Authoring
Importing Documents
SkyScribe stores Documents in the same open format, site.standard, that
other apps use, including Leaflet, pckt, Offprint, GreenGale and WordPress.
If you've written in one of those apps with the same Bluesky account,
SkyScribe can find those Documents and make a SkyScribe copy you can edit
and publish.
Import always makes a copy. The original stays exactly as it is, in the app that wrote it, and that app can keep showing and editing it.
Finding Documents from other apps
Documents written by other apps are listed in their own group, Foreign Documents, at the bottom of the Documents page. Everywhere else in SkyScribe (the Dashboard, a Publication's Manage tab, search) only shows Documents written in SkyScribe.
Each row shows which app wrote it, and has two buttons:
- View opens the import preview without importing anything.
- Import opens the same preview, ready to import.
Once a Document has been imported, its row is marked Imported, and Edit copy opens the SkyScribe copy.
The import preview
The preview shows the Document as it will look in SkyScribe, with:
- What couldn't be carried over exactly. Some apps have things the SkyScribe editor doesn't, so they're converted, and the preview lists each kind with a count (see How content is converted below). Nothing is left out without being listed.
- Title and URL slug, suggested from the original, which you can change. If the slug is already used by one of your Documents, a number is added.
- Canonical URL: whether search engines should treat the original (the default, when it has a public web address) or the SkyScribe copy as the main version.
- Date: keep the original's publish date (the default, so a back catalogue isn't all dated today), or date it when you publish it in SkyScribe.
- What will happen to its images (see Images below).
Import creates a Standalone Document and opens it in the editor. From there it's like any other Document: edit it, then publish it to a Publication.
Importing several at once
In the Foreign Documents group, tick the Documents you want (or Select all) and choose Import selected. Each one gets its own card with its preview and settings, so you can check and change them first. Import all imports them one at a time. If one can't be imported, the others still are; fix the one that failed and choose Import again. Up to 25 at a time.
How content is converted
Headings, paragraphs, bold, italic, underline, strikethrough, highlights, inline code, links, lists (including nested lists and checklists), quotes, code blocks, tables, horizontal rules and images come across as they are.
These are converted, and listed in the preview:
| In the original | In SkyScribe |
|---|---|
| Footnotes | A number in the text, with the notes in a numbered Notes list at the end |
| Callouts | A quote |
| Maths | The formula's LaTeX source, as a code block |
| Image galleries | Separate images, one under another |
| Embeds (YouTube and others), link cards, Bluesky posts | A link |
| Buttons | A link |
| A Leaflet post's extra pages | Added to the end, after a horizontal rule |
| A Leaflet canvas | Laid out top to bottom |
| Polls, sign-up forms, drawings and similar | Left out, or kept as plain text |
If SkyScribe doesn't recognise an app's format at all, or the Document's body can't be read, the preview says so and imports its plain text.
Images
Images in Leaflet, pckt and Offprint Documents, and cover images, are stored in your Bluesky account rather than on the web.
- With PRO, they're copied to your Image Library, and count towards your storage. The preview shows how many there are and their size, and warns if they may not fit. Any that can't be copied are linked instead, and SkyScribe tells you.
- On the free tier, they stay in your Bluesky account and SkyScribe links to them there. They keep working even if you later delete the original Document.
Images that are already web addresses (in WordPress or Markdown Documents, for example) are kept as they are.
When the original changes
If you edit the original in its own app after importing it, its row is marked Updated since import and offers Re-import, which opens the preview. Re-import replaces the copy's title, description, tags and body with the original's current version. It keeps the copy's URL slug, Publication and Category, canonical URL and date choices, cover image and Contributors. If you've edited the copy since importing it, the preview warns that those edits will be replaced.
There's no automatic syncing: nothing changes unless you choose Re-import.
Next
Categories: organising Documents within a Publication.