1. Log out of Atticus using the profile icon in the top right
2. Log back in
3. Do a hard refresh

• Windows Chrome Users: Press CTRL + Shift + R
• Mac Chrome Users: Press CMD + Shift + R
• Safari Users: Press Option + Command + E
• Firefox & Explorer Users: Press CTRL + F5

We strongly discourage copying and pasting content directly from other programs into Atticus. When you do so, you’re not just transferring the visible text—you’re also importing hidden formatting and coding embedded within it. This is especially problematic when pasting from AI-generated content or programs with complex or unique formatting systems.

Pasting external content into Atticus incurs significant risks, ranging from the inability to export, formatting errors, and even irreversibly corrupting your content to the point where it crashes Atticus and is permanently lost.  It can greatly impede troubleshooting efforts if required as well.

We cannot guarantee we’ll be able to restore any work lost from a result of copy and pasting outside coding into Atticus, so please, to protect your hard work, do not paste into Atticus.

Instead, we recommend importing from a docx file which allows the program to retain the important formatting like bold and italics and strip away the rest. You can learn more about best preparing your document for import here: How to Prepare Your Word Document

You can export to .docx!

To export a .docx file, you’ll want to click on the book details section from inside your book, just at the top of the left navigation panel. If you scroll down to the very bottom of the popup you’ll see the button for .docx. 

However, Word doesn’t have the ability to display the complex coding Atticus uses to format and design your book so it will only retain basic formatting, such as chapter titles and, of course, all your content. It’s ideal for editing and a back up version of your manuscript, but if you need a fully formatted version, you’ll have to export to either ePub or PDF. 

The Save button in the top right of your screen is more of an account backup. This can be used to restore the entire account if anything unusual or accidental happens to your content. 

Atticus will automatically save your work to the cloud, so the next time you start to write, it’ll be in the system even if you haven’t pressed that backup save button.

If you need a Word export, you can open your book and click on the book details panel at the top of the left navigation. In the popup that shows up next, if you scroll to the bottom you’ll see a .docx export button. Word does not have the ability to display the complex coding Atticus uses

If you’re exporting an ePub, the book cover will show up in the ‘library’ when it’s uploaded onto a device, though it doesn’t show up as a separate first page in the book itself. 

For print books, all publishers require you to upload a separate file that is specially designed to include a spine and back cover, so Atticus doesn’t export the cover at all for a print version. 

If you’d like the cover to show up as a title page, you can insert a full page image, drag it into the first page location at the top of your front matter, and then it’ll export with your book.

That’s annoying and we’re so sorry it’s happening! Do you have the Grammarly app installed, by chance? If yes, try turning it off while you’re using Atticus and see if that helps.

We absolutely understand how important this tool is to authors and we’re working on improving the communication between the two apps but, for now, turning it off while you’re working in Atticus will usually fix all lag or crashing issues. 

If you don’t have Grammarly installed, send us a support ticket and we’ll go through some other troubleshooting solutions with you.

There are two reasons you might have blank pages in your exported PDF document.

1. When a page or chapter is set to start on the right side of a book (ex. first chapter of the main content) but the previous page or chapter also ended on a right side page, Atticus will automatically add the required blank page on the left side so that the next chapter starts on the right. (You can learn more about that here.)
2. We recently updated our PDF generation system and the transition has caused some books to include blank pages where they are not needed. For these the blank pages, you’ll just need to do a bit of a reset to fix them: click the three dots next to “Body” in your content list to reset the “Begin on” settings, selecting something different than you have. Then leave that list, click back into it, and set it back to your preferred setting. You only need to do this once after you’ve updated to the new PDF system.