Final Draft Export (workflow questions and Problems)

Scrivener Scrivener for macOS
1

Ok…

So, I REALLY want to use Scrivener for a job assignment I have in re-writing a screenplay. Lots of research involved. So I saw Scrivener and FD8 both touting they could use each other’s formats and I was all YAYS!!! As I had been using MMS screenwriter but the file originates in FD8, which I like but love the Scrivener and FD8 comb more. :mrgreen:

Now onto things I need to figure out. First. I Imported the FD8 file. All is great. Opened in the binder just as promised… I’m bouncing with giddy exuberance… then Slam. Problem number one. The format is off. Now, It’s a small but intrusive problem where the margins seem off. No problem. I open up the dialogue for margins and in scrivener default is pixel and in FD8 default is inches. So I change margins to inches. :unamused: … no change. Ah… upon closer scrutiny, alas, it’s designated to only ruler? so… so I change the pixel count. The margins move but the text doesn’t. I’m losing about 5 characters which on 120 page screenplay I have to chop to 90 to 96 could be problematic.

Well, I figure maybe this is just a scrivener thing. So I decided to export the screenplay to open in FD8 to see if it would return to proper format size… and HERE is the show stopper (in a bad way). All formatting is GONE!!! It opens in FD8 … like a book. No formatting. I have the latest updates FD8 8.0.1 and Scrivener 1.54. :cry:

Anyone see anything I may have done wrong or a step I might include to make this THEORETICAL dream team work?

Thanks all,
-jeduhu

2

Scrivener determines script elements by their formatting, so if you change the formatting then the elements may no longer be recognised. Some things to check:

When you imported your script, was the editor in script mode? You can tell it’s in script mode if the footer bar looks like this:

(If you’re not in script mode, you can enter script mode by going to Text > Scriptwriting and selecting “Script Mode”.)

Note that pop-up button on the right says “Scene Heading”. This is important - this will change depending on what text you click in, recognising the element. If that says “General Text”, then the current text isn’t recognised as a script element. Only elements that get recognised in Scrivener will get recognised in Final Draft - anything that is “General Text” in Scrivener will be general non-script text in FD, too. So, the main thing you need to ensure is that the text is recognised as a script in Scrivener for it to be recognised in FD as such.

If you select some text in Scrivener that is recognised as a script element and then change the ruler settings - changing the indent, for instance - then it will become “General Text” because it no longer matches the formatting expected for that element. To me, it sounds as though this is what you have done.

What was wrong with the margins, though? The default Screenplay format uses pretty standard margins (with one inch difference to allow the inch that would be added around the whole page when printing - that inch will be accounted for when exporting back to FD).

Still, if you do want to change the script settings, it’s best to do it before you start importing and working. You can edit the script settings via Text > Scriptwriting > Script Settings. When you import an FDX file, it will be imported to match the settings set up here.

If you are just working to standard screenplay format, though, you can really just ignore all of this. Just import your FDX file, ensure the elements get recognised in Scrivener, and then work without worrying about whether the format is absolutely perfect - as long as the elements are recognised correctly in the footer bar, that’s fine. Then you can check “Use default Final Draft script element formatting for FDX export” in the General pane of the preferences, and this will ensure that when Scrivener exports to FDX it doesn’t include any custom formatting - Final Draft will just format the file using its standard screenplay format.

Hope that helps.

All the best,
Keith

3

So, I have went through the screenplay setting. Imported settings from FDX settings. No change in format imported and when exported still doesn’t keep the correct format. Still searching as I chant work work work.

4

But did you import the document after you changed the settings? Currently changing the script settings has no effect on existing documents in the project, which is why I said to set up the script settings before you import anything or start creating new documents.
Best,
Keith

5

Keith,

Thanks alot!

AWESOME!!! So I quit the program and opened a new project choosing the screenplay template. Then imported and eureka! It works. One thing however. The format was still off. In FD8 the first 5 lines turn into 6 with the last word squeezed into a sixth line in Scrivener. So when I exported and opened the export in FD8 it returned to 5 lines, the last word that was squeezed onto the sixth line returned to 5 lines. Very strange. So I then made a new project in FD8 and tried to recreate the anomaly, to both my joy and frustration… I couldn’t; OOOO’s typed to the end of the page were reproduced perfect. Then I tried … periods; as that’s a style I frequent for emphasis, no dice. Worked like a charm. I can’t say what is causing it, but it doesn’t matter. I can work around that.

I just needed to know that this would work and had to make sure all systems were a go to commit serious time. I’m happy now, thanks for the prompt responses. Works great.

-Jeduhu

6

You may occasionally find that things don’t appear exactly the same simply because Scrivener and FD use different text systems and thus different typography and layout systems. So even using the same font and formatting, there may be edge cases where the calculations of one system push a word onto an extra line where the other would give a couple of extra points or pixels.

Glad you got things working, though!

All the best,
Keith