Manifold is a publishing platform so you’ll need to prepare your text in advance and then upload it into Manifold once you’re finished. Texts may be created and loaded into Manifold using the following file formats: Epub, HTML, Google Docs, Word, LaTex, or Markdown (see Markdown guide). You can format your text using Title and Headings, and Manifold will preserve these settings when you upload your file. You can include images directly in your source text, or you can embed images and other interactive resources using Manifold’s “resources” features discussed in the following section.
If you need to make edits to a text that has already been uploaded to Manifold, make those changes in the original document outside of Manifold, and then “re-ingest” the text to reflect the updates.
Manifold supports uploading multiple files at a time. In order for Manifold to properly ingest multiple source documents at once, the system requires a YAML file to be included along with them in the compressed archive that will be loaded into the system. For more detailed information on preparing a YAML file, check out this guide from CUNY.
Follow the steps for ingesting a single text, and upload your YAML file and source documents. For .docx files, you can upload the YAML file with the source files in a .zip format by using the Upload a File button or dragging and dropping them onto the page. In cases where there are no source documents to upload (e.g., if you are creating a text from multiple Google Docs) then only the YAML file needs to be loaded. When uploaded alone, the YAML file does not need to be compressed or zipped.
As you are finding and uploading materials into Manifold, you will need to consider the copyright status of the materials to ensure you have permission to use the item and can properly credit the copyright owner. You will also want to add a license, such as Creative Commons license, to any original work you upload. The best practice is to tell your readers the copyright status of the project, each text, and each resource.
Some questions to consider while finding texts or resources:
For more guidance on Fair Use and Copyright, see the UW Libraries Copyright Guide
For help finding Public Domain and Creative Commons materials, see the UW Libraries Open Resources Guide
Check out this video tutorial on ingesting a text and adjusting the settings for an individual text.
This video shows how to upload a public domain EPUB file into a Manifold project.