Export and import documents

You can save any document artifact you can open as a file, and you can turn a Markdown or Word file into a new document.

Export a document#

1. Open the document, then select Export in the header above it.
2. Choose Markdown (.md), Word (.docx) or PDF (.pdf).

Your browser saves the file, named after the document's name. The file holds what is in the document right now, including text a Coworker has just written. Placeholder lines for sections the Coworker is still writing are left out. Anyone who can open a document, including people with Can view access, can export it.

To add the comments to the file, tick Include comments in the menu before you choose a format:

• In a Word file, each comment appears as a Word comment on the text it was made on, with its replies inside it.
• In a Markdown file, each commented passage carries a footnote marker, and the comments are listed as footnotes at the end.
• In a PDF, commented passages are highlighted and numbered, and the comments are listed under a Comments heading at the end.

Without the tick, the file has no comments.

What carries over#

Exports keep headings, paragraphs, bold, italic, strikethrough, inline code, links, bullet and numbered lists (including nested lists), task lists, quotes, code blocks, dividers and tables. Task list items appear with an empty or checked box, ☐ or ☑. In a Word file the headings, lists, tables and quotes use Word's own styles, so the file edits like any other Word document. The document's name is used only for the file name; the file does not add a title of its own.

Mentions, dates and charts in a file#

• Word: a mention appears as bold text such as @Priya Raman, a date as text such as "10/15/2026", and a chart as a picture with its title as a caption.
• PDF: mentions and dates appear as shaded labels in the text, and charts appear where they sit in the document.
• Markdown: mentions, dates and charts are written in a form that importing the file brings back as mentions, dates and charts.

If a file can't be created, the menu shows the reason under Include comments. While a file is being prepared, its menu item reads Preparing….

Import a file#

1. Select Import next to New document in the Artifacts section of the context pane, or at the top of the Artifacts page.
2. Choose a Markdown file (.md or .markdown) or a Word file (.docx).

The file becomes a new document that you own. Its name is the first heading in the file, or the file name without the extension if there is no heading, and you can rename it. When you import from the context pane, the document is linked to that conversation and opens in the pane. From the Artifacts page, it opens on its own page.

Headings, paragraphs, bold, italic, strikethrough, code, links, lists, task lists, quotes, code blocks and tables come across. A Markdown file exported from a document also brings back its mentions, dates and charts. Mentions are matched to people, Coworkers and knowledge documents you can see; any that can't be matched come in as plain text, and the notice says so. A chart whose data is incomplete comes in as a code block. A Word file comes in as text: dates and names stay plain text. A file can be up to 10 MB. Images and Word comments are left out. When something was left out, a short notice names it and an Open button opens the new document.

If a file can't be imported, the message under the button says why, for example that the type isn't supported or that the file is too large.