  Heading 2, Heading 3 and so on. Check the supported formatting table below for all our supported styles.

Ensure lists are using list styles and not manually formatted text

A bit confusing, I know, but in order to present your text accurately, we recommend all lists use the list formatting in Google Docs. If the bullet list or number list icons are active when your lists are selected, then you’re ok. See the video tutorial for more details.

Active “bullet list” icon in Google Docs (2022)

All graphics (including tables) are images

Help This Book does not support tables or any complex embedded media (like editable drawings) right now. If you have any of these elements in your Google Doc, please convert them to static images. If not, they will just be skipped over and not imported.

List of all supported formatting

This list includes all formatting Help This Book supports. If something is not listed here, it will either not be included in your imported document, or rendered as text with Paragraph format.