Scrivener Stopped Compiling Mid-day

Scrivener Scrivener for macOS
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1

Mid-day, Scrivener stopped compiling screenplay PDFs. I tried it for print, it also isn’t working. It worked for .docx for a novel. I tried saving it as a different file with the extension -2. Still beach ball wheel of death.

Any ideas?

2

Have you restarted your computer recently?

Did you add any unusual formatting elements to the project? Styles? Images? Tables? Did you import any text from another source?

Which Screenplay format are you using? In particular, the Documentary format tends to involve very large tables, which can sometimes be a problem for the PDF layout engine.

3

If this is an emergency, you can get your script out like this:

  • Gather your screenplay documents into a folder;
  • Duplicate the folder and rename it;
  • Merge the documents in the dupe into a single screenwriting document;
  • Highlight the merged document and use File>Export>Files and set the Option to Final Draft(.fdx)
  • Go to writersolo.com and download the completely free WriterSolo app;
  • Open WriterSolo and import the FDX file you exported from Scrivener;
  • In WriterSolo, inspect the script and reformat as needed;
  • In WriterSolo, export the script as PDF.
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4

Dear God in heaven is this ever helpful — thank you. I don’t need it now but I’m bookmarking it.

Got it resolved, thanks all. I have no idea what happened. I restarted twice in the interim, tried multiple times, waited it out, let drive sync what had remained unsunk and now it’s fine.

Kinda creepy.

5

You’re welcome. If I were you, I’d export a backup copy of your screenplay as FDX right away, in case there are further irregularities.

FWIW, I use Scrivener for organizing my screenplays, but I type pages and finalize in Final Draft using the method I outlined. (If you don’t have Final Draft, WriterSolo works fine.) It avoids all kinds of headaches.

6

Yeah, I haven’t preferred Final Draft, but I can see how it would help this issue specifically. Grateful for you, whoever you are.

7

It’s good to have a dedicated screenplay app like Final Draft or WriterSolo to do final formatting and output. Studio contracts today require delivering in FDX and PDF, and you want to know that the final output is correct.

8

There’s an excellent alternative - Fade In. It is as full featured as Final Draft, can work with/export .fdx and is only $79.95.

A number of top writers use it.

9

Yeah, I own a seat of FadeIn as well. Do you find that it does something better than WriterSolo, which is free?

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I haven’t used Writer Solo. I had a look at Writer Duet which it’s based on quite a while back and felt it didn’t seem as polished and as I already had Fade In, and was getting free updates, decided not to waste time with yet another app.

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