Getting Started with Stet

Stet takes your finished manuscript and turns it into a beautifully formatted book — ready to upload to Amazon KDP, IngramSpark, or Draft2Digital. The whole process takes about ten minutes.

Before you begin

Your manuscript should be a Word document (.docx) with chapter headings formatted using Word's built-in Heading 1 style. If your headings are just bold text rather than a proper heading style, Stet may not detect your chapters correctly.

If you're not sure, open your document in Word, click a chapter title, and check the Styles panel on the Home tab. It should say Heading 1.

Step 1 — Import your manuscript

Open Stet. On the welcome screen, either:

• Drag your .docx file onto the window, or
• Click New Book and choose your file

Stet reads your manuscript and builds a structured version of your book — chapters, front matter (copyright page, dedication, etc.), and back matter (About the Author, Also By, etc.) are all detected automatically.

Your original file is never modified. Stet works from a copy. You can always re-import if anything goes wrong.

Once imported, your manuscript is saved as a .stet project file. Open this file next time to pick up where you left off.

Step 2 — Review the checks

The Style & Checks panel on the right shows everything Stet found that might need attention. Common findings include:

Checks with a count (e.g. Em Dashes — 21) have an automatic fix available. Click Review to see each change before it's applied.

Checks marked Nothing to fix are already clean — no action needed.

Applying a correction

Click Review next to any check. Stet shows you each change one at a time:

• Accept This Change — apply this fix
• Skip — leave this instance as-is
• Accept All — apply every instance at once
• Cancel — close without applying anything

You can also swipe down or press Escape to close and apply whatever you've accepted so far.

Every correction can be undone with ⌘Z.

Step 3 — Review chapters, choose a template and trim size

In the left sidebar:

Chapters — first, check the Chapters section in the sidebar — confirm Stet has divided your manuscript correctly. If something looks wrong, click Review next to Chapter Detection.

Template controls the visual style of your book. Templates are grouped by genre — click a group (Fiction, Non-Fiction, Memoir & Essay, Poetry) to expand it and see the options inside. Click any template to preview it immediately. Hover over a template name to read a description.

Below the template picker, a Style section lets you customise the selected template:

• Scene Breaks — choose the ornament between scenes: asterisks, rule, fleuron, blank line, or a custom character
• Chapter Numbers — arabic (1, 2, 3), roman (I, II, III), written (One, Two, Three), or none
• Chapter Label — "Chapter", "Part", none, or custom text
• Chapter Opener — simple, centred, drop cap, numbered, or ornamental

When you've customised a template, a small dot appears next to its name and a Reset to template defaults link appears below the controls.

Trim Size is the physical dimensions of your printed book. Common sizes:

Check your distributor's requirements if you're unsure. KDP and IngramSpark both support all of these.

Fonts — if you want to use a specific font for your chapter headings or body text, click the font name next to Chapter Headings or Body Text and choose from any font installed on your Mac. Stet will embed the font in your exported files.

Only use fonts you are licensed to embed in published files.

Step 4 — Preview your book

The centre panel shows a live preview of your book. Use the tabs at the top to switch between views:

• Print — exact replica of your print PDF, with running headers and page numbers
• E-ink — how it will look on a Kindle Paperwhite or Kobo
• Tablet — how it will look on an iPad or Fire tablet
• Review Copy PDF — A4 layout for review copies, NetGalley, and ARCs

Navigate between chapters using the ‹ › arrows at the bottom, or click the chapter list button to jump directly to any chapter.

The preview updates immediately when you change the template, trim size, fonts, or metadata.

Step 5 — Export

When you're happy with how everything looks, export your files.

To export one format at a time: Go to File → Export as EPUB 3, Export as Print PDF, etc. A save panel opens with your book title pre-filled as the filename. Choose where to save and click Export.

To export everything at once: Go to File → Export All (or press ⌘⇧⌥E). Choose a folder and Stet saves all your enabled formats there.

After export, Finder opens automatically to show you the exported files.

Tips

Chapters not detected correctly? If Stet puts everything in one chapter, your headings in Word may be formatted manually rather than using the Heading 1 style. Fix them in Word and re-import. Alternatively, use the Chapter Detection correction in Stet to mark headings manually.

Chapter structure looks wrong? Stet prompts you to review chapters after import if something looks uncertain. You can always reopen Chapter Detection from the Style & Checks panel.

Front matter out of order? The standard order is: Half-title, Title page, Copyright, Dedication, Epigraph, Table of Contents, Foreword, Preface. Stet will flag if yours is out of order.

Kindle ignores my custom font This is expected — Kindle uses its own fonts and overrides CSS font settings. Your EPUB will display correctly in Apple Books and Kobo.

Something looks wrong in the print preview Check the trim size matches your intended print size. Also try switching templates — some templates are better suited to certain book types.

Keyboard shortcuts

Getting help

Visit stet.pub/docs for the full documentation.