Readers do not experience an ebook table of contents as a list of labels. They experience it as a set of promises: choose a chapter name and arrive at that chapter. When a heading changes, both the label and destination must remain coherent while the cover and colophon survive the rebuild.
Use one renamed chapter as a diagnostic
Picture a three-chapter story. Chapter two was called “The Rainy Station” in the draft and becomes “After the Rain” during revision. Updating only the heading can leave an old navigation label behind. Updating only the label can create the opposite failure: the menu looks current but opens the wrong content.
Define the change narrowly. Chapter two's title is allowed to change; chapters one and three, the cover, and the colophon are expected to remain. That distinction makes the second export much easier to review than an unfocused comparison of every file in the package.
A manual method works for a very small book
Before using any publishing software, write the three chapter names on a sheet and add the intended destination beside each name. After a rename, update the source and the sheet, then open every entry in the finished ebook. This is viable for a short work. It becomes error-prone when revisions multiply because the same information is maintained in two places.
EPUB's reading order and its navigation are related but not interchangeable. The EPUB 3.3 specification gives them separate roles. A book can turn pages in order and still have a stale menu, so test both behaviors.
Rebuild the renamed chapter in Rune Studio
Open chapter two from Rune Studio's file tree and correct its heading. Start the EPUB wizard and use File Selection to confirm that all three current chapter files are selected. In Chapter Order, retain chapters one, two, and three in sequence and enable navigation inclusion for each chapter.
On Metadata, check the cover and publication date. The Review and Export page should show the cover, title page, navigation, three chapters, and colophon in the intended order. After export, begin with the changed item: the second navigation label should use the new heading and lead to chapter two. Only then perform the quick preservation check for the cover and end matter.
In a three-chapter test, one heading was changed between two exports. Both packages passed their local structural check, each retained seven spine entries, and the output changed in response to the edit. This supports the specific claim that a source-level rename can be rebuilt without losing the surrounding book structure. It says nothing about retailer acceptance or identical behavior on every device.
Let the symptom tell you which wizard page to revisit
An old label points back to the chapter source and Chapter Order. A missing cover points to Metadata. Incorrect colophon details point to the publication fields rather than the chapter list. Taking this symptom-based route is faster than clearing the whole project and re-entering every setting.
If a menu entry opens the wrong chapter, also look for duplicate source files or repeated headings. Do not patch the packaged navigation file as the permanent fix; return to the workspace source so the next edition inherits the correction.
The book is ready for device testing when all three labels match their chapter headings, each label reaches the right chapter, and the cover and colophon are still present. A real reading device remains the place to judge menu ergonomics and typography. The Rune Studio product page describes the current Mac feature boundary.
