Choosing an Export Format

Choose an export format based on what you want to do with the project next: read it, share it, publish it, back it up, or continue in another workspace.

Spleen supports five export formats:

• PDF: a file with a fixed page layout for reading, printing, proofing, and sharing.
• EPUB: an ebook file that adjusts to different screens and reading apps.
• HTML: a version you can read in a web browser or use on a website.
• Markdown: a simple text version for backups and other writing tools.
• Spleen Archive: a backup made for Spleen that preserves structure, writing, research, and editing history for later import.

Choosing the right format

Use PDF when you want a stable reading copy. This is the best choice for printing, proofing, or sharing a version where the layout should remain fixed.

Use EPUB when you want to read the project as an ebook. EPUB files adapt to different screen sizes, font settings, ebook readers, and reading apps.

Use HTML when you want a clean document that can be read in a web browser. This format is useful for reviewing the text, publishing drafts online, or moving the project into tools that accept HTML.

Use Markdown when you want a lightweight text copy of the writing. It is useful for backing up the written content and moving it into tools that work with simple text files.

Use Spleen Archive when you want to preserve the project’s writing structure, notes, annotations, and snapshots in a form that can later be imported into Spleen. Unlike the other export formats, a Spleen Archive is not intended for reading or publishing.

Titles, subtitles, and bylines

PDF, EPUB, and HTML exports begin with a title page. If the project has a subtitle, it appears beneath the project title. The project’s Author / pen name appears as the byline. When that field is empty, Spleen uses your account name instead.

Markdown remains a plain interchange format. It starts with the project title but does not add the subtitle or an author byline. A Spleen Archive stores the project’s title, subtitle, and saved author or pen name so they can be restored on import.

Table of contents

PDF and HTML exports can include a table of contents for the writing sections and documents. Include table of contents is turned on by default. Turn it off in the Export menu before choosing PDF or HTML when you want the title page to lead directly into the writing.

The setting does not affect EPUB, which always contains its own ebook navigation. It also does not affect Markdown or Spleen Archive. When exporting several projects together, the option appears only after you select PDF or HTML.

About Spleen Archives

A Spleen Archive is a snapshot of the project at the moment it is exported. It preserves the writing and research sections and documents, together with notes, annotations, snapshots, and selected project details.

The archive does not update automatically. Any changes made in Spleen after the archive was created are not included in that file. When you continue working on a project, create a new archive periodically or after an important round of changes.

A Spleen Archive can be useful when:

• backing up an important project outside Spleen;
• moving a project to another Spleen workspace or installation;
• restoring a project that was removed;
• preserving a completed or inactive project before removing it from the workspace;
• keeping a snapshot before making substantial structural or editorial changes.

Store archive files somewhere separate from the workspace itself, such as an external drive, cloud storage service, or another location that is backed up. The date included in the filename helps identify when the snapshot was created.

For example:

on-keeping-light-in-empty-rooms-2026-06-13.spleen

When a Spleen Archive is imported, Spleen reconstructs the project as a new project in the workspace. Importing never updates or replaces an existing project, even when another project has the same title. The imported copy receives an “(imported)” suffix so it can be distinguished from work that is already present.

What a Spleen Archive includes

A Spleen Archive includes the project title, subtitle, synopsis, author or pen name, status, project type, all writing and research sections and documents, document content and word counts, notes, annotations, and snapshots. It also preserves which sections and documents are in Archive or Trash, so an imported copy keeps them out of the book until you restore them.

It does not include reusable project templates, share links, an uploaded book cover, or the Indent paragraphs setting. Importing an archive creates a new active project rather than an exact replacement of the original.

An uploaded book cover is used to identify the project inside Spleen and appears on shared project pages and their link previews. It is not included in PDF, EPUB, HTML, Markdown, or Spleen Archive exports.