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Exporting your screenplay

When you're ready to share, print, or hand off your script, the Export page turns your project into a standard file you can send anywhere — a PDF to read or print, a Final Draft or Fountain file for other screenwriting tools, a full backup of the whole project, or a production report as a spreadsheet.

Everything you write in Nabu lives safely inside your project. Exporting makes a copy in an outside format — your project is never changed or emptied by exporting.

Getting to the Export page

You can open Export two ways:

  1. From inside a project, click Export (the download icon) in the left sidebar.
  2. From your dashboard, open the … menu on a project card and choose Export….

Either way lands you on the same page, where each format sits on its own card with a short description and a one-click download.

The export formats

Each card describes what the file is and an honest Loses: note — a short list of anything that doesn't travel into that format (because no outside format can hold everything Nabu knows about your story). Pick the one that matches what you need.

PDF — to read or print

PDF is the format you hand to readers, actors, and producers. Click the PDF card and Nabu lays your script out in proper screenplay form: Courier 12-point type, a title page, scene numbers, and page numbers — the look the industry expects. The file downloads ready to open or print.

Note: When a lot of people are exporting PDFs at once, Nabu may say it's busy and ask you to try again in a moment. If that happens, just click PDF again shortly. Occasionally Nabu will hand you a simpler web-page version of the script instead; it reads correctly, but the page margins won't be as exact as the full PDF.

What a PDF loses: the deeper structural model behind your script, the internal scene IDs, and Nisaba's behind-the-scenes notes about your story. None of that is needed to read or print the screenplay — it just doesn't live inside a flat PDF.

Final Draft (FDX) — for other screenwriting tools

Final Draft (.fdx) is the file most professional screenwriting programs read. Click the Final Draft card to download an .fdx you can open in Final Draft and similar apps. Nabu includes your title page, your script notes, and your characters and locations so those programs can autocomplete them — and, when available, a cover image for the title page.

Note: If a few of your script notes can't be matched to a spot in the exported file, Nabu tells you how many were skipped in a small message. The export still completes — only those stray notes are left out.

What an FDX loses: depends on the format; the card shows the current list.

Fountain — plain-text screenplay

Fountain (.fountain) is a simple, plain-text screenplay format that opens in almost anything, including a basic text editor. Click the Fountain card to download the file. After it exports, Nabu also shows you a preview of the Fountain text right on the page, which you can dismiss when you're done looking.

What a Fountain file loses: the most, because it's the simplest format — it holds the script itself but not your character bibles, locations, structure, story arc, notes, revision history, attached assets, or Nisaba's story metadata. Use it when you just need the screenplay text somewhere portable.

Nabu Bundle (.nabu) — a full backup

The Nabu Bundle (.nabu) is your complete safety copy. Click the Nabu Bundle card to download a single .nabu file that holds your whole project's content — script, characters, locations, structure, treatment, and more. You can re-import it into any Nabu workspace later to bring the project back.

This is the export to keep somewhere safe before a big change, or to move a project between accounts.

Tip: The History page has its own Export Backup button that downloads this same .nabu bundle. Either spot gives you the same file. See History & versions.

Note: The bundle is a content backup, not a byte-for-byte copy of everything on disk. It leaves out things Nabu can rebuild on its own — search indexes, edit history, earlier exports, and logs — so it stays focused on the parts of your project that actually matter.

Production reports (CSV)

Below the format cards, Nabu offers three production reports as CSV files — the spreadsheet format that opens in Excel, Google Sheets, or Numbers. These are for planning a shoot, not for reading the script. Click any of them to download instantly.

  • Cast Report — every character, with their role, how many scenes they're in, and their dialogue-line count.
  • Scene Report — every scene, with its heading, location, characters, and a page estimate.
  • Location Report — every location, with its scene count, the interior/exterior breakdown, and times of day.

Tip: Open a report in your spreadsheet app to sort and filter — for example, sorting the Scene Report by location to plan which scenes to shoot together.

The title page in your exports

The PDF and Final Draft exports include a proper title page — your title, author, and the other details from your project's title page. Keep that information current so it's correct everywhere you send the script.

How your files are named

Your PDF and Final Draft files come down with a tidy, sortable name in this shape:

YYYYMMDD_TITLE_vN

That's the date, then your project's title, then a version number — for example a file dated June 25, 2026 for a project titled Nightfall might be 20260625_NIGHTFALL_v3.pdf. Because the date comes first, your downloads sort neatly into order on your computer.

The Nabu Bundle is named after your project, like nightfall-backup.nabu.

Good to know

  • One export at a time. While an export is running, a progress bar shows across the top of the page and the other cards are paused. Wait for it to finish, then start the next one — this keeps large scripts from tripping over each other.
  • Exporting changes nothing. Every export is a fresh copy. Your project, your scenes, and your history are untouched.
  • The reports reflect your current script. Cast, Scene, and Location reports are built from your project as it stands the moment you click, so re-download after big changes.