I’m using Scrivener 3.1.6 on Windows 11. I’ve tried to import a .docx file many times. A pop-up window says:
Please note that text files that are imported will be converted to RTF for editing.
If I convert to .rft, the document is altered and unusable.
Why won’t the file import correctly? Why am I forced to use .rft?
Welcome to the Scrivener Forum.
FYI the Scrivener format is RTF.
It would be best if you clarify the above.
Scrivener for Windows has no problem importing either .docx or .rtf formatted content. Equally so, Word has no problem reading such formats. So, the question is: What are you converting, and when/where? Below are all the formats Scrivener can import—among which are .docx and .rtf.
Furthermore, when compiling in Scrivener, you can compile to .docx or .rtf, among a vast array of other formats.
As @rms pointed out, Scrivener’s native format is .rtf.
From the above, it should be clear that you’re not inhibited in any way—if you believe you are, then indicate how.
I’m trying to import a .docx document from a folder in OneDrive into my Scrivener project. My Scrivener project is also held in a OneDrive folder, just in different folders. The instructions are very straightforward. I cannot determine why there is a problem. I have tried many different .docx documents. I get the pop-up box every time.
I have not tried to compile yet since I can’t get what I need into the project.
I wonder if it is a sync issue. Why not put file on hard drive and import. By the way probably should not have scrivener project folder on one drive. Known issues with projects on cloud servers other than Dropbox.
One question that immediately comes to mind.
Is your Scrivener project on OneDrive, or a LOCAL folder for OneDrive? Also essential, are the folder and project set to make available OFFLINE, or whatever OneDrive equivalent? Cloud systems can confuse users by using terms like ‘optimize storage’ etc, another way of sayign, we take it off your drive and keep it only online.
Your Scrivener project must be on your local drive, otherwise all sorts of sh.t can happen - none of it good.
If you have Word, one thing to try would be exporting from Word as RTF, thereby using Microsoft’s converter instead of ours.
As noted, though, the conversion is necessary because RTF is Scrivener’s native format. So the pop-up box is entirely normal and expected. For the document to be “altered and unusable” is not. But without knowing exactly what happens to the imported file, it’s hard to offer useful suggestions.
The Import Files notification is normal—it’s not an indication of an error. You can suppress the notice by ticking the box in the lower left corner and click on Ok. Or simply click Ok—but the notice will then be there for each subsequent import.
Generally, what happens on importing is you select File > Import > Files… > select the .docx > Open… the popup depends on your choice, as above.
If your .docx file contains media and you’re importing to Draft/Manuscript, the media is ignored and only the text is imported to a new document created in Scrivener.
I write my manuscript text using LibreOffice Writer. If I save my manuscript file as .odt or .docx then Scrivener does not accept it. I have to save it as .doc (without the x at the end) in order to get it into Scrivener. Am I doing something wrong?
Welcome to the Scrivener forum …
Specifically, how are you putting your file into Scrivener? What is the error message or other indication that happens when you work with the docx file? When you use the doc format, does it work and if so is that not “good enough”?
Your process is highly dependant on the quality of the Microsoft defined docx and/or doc file created by LibreOffice Writer. Perhaps tell LibreOffice Writer to create a RTF file which is Scrivener’s native format? If you try that, what happens?
Thank you for this helpful reply. I think I should be able to work with the doc format. I’ll press on with that.
I second @rms. The thing is, your current use of .DOC, while it seems to work for you, has an unnecessary and potentially problematic extra step in the process.
By exporting from LibreOffice directly to .RTF, you are avoiding the intermediate format, as Scrivener doesn’t need to do any converting. And the less steps there are in the process the less the risk of corruption or gremlins (stray bits of control code which can cause problems at a later stage) being left in the file.
Mark
May I ask why you prefer to do this in the first place, instead of writing directly in Scrivener? 
I retired about 20 years ago. When I was younger, I wrote quite a few contemporary acoustic songs (which I sang and accompanied myself on guitar and/or piano. I’ve always had an interest between lyrics and poems. I’ve stopped the music, mainly from a non-serious touch of arthritis, especially left hand. So, I realized that I had written up the lyrics and the poems in WORD/WRITER. Now, also after I retired, I wrote a couple of light novels and used Scrivener for that - but find I have forgotten quite a lot since then. So, I’ve got a lot of lyrics. And I then I also started emailing a weekly sonnet or stanza to about 20 of my friends (had taken down my previous music website). So, I now want to write up the lyrics, poems (sonnets and various stanzas) in a little book. I might add illustrations/sketches, although have to think about my artwork. I’ll self-publish, maybe with Amazon. I only decided to go back to using Srivener last week.