Import and format guide

Supported files

• EPUB books (.epub): versions 2 and 3, without DRM.
• Plain text files (.txt), saved as UTF-8.

EPUB books

EPUBs need no preparation at all.

• Chapters come straight from the book's own table of contents.
• The title and author are read from the book itself.
• Images and styling aren't kept: Simply Read narrates the text.

Plain text: basics

• Separate paragraphs with a blank line.

Plain text: chapter detection

Simply Read finds chapters from their headers, and from a table of contents.

• Start each chapter with CHAPTER plus a roman numeral or number on its own line: CHAPTER I, CHAPTER 12, or PART I.
• A chapter name on the following line becomes part of its title: CHAPTER 1, then The Mountain.
• If no chapters are found, the whole file is read as a single chapter.

Plain text: table of contents

A CONTENTS section at the top makes detection more reliable, and unlocks two more formats.

• List the chapter titles under a CONTENTS heading; they become chapters where they reappear in the text.
• Story collections need one: titles such as THE HAPPY PRINCE are detected only when CONTENTS lists them.
• Numbered lists work the same way: 01 My First Chapter in CONTENTS, then in the text.

Project Gutenberg

• Books downloaded from Project Gutenberg are fully supported.
• Headers, footers, and licence text are removed automatically on import.

Example

A well-formatted file looks like this:

CONTENTS

CHAPTER I
CHAPTER II

CHAPTER I

It was the best of times, it was the worst of
times. Each paragraph is separated by a blank line.

This is the next paragraph.

CHAPTER II

The story continues here.