Bringing files in and out
Bring your files into cDox, and save your work as files to keep or send.
Bringing in a document
Already wrote something somewhere else, in Word for example? You can bring it into cDox. It becomes a page you can edit like any other.
- On your dashboard, click the round + button in the bottom-right corner.
- Choose Import Documents.
- Drag your files into the window that opens, or click to pick them from your computer.
- Check the name each page will get in the list (you can change it), then import.
cDox takes these kinds of files:
- Word (.docx), documents made in Microsoft Word or Google Docs
- Text (.txt), plain words with no formatting
- Markdown (.md, .markdown), a plain, open format other writing apps read
From a Word document, your headings, footnotes and tables come along.
You can import up to 10 files at a time (5 MB per file, 20 MB in total). Photos aren't imported yet. Headings smaller than level 3 come in as level 3. For a Markdown file, the suggested name comes from its title: line, if it has one. Keyboard shortcut to open the import window: I.
Bringing in a spreadsheet
An Excel or CSV file becomes a sheet in cDox, with all your data. It works the same way as a document: the + button, Import Documents, then drag your file into the window.
- Excel (.xlsx), workbooks made in Microsoft Excel or Google Sheets
- CSV (.csv), a simple spreadsheet file Excel and Google Sheets open
From an Excel file, each worksheet becomes a tab in your sheet. Your formulas keep calculating. Bold, italic, alignment, column widths and rows frozen at the top come along too.
What Excel does that cDox doesn't yet: charts, pivot tables, conditional formatting, dropdowns and cell comments aren't imported, and merged cells are split apart. A formula cDox can't calculate yet comes in as the value Excel last showed. A file can have up to 20 worksheets, 10,000 rows and columns up to ZZ; anything past that is left out. The older Excel format (.xls) isn't accepted: open it in Excel and save it as .xlsx first. If anything is left out, the message after the import tells you what.
Saving a page as a file
To send a page to someone, print it, or open it in another program, export it as a file.
- Open the page.
- Click the Export button (the down arrow at the top right).
- Pick a format. The file lands in your downloads.
Which format should you pick?
- PDF (.pdf), to print or send. It opens anywhere and looks the same everywhere.
- Word (.docx), to open and keep editing in Microsoft Word or Google Docs.
- Markdown (.md), a plain, open format other writing apps read, and it keeps your formatting.
- Plain text (.txt), just your words, with no formatting.
On a narrow screen, Export is in the ⋮ menu at the top right.
Saving a sheet as a file
Open the sheet and click the Export button at the top. Your sheet is saved as a CSV file (.csv), a simple spreadsheet file Excel, Google Sheets and Numbers open.
A CSV file holds only one grid, so only the tab you have open is exported. Formulas become their results: the file has the numbers you see, not the calculations.
Downloading several at once
To keep a copy of several documents in one go, select them on your dashboard, then click Download in the bar that appears. You get one zip file (a compressed folder your computer can open) with:
- your pages as Markdown (.md);
- your sheets as CSV, one file per tab, with the results of the formulas.
Folders can't be downloaded this way: leave them out of the selection and pick the documents inside them instead. Importing and exporting work on the web and in the desktop apps. The iPhone, iPad and Android apps are for writing on the go.