If your ebook material is scattered across a word processor, text files, and image folders, moving everything into one Mac app can help—but only after you decide which copy of each item remains authoritative. Consolidation should give every correction a clear destination. It should not turn the exported EPUB into a new manuscript.
This guide starts with an existing three-chapter handbook, one cover, one colophon, and two correction notes. It focuses on the move into one workspace. It does not cover the separate lifecycle of starting from a blank project and drafting a book from scratch.
Decide what stays authoritative before moving files
An app cannot remove ambiguity if three versions of Chapter 2 arrive with names such as final, final-2, and really-final. Make a short source inventory first.
| Role | Authoritative source before the move | Workspace name | Correction destination |
|---|---|---|---|
| Chapter 1 | draft/final/ch01.txt |
chapters/C01.md |
C01.md |
| Chapter 2 | draft/final/ch02.txt |
chapters/C02.md |
C02.md |
| Chapter 3 | draft/final/ch03.txt |
chapters/C03.md |
C03.md |
| Cover | art/cover-final.png |
images/cover.png |
source artwork |
| Colophon | notes/colophon.txt |
colophon settings | the colophon fields |
The decision rule is practical: text corrections go back to a chapter file, cover changes go back to the chosen image or cover setting, and publication details go back to the relevant settings. Do not treat the generated EPUB as the place to maintain those changes; a rebuild can replace direct edits made inside it.
Move the three-chapter handbook into one workspace
Duplicate the original folder and work on the copy. Rune Studio’s published documentation describes a workspace as the unit that holds multiple manuscripts and reference files for one work. It does not claim to identify the correct source automatically, so keep the inventory beside the project.
Rename the three accepted chapters so their relationship is obvious: C01.md, C02.md, and C03.md are enough for this small example. Give the cover and inline illustrations different names and locations. For example, use images/cover.png for the cover and images/figure-01.png for a figure used in a chapter. Select one set of author, date, and publisher details for the colophon rather than copying conflicting values from old notes.
The move is complete when each accepted input has one workspace destination and one correction destination. Merely seeing every file in the sidebar is not enough. If older versions must be retained, put them in an archive folder so they cannot be mistaken for current chapters.
Assemble order, navigation, and the cover
For the controlled sample, the selected chapter files were C01.md, C02.md, and C03.md in that order. All three were included in navigation. The cover setting read back the relative path images/studio-024-01.png.
EPUB 3 keeps several responsibilities separate. The EPUB 3.3 specification distinguishes the manifest of packaged resources, the spine that establishes reading order, and the navigation document. A correct-looking list of chapter names therefore does not, by itself, prove that the cover reference and reading order are also correct.
Rune Studio’s published feature description covers writing mode, navigation, cover, colophon, and EPUB 3 output. The run described here exercised a small horizontal three-chapter case. It did not test every possible manuscript structure.
Route two corrections back to their causes
Suppose the first review of the output produces these notes:
- The Chapter 2 heading should read “Choosing the Tool,” not “Choose a Tool.”
- The EPUB points to the previous cover.
The first note belongs in C02.md. The second belongs in the selected cover file or the cover assignment. Editing both inside the exported package may make the immediate file look better, but those edits can disappear the next time the book is built.
Use the source of the defect—not the screen on which you noticed it—to choose the return path. This routing is a human editorial decision. The documented workflow does not establish that Rune Studio interprets a correction note and chooses the source for you.
What the three-chapter output showed
The sample exported a horizontal EPUB from three source chapters with no inline images. Its planned order contained cover, title, navigation, three content documents, and colophon. Inspection found a navigation document and NCX, one packaged image, no missing images, and valid=true. The single packaged image was the cover.
Those observations are limited to this local package. valid=true reports the result of a structural inspection; it does not prove retailer acceptance or identical rendering in every reading system.
When one workspace helps—and when it does not
Consolidation is useful when you want chapter text, navigation choices, cover, and colophon to have explicit correction destinations within one work folder. It is especially helpful when feedback on an exported file otherwise leaves you wondering which source to edit.
Do not force every part of the process into one app when your team depends on tracked changes in another editor, a shared asset manager, or direct maintenance of a hand-built EPUB. “One app” is a means of reducing ambiguous sources, not a reason to abandon a collaboration tool you still need.
Conclusion: make the inventory before the move
To create an ebook on Mac in one app without losing your sources, list the accepted chapter, cover, and colophon inputs first. Give each one a workspace destination and a correction destination. Keep the EPUB as a generated artifact that you inspect, not as the new manuscript.
Start with a duplicate of three chapters rather than moving a whole book at once. You can review the current Mac app and its download options on the Rune Studio website.