Windows tutorials › Import a screenplay
Import a screenplayImport a screenplay from a file
Bring a script from a PDF, Final Draft, Fountain, TXT or DOCX file into your project as a new screenplay.
Before you start
- A project is open.
- Your script is in one of these types: PDF, Final Draft (.fdx), Fountain, TXT or DOCX.
Steps
On your project's Home page, look at the top bar. Click the + button, which is called Create.
The Create menu is the same on every page of the project. On a project with no screenplay yet, the Home page also has a Write/Import Screenplay card.
Click Import Screenplay….
Import Screenplay… sits between New Moodboard and New Note in the CREATE menu.
The Import Screenplay dialog opens on step 1, Select source. Click Browse… in the Choose a file box and pick your script in the Windows window that opens.
The dialog asks: What existing script do you want to bring into OpenFrame? The note at the bottom says: Importing never replaces your current screenplay. If one exists, the script arrives as a new screenplay or a new draft. Cancel closes the dialog and changes nothing. Preview is the next step.
Click Preview. Read the preview before you go on.
The Source tile names the file and its format, for example Example-Feature.fountain, Fountain. Scenes, Characters and Pages are counts of what was found, and the page count is approximate. Chips such as High confidence, the title and the author, and a count of dialogue blocks tell you how well the script was understood. The table lists each DETECTED SCENE HEADING with a STATUS, shown as OK when it was read cleanly.
If a blue notice says there are warnings, click Show warnings to read them.
The notice says, for example: 2 warnings. The screenplay structure was recognised. Some details were adjusted on the way in. Warnings are things OpenFrame changed to fit, not failures. Read them so you know what to check later.
Next to IMPORT AS the choice is New Screenplay. Type a name in Draft name, or leave it empty. Leave Keep the original file in Project Files ticked if you want the source kept.
The grey text in Draft name shows the name OpenFrame will use, for example Example-Feature (imported). Under the box it says: Leave empty to name it after the file. Keeping the original puts a copy of the file in your project's files. Back returns to step 1.
Click Import.
Import is the orange button. Cancel closes the dialog without importing anything.
Read the Import complete summary, then click Open Screenplay.
It says, for example: Imported as a new screenplay, “THE TOWER AT PEDDA REVU” (Draft 1: Example-Feature (imported)). Nothing else in your project was changed. The table lists the Source file, Imported scenes, Detected characters, Pages / length, Warnings needing attention and Original file. Review Warnings lets you go through any warnings. Open Screenplay takes you to the new script.
What you get
Your script is in the project as a new screenplay, and nothing else in the project was touched.
Watch out for
- Importing never replaces an existing screenplay. It adds a new one or a new draft, so nothing you wrote is lost.
- Read the warnings before you import. OpenFrame adjusts some details to fit and tells you which.
- PDF files are read as well as possible. Check the preview of a PDF closely, because layout from a PDF can be misread.