New · Product UpdateAuthor tier 4 min readAugust 2026

Export your manuscript as EPUB, DOCX, or PDF - with its certificate in front

Your manuscript now leaves ValidDraft as a typeset EPUB, a Word document, or a print-ready PDF - and in every format, the Certificate of Human Authorship is the front matter. Wherever the book goes - agent, editor, self-publishing - the proof goes first, and anyone can check it.

Every export format opens with the Certificate of Human Authorship - the proof travels in the front matter.

The certificate leads the book

Publishing a manuscript mints one signed master certificate for the whole book - how that signature stays verifiable forever has its own post. What’s new is where that certificate lives: every whole-manuscript export now opens with it. The EPUB’s reading order runs title page, copyright, certificate, then chapters - cover first when you add one. Print gives it its own leading page. The .docx places it right after the title page. The proof is no longer a link you paste next to the book; it is a page of the book.

A published book’s reading order: the certificate sits in the front matter, before chapter one.

EPUB: a real book, typeset on your machine

The new EPUB export builds a standard EPUB 3 inside the app - in the dialog’s own words, “A professionally typeset ebook, ready for any reader app or KDP.” You pick one of three book styles - Classic, Modern, and Elegant - each a complete set of typographic decisions: drop caps, small-caps opening lines, scene-break ornaments, chapter-title treatments. A live preview renders your actual first chapter in the chosen style before you commit, and optional fields take a cover image and an ISBN. Our sample exports validate clean under epubcheck, the EPUB spec checker - zero errors, zero warnings.

One detail we’re fond of: a published book’s internal EPUB identifier is built from its verification code. The book’s identity, as far as the format is concerned, is its certificate.

The colophon page no other book tool has

The certificate page in the front matter is an honest accounting, not a badge. It states how many of the book’s chapters are verified, a binary verdict - “Verified Human” or “Not Verified,” never a numeric score - the short verification code, the sealed date, an independent timestamp when one exists, the manuscript’s content fingerprint, and the public verification link with a scannable QR. Chapters the certificate doesn’t cover are listed rather than glossed over. And a manuscript that hasn’t been published gets no certificate page at all - the export makes no claims it can’t back.

Word and print carry the same proof

“Export .docx” produces a real Word document - a title page with your byline, each chapter starting on its own page, genuine Word heading styles that survive an editor’s reformatting - with the same certificate section on its own page after the title, carrying the verification link as text. “Print / Save as PDF” puts the certificate on its own leading page ahead of the chapters. In both, a published manuscript exports the certified text - exactly the words the certificate covers, not whatever the local draft has drifted to since.

Built on your machine, verifiable by anyone

Every format is assembled entirely in the app on your computer - no export service, no upload step - and lands on disk through the native Save dialog. On the desktop app, export works offline. (Sealing a chapter for analysis is the one step where text leaves your Mac - that’s covered here.) There’s also “Export as .vdraft” - ValidDraft’s own archive of the whole project: every chapter, the seal manifest, and the certificate metadata in one auditable file. And whoever receives the book needs no account to check it: the certificate page’s code and QR resolve to the public verification page, for anyone. For the full install-to-publish path, see the getting-started guide.

Your book leaves with its proof

Write it, seal it chapter by chapter, publish once - then send it anywhere as an EPUB, a .docx, or a PDF that opens on its Certificate of Human Authorship.

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Frequently asked questions

What formats can I export my manuscript in?+

EPUB 3 (a typeset ebook with a choice of three book styles, optional cover and ISBN), Word .docx, Print / Save as PDF, and .vdraft - ValidDraft's own archive of the whole project. Individual chapters can also go out as Markdown, plain text, .docx, or straight to the clipboard. Everything is built on your machine.

Where does the certificate appear in the exported book?+

In the front matter of every format. The EPUB's reading order runs title page, copyright, certificate, then chapters (cover first when you add one); the print / PDF version gives the certificate its own leading page; the .docx places it right after the title page. A manuscript that hasn't been published carries no certificate and makes no verification claims.

What exactly is on the certificate page?+

An honest accounting: how many of the book's chapters are verified, a binary verdict - Verified Human or Not Verified, never a score - the short verification code, the sealed date, an independent timestamp when one exists, the manuscript's content fingerprint, and the public verification link, with a scannable QR in the EPUB and print versions. Chapters the certificate doesn't cover are listed rather than glossed over.

Will the EPUB work with Kindle Direct Publishing and reader apps?+

It's a standard EPUB 3, and KDP ingests EPUB 3 directly. Our sample exports validate clean under epubcheck, the EPUB spec checker - zero errors, zero warnings - including books with covers and draft-only books. Reader apps still apply their own display settings, as they do to every ebook.

Does exporting upload my manuscript anywhere?+

No. The book file is assembled entirely inside the app on your computer - there's no export service and no upload step - and it lands on disk through the native Save dialog. On the desktop app, export works offline. Sealing a chapter for analysis is the separate step where text goes to the server; exporting is not it.