Export & import

Export a document to Word, LaTeX, or the clipboard; import Word files with their citations and comments; and bring files, reference libraries, and citation styles into a project.

You write in Multilo, but you usually hand work in somewhere else — a Word file for your supervisor, a LaTeX file for a journal, a paste into an email. Export makes those copies from your document. Import goes the other way: it brings Word files, other files, and reference libraries into your project so you can work on them with AI.

Runs on your computer

Export and import happen on your own machine. They don’t use credits, and importing never changes the original file — Multilo works on a copy.

Export a document

Open the document
Open the document you want to export. The Export button appears at the top right of the editor when a Markdown document is open.
Choose a format
Click Export and choose Word (.docx), LaTeX (.tex), or Copy to clipboard. Multilo saves the document first; a new, untitled document asks you to name it.
Pick where to save
A save window opens in the document’s folder, with the same name as your document. If a file with that name already exists, Multilo suggests a new name instead of replacing it.
Open the result
When the Word export finishes, choose Open Word, Reveal in Folder, or Copy Path.

Copy to clipboard copies the whole document as formatted text, so you can paste it into Word, Google Docs, or an email and keep the headings and formatting.

The Word Support pack

Word and LaTeX export need a small add-on called Word Support. The first time you export, Multilo asks Install Word Support? — choose Install Word Support. It’s a one-time download of about 10 MB, so you need an internet connection that first time only.

Export from the Files panel

For a quick Word copy, right-click a Markdown document in the Files panel and choose Export to Word…. There’s no save window: the .docx is written next to the document, with the same name (or a -2 ending if that name is taken).

If your document has a heading called Contents, Table of Contents, or TOC with a list under it, the export window shows Include Table of Contents, ticked by default:

Ticked: Word gets a real table of contents built from your headings (levels 1 to 3), followed by a page break. LaTeX gets \tableofcontents.
Not ticked: that section is left out of the export.

Export to Word… from the Files panel always includes it.

What carries over

In your document	Word (.docx)	LaTeX (.tex)
Headings, lists, bold, italic, strikethrough	Yes	Yes
Underline and highlight	Yes	The text stays; the formatting doesn’t
Quotes and code blocks	Yes	Yes
Tables	Yes, with a bold header row	No — a note marks where each table was
Images	Yes	Linked, but the image files aren’t copied
Links	Yes	Yes
Citations and reference list	Yes — citations become fields Zotero and Mendeley recognise, linked to the reference list	As written text, not as `\cite` commands or a `.bib` file
Comments	No	No
Footnotes	No	No
Equations	No	No — they show as plain text

Check before you send

Comments, footnotes, and equations don’t reach the exported file yet. Open the export and check it before you hand it in. For LaTeX, copy your image files next to the .tex file and add the tables by hand.

Other things you can export

What	How	You get
A Word file you have open in Word Preview	Export HTML or Export Text on the preview’s toolbar	An `.html` or `.txt` copy
A spreadsheet	Export CSV in the spreadsheet viewer	The sheet you’re looking at, as a CSV file
A slide deck (Presentations extension)	Command Palette → Presentation: Export to PowerPoint or Presentation: Export to PDF	A `.pptx`, or a PDF of the slides, a handout, or the text
A PDF of a document	Ask in chat, for example “Make a PDF of chapter-2.md”	A PDF made by the AI. This goes through chat, so it can use credits.
A chat	The chat’s export button, or type `/export`	The conversation copied, or saved as a Markdown file. See manage sessions.

Import a Word document

Open a .docx from the Files panel and Multilo asks how you want to work on it, in a window called Open Word File for Editing. You can also right-click the file and choose Edit as Markdown or Open Word Preview directly.

Word Preview or Edit as Markdown

	Open Word Preview	Edit as Markdown (recommended)
What you edit	The `.docx` itself	A new Markdown copy next to it; the `.docx` stays as it was
Saving	Save (`Ctrl`+`S`) writes the paragraphs you changed back into the Word file. Paragraphs you didn’t touch keep their exact formatting.	Saves the Markdown copy. Use Export → Word (.docx) when you want a Word file again.
AI tools	Chat and agents only	Everything, including Refine and Add with AI, suggestions, and comments
Best for	Small fixes to a file you must keep exactly as it is	Real writing and revising

If you’ve imported the file before, the window also offers Open Existing to go back to your Markdown copy instead of making a new one.

What comes across

Edit as Markdown creates the Markdown document, an .assets folder with its images, and a file that holds its comments, all next to the original:

Text and structure: headings, bold, italic, underline, strikethrough, and highlight. Bold lines that were used as headings become real headings. Word’s table of contents comes across as a list.
Images: copied into the .assets folder.
Citations: citations from EndNote, Zotero, Mendeley, and Word’s own citation tool — and plain-text reference lists — are linked to their references, in APA style. A message tells you how many were found, for example “Imported 24 references from EndNote”. You can switch style later.
Comments: they appear in the Comments pane, with the original authors’ names.

Tracked changes, complex tables, and equations are simplified on the way in. Old .doc files can’t be imported: open them in Word and save them as .docx first.

Import into a blank document

A new, empty document shows an Import Document button. Use it to fill that document with a file you pick. It only works while the document is empty, so it never overwrites your writing — if you’ve typed anything, the import stops.

Add files to a project

To bring PDFs, data, images, or any other files into a project, use any of these in the Files panel:

The Import Files button at the top of the panel.
Right-click a folder, or an empty space, and choose Import Files....
Drag files from your computer onto the panel.

Files are copied into the project; the originals stay where they were. Once they’re in, agents can read them — see files & folders.

Import references and styles

A reference library: open Add sources, choose Import references, and pick a BibTeX (.bib), RIS (.ris), or CSL-JSON (.json) file exported from Zotero, Mendeley, EndNote, or another reference manager. Each file can be up to 8 MB and 5,000 references. A project must be open. See library & sources.
A citation style: in the Citations panel, choose Import .csl… and pick a .csl style file, such as one from your journal.

Troubleshoot

Problem	What to do
There’s no Export button	It appears only for Markdown documents. For a Word file, choose Edit as Markdown first.
“Save this document first to export it to Word.”	Save the document, then export again.
“Word Support install failed”	Check your internet connection, then export again to retry the download.
A warning says some document settings weren’t applied	The settings block at the top of your document names a bibliography file, a style file, or a Word template. Word export doesn’t use those yet; the rest of the export is fine.
“Nothing to copy — the document is empty.”	The document has no text yet. Check you have the right one open.
A Word file won’t import	The file may be password-protected or damaged. Open it in Word, remove the password or save it again as `.docx`, and retry.
An imported comment has no highlight	The commented words appear more than once in the document, so Multilo can’t tell which one it belongs to. The comment is still in the Comments pane.
“File is too large to open.”	Multilo opens files up to 256 MB. Split the file or open a smaller copy.
“Open a project before importing references.”	Open or create a project, then import again.

Working with WordOpen, edit, and hand in .docx files.CommentsNotes on your text, and comments from Word.Library & sourcesWhere imported references go.Citations & bibliographyStyles and the reference list.