This document describes the major differences between Final Draft 4.0.X and Final Draft 4.1.2. If you are a Final Draft 4.0.X user and would also like a new manual describing these new features in depth, please contact B.C. Software to place an order.
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Scene Navigator
This is a new window in Final Draft where all of your scenes are listed in either Card or Outline view. Scenes can be reordered, added, deleted, renumbered and printed. This window stays open while you are working on your script and can be switched to the front to easily view and navigate around your script. Double clicking on a scene will take you to that scene in your script. Dragging and dropping a scene will move that scene in your script. Scenes can be printed out on 3x5 perforated index card paper to give you a physical way to view and reorder your script. As you type in your script the Scene Navigator will instantly update to reflect the changes.
SmartType
Previous versions of Final Draft had a built-in Character List that allowed the User to enter just a few letters of the Character's name and the program would type the rest. This saved time entering Character Names, but the typeahead feature was limited to just names.
Final Draft 4.1 adds a major new feature, called SmartType, which enhances the program's typeahead facility in two ways: First, the program now maintains built-in lists for not only Character Names, but also for Slug Lines and Transitions. When you are in any of those three Elements, the program performs its time-saving typeahead function. Second, the whole way that Final Draft's auto-typing feature works has been completely revamped. It is easier, faster and more intuitive than ever, but won't be confusing to those who are used to the old Character Matching feature.
If you look in the Document menu, you will see a menu change, Edit SmartType Lists in place of the old Character Matching stuff (this is because SmartType is used for Characters, Slug Lines and Transitions):
Upon Selecting this command, a new and improved "List" window is displayed which lets you edit the various lists in a similar manner to the old Character List editing window. Some new functions, such as Alphabetize and Rebuild From Script, add new functionality to Final Draft's list management:
The way it works:
As the user enters text into one of the above mentioned Elements, SmartType will match the letters entered in the appropriate list and "type" in the rest much like Character Matching did in earlier versions. However, there are several major differences:
When a letter is entered in one of the SmartType Elements, the caret remains blinking after the letter entered, not at the end of the text as it used to do with the old Character Matching. If SmartType finds a match in the list, its pop-up window appears and it draws the rest of the matching entry after the text you have actually typed in. This way, you can tell what you have typed and what the computer has matched. As you enter more letters, the items in the pop-up window will only show matches that match all the letters you have actually typed much like the Character List window did. While in the matching mode, you can freely type or delete letters or even select part of the line and delete it and the Matching system will auto-match whatever is left on the line. If there is no match in the appropriate list for the text that you have typed, the SmartType pop-up window automatically disappears and you are free to type without any further commands. When a new item (name, slug line, etc.) is entered and the Element is left (carriage return, Tab key, mouse click), the new text is added to the appropriate list. This whole system outdates the concept of having a Names from "List Only "mode which has to be switched out of to add new entries. Now you just type: If there is a match, it will be shown, if there isn't, then just enter the new item. Additionally, the pop- up window will only appear if SmartType finds a match, so when you are entering new items you will not ever be bothered by an empty pop-up.
When at the beginning of a Character, Slug Line or Action, depressing the same FIRST LETTER (e.g. i-i-i) will cycle through the entries in the table starting with that letter instead of adding letters typed and doing a match of combined letters (which is how normal matching is done).
There is a new Check Box in the Preferences window that is labeled Auto-SmartType Window.
If this is on, the list window will automatically pop up when you type into any of the three Elements mentioned (but only if there is a match in the list). There is also a Disable SmartType check box that disables auto-matching. Note that whether SmartType is enabled or disabled in the Preferences dialog, you can manually toggle it on or off by selecting the Disable/Enable SmartType command in the Document menu (which works like Disable Character Matching in earlier versions). If SmartType is enabled, then selecting Disable SmartType disables auto-matching for that paragraph. It will be turned back on after that Element has been completed. Why disable SmartType? One reason might be to enter text that is a subset of an item that is already in the list (BOBBY and BOB). Otherwise, the auto-matching feature would enter the longer matching item.
When does the SmartType pop-up window pop up? It will only pop up after either at least one letter has been typed in or the Tilde (`) key is depressed (which toggles it from open to closed and vice-versa). This avoids the list from constantly getting in your way as the script is typed. Also, if you enter a new item and there is no match at all in the list, the window will never pop up, again not distracting you. When you enter text and SmartType finds no more matches in the list, the window will disappear, letting you know that a new entry is being entered (as nothing matches what you have typed).
Multiple Locked Pages
This production-oriented feature allows you to initially lock the script like the old program did, but it then allows you to relock the pages including any A and B pages that are in the script. This can be done any number of times, so that each revision can be locked and text will no longer slide around A and B pages like in earlier versions (which only allowed a single level of locking). When text is added to a locked A page that causes an overflow, it will become an "AA" page and so on. Likewise, if there are multiple locked pages and you delete more than a page, the multi-page range will reflect the correct page range that was deleted (such as 3BB-5A). Note the new Submenu in the Utilities menu that contains the various Locked Page commands. If you have locked the script multiple times and select Unlock 'A' Pages, it will take you back one level of Locking each time you select Unlock 'A' Pages (effectively undoing the last Lock 'A' Pages command). The Unlock Pages command will completely unlock the script (all the way back to just whole numbers) This command puts up a warning that all 'A' pages will be completely removed so that the user has the opportunity to cancel the operation before mistakenly unlocking the whole script. The Relock Pages From Caret command will relock the script from the page containing the cursor to the end of the script. This replaces the Option-key menu command that read "Relock Pages" in earlier versions . This function is usually used when the locked script does not match the printed draft of the script exactly at some point (perhaps the user forgot to lock the pages before making some changes). The Adjust Current Locked Page command replaces the Shift-Option-Command-Enter command in earlier versions which allows you to move the starting position of a single locked page.
Text Import
The new version of the Text Import command in the Import submenu makes the Text File Converter program obsolete. The concept behind the new feature is that it preprocesses the file and builds all the rules about how the file is formatted before importing anything. By doing this, it can make intelligent decisions about what is a slug line, character, action, etc. Also, it automatically determines whether the script is a Screenplay or Sitcom and import the file properly with the proper Elements. It is much smarter than the old file converter and can handle almost any ASCII text file with incredible accuracy in determining the formatting.
Revisions
In previous versions of Final Draft, if you were in Revision Mode and you added text to the script it would be marked with an asterisk. However, there was always a problem in previous versions when the only revision that you made to a line was a deletion. If you deleted a word there would be no asterisk to mark the line as revised. In version 4.1, deletions are recorded by the program and Final Draft will put in the asterisk for the modified line.
Dialog Box Options
A few new options have been added to various dialog boxes throughout the program.
For one look in the Spell -Checking window. There is now a menu called Options with selectable preferences for checking repeated words and checking capitalization errors.
In the Preferences dialog there are a few new preferences for Auto Smarttype window, which will bring up the list of choices during a SmartType session. The Preferences dialog also has an Alphabetize In SmartType Window button which will alphabetize items in the pop-up SmartType window (although not in the actual SmartType lists themselves). There is also a Dynamic Scrolling check box which will make dragging the thumb (the little square) in the scroll bar update the Page Number label while scrolling and, if the option key is held down while dragging the thumb, Final Draft will draw the script text in the window as you drag the thumb up and down the scroll bar. Remember that this option will slow down program operation slightly because of the additional drawing during the thumb-dragging procedure.
In the Select Colors dialog you can now set the color for the SmartType matching text and the invisible characters (paragraph marks, Tabs and spaces). This can help the user distinguish these special characters from the regular text of the script (older versions always drew the invisibles in black, just like the rest of the text):
Renumber Scenes
The renumbering of scenes now is much smarter when there are A and B scenes in the script. It works in a similar manner to how Multi-Page Locking works with A and B pages. When the Keep feature is on in the Renumber Scenes dialog, new scenes inserted between existing A and B scenes will become AA scenes, etc.
Option-Delete
Option-Delete now deletes the entire paragraph containing the caret.
Mouse-Click Features
Clicking on the little labels (Element type, Page Number, SCENE NUMBER) at the bottom of the script window will bring up the appropriate dialog or popup menu.
Tab Rules
Final Draft has always had Carriage Return Shortcuts to help get to the next logical Element. In 4.1, we add the Tab key as an additional key to change elements. This key works slightly differently than the Shortcuts feature in that it lets the user "cycle" through various element types by depressing the Tab key multiple times. Note that it works differently if there is text in the paragraph when Tab is depressed as opposed to an empty paragraph. The tab key shortcuts are fairly intuitive. The general rule to remember is that TAB will take you to an element that is logically to the right of the current element and shift TAB will take you to the left. for example if you are in action and you hit tab you will go to character. If you are in dialog and hit tab then you go to parenthetical. This functionality, combined with the existing Shortcuts feature, gives the user more flexibility than any other program to proceed to the next logical Element.
Cursor Navigation and Selection
Cmd-right/left arrows -- goes to end/beginning of line
Option-right/left arrows -- goes forward/backward one word
Control-up/down arrow -- goes up/down by paragraph
If the Shift Key is held down when one of the Cursor navigation combinations are depressed, it will extend the current selection (extending or reducing the current selection range)
Automatic SlugLine Creation
If you are in Action and you type one of the following, the paragraph will automatically become a Slug Line:
int. (or int:)
ext. (or ext:)
i/e. (or i/e:)
The upper/lower casing of the words above do not matter in changing the paragraph to a Slug Line.
Automatic Transition Creation
If you are in Action or Slug Line and you type anything that ends with the following word, the paragraph will automatically become a Transition:
out:
black:
to:
The paragraph must end with a colon (:) or the paragraph will not be changed.
The upper/lower casing of the words above do not matter in changing the paragraph to a Transition.
Numlock Mode
The Numlock light on extended keyboards will light up when in numlock mode. when in Numlock mode the keypad will work as expected. When numLock mode is off then the keypad works like the arrowkeys. 8,2 = up,down : 4,6 = left,right : 5 = forward delete : 7 = home: 1 = end : 9 = page up : 3 = pagedown. By default Final Draft is not in numlock mode.
Page Breaking
Final Draft will now break dialogue and action at sentences. Now when action or dialogue is split across a page break, Final Draft will look for a period and break the paragraph at a period break rather than just breaking at the end of the last line. Make sure the checkbox is checked for this feature to work.
Find/Change
Find/Change can now search both forwards or backwards. Option for search direction is in the mini Menu Bar inside the Find/Replace dialog.
Character Guess
Auto-Guess Character feature. If you hit return after dialog and go into a Character element then Final Draft will make a best guess as to which character you want to add next. Simply hitting return (or the arrow keys) will type in the character name. Check box to activate this feature is found in the preferences window.
Spell Check
Spell Check and Thesaurus now support foreign language dictionaries. Contact B.C. Software for information on ordering and availability of the foreign language files.
Menu Changes
Goto Next Scene And Goto Previous Scene menu items have been added to aid the writer in quickly navigating from scene to scene.
Additions for 4.1.3
1) Tight and Loose mode did not always behave properly. Some lines could shift making lines jump from the bottom of one page to the top of the next. Now fixed.
2) Break at periods pagination logic would sometimes not work correctly. Now fixed.
3) Alphabetize buttons in the SmartType lists would not work in all cases. Now fixed.
4) Revision deletion marks would not show up on empty paragraphs. Now fixed.
5) Add new Scene in Scene navigator would sometimes add an empty slugline. Now fixed.
6) A special case in the lock pages code would sometimes not work. Now fixed.
7) Adding a long bookmark could corrupt the file. Now fixed.
8) Smarttype could insert garbage characters in some cases. Now fixed.
9) The control panel Kaleidoscope had problems with Final Draft's menu bar. Now fixed.
Additions for 4.1.4
1) Added Dual Dialog feature. If you have two characters that speak at the same time you can now easily represent this in Final Draft. First type in the two characters and their dialogue as you would normally and then select the first character paragraph. Goto the "Text" menu and choose "Dual Dialogue" and Final Draft will create an object on screen which will draw the characters and their dialog side by side. To revert back to the orginal format you can either double click on the object or you can choose the "Dual Dialogue" menu item again. Editing of the dialog or character names can only be done when the characters are not in dual dialogue mode.
2) SmartType can now be disabled for Slugline, Character and Transition independently. See the "Edit Smarttype Lists" dialog for the new checkbox.
3) Print selected cards has been added to the Scene Navigators printing dialog. Just select the cards you want to print (use the command-click to select multiple cards individually and use the shift-click to select a range of cards) and choose print. A check box has been added to the printing window - "Print Selected Cards Only".
Additions for 4.1.5
1) Fixed a SmartType bug introduced in 4.1.4
2) Fixed a character cont'd problem that would sometimes insert the cont'd in uppercase.
If you have any questions regarding any of these features feel free to contact our technical support staff.
