Processes for preparing structured organic films (SOFs) comprising a plurality of segments and a plurality of linkers arranged as a covalent organic framework. The processes for preparing structured organic film may include mixing a plurality of molecular building blocks each comprising a segment and a number of functional groups to form a mixture of molecular building blocks; heating the mixture to form a homogeneous liquid comprising pre-SOFs; depositing the homogeneous liquid comprising pre-SOFs as a wet layer; and drying the wet layer to form a dry SOF from the pre-SOFs.