Importing a Script¶

Bring a screenplay you already have into Nabu and turn it into an editable project.

If you've started your story somewhere else — a Word document, a PDF, Final Draft, a plain text file — you don't have to retype it. You hand Nabu the file, Nabu reads it, you confirm what it is, and a few moments later you have a real project you can keep writing in.

How to import a file¶

From your dashboard, open the Import surface — you'll see it as a card on the welcome splash, or you can go to the Import page directly.
Drop a file onto the dropzone, or click it to browse and pick one from your computer. (If the dropzone is focused, pressing Enter or Space also opens the file picker.)
Nabu shows you the file's name and size with a Cancel and an Upload button. Click Upload.
Nabu uploads the file and takes you to a preview screen, where it tells you what it thinks the file is.
Review what Nabu detected. If anything's off, adjust the Type and Format (see below). Then click the confirm button.
Nabu builds your project. For a screenplay, an enrichment banner appears while it finishes setting things up — you can keep going.

That's it. When the work finishes you have an editable project.

What file types you can bring in¶

The Import screen accepts these formats:

.fountain — plain-text screenplay format
.fdx — Final Draft
.pdf — a screenplay exported to PDF
.docx — a Microsoft Word document
.txt — plain text
.md — Markdown

The file can be up to 25 MB. If it's too big, empty, or in a format Nabu doesn't accept, the screen tells you before it tries to upload — nothing is lost.

Note: You can only have one import running at a time in a workspace. If you start a second one before the first finishes, Nabu lets you know and offers to open the project that's already importing or cancel it.

The preview step — confirm what your file is¶

After the upload, Nabu reads your file and makes its best guess about two things:

Type — what the file actually is: a Complete screenplay, a Partial screenplay, a Treatment, an Outline, or an Idea.
Format — the shape of the work: Feature, Short, TV Pilot, TV Episode, Web, or Vertical.

While it reads, you'll see a loading state with live progress. When it's done, the preview shows the detected title, the type and format, an approximate page count, the genre it sensed, and a short line telling you what happens next.

Both the Type and the Format start on Nabu's guess. If the guess is wrong, just tap a different option to override it — the pickers are right there. (If your file is an Idea, there's no format to choose, so that picker is hidden.)

The confirm button's label changes to match what you're importing — for example Import for a screenplay, Review with Nisaba for a treatment, Build from outline for an outline, or Start the wizard for an idea. Nisaba is your AI writing partner inside Nabu; see Meet Nisaba.

Short film or a feature?¶

If your file looks like a Short, confirming opens a quick choice between two cards:

Develop as a Short Film — keep it as a short and work on it as-is.
Seed a Feature — use the short as a starting point to grow a full 90–120 page feature. Your original short is left untouched.

Pick whichever matches where you want the story to go.

Note: Importing a treatment does some AI work for you up front, so that path may show an approximate credit cost on the confirm step before you commit. Credits are how AI work is paid for in Nabu. Other types don't do this preview work.

What happens after you confirm¶

For a screenplay, confirming hands the file to Nabu's import process, which enriches it — that's where Nabu reads through the script and builds the things that make it a living Nabu project: it parses the scenes, indexes the text so search and continuity work, maps out the structure, and gathers what it learns about your story.

While that runs, a status banner sits at the top of your project page so you always know where things stand. You don't have to wait on it — the banner is non-blocking, so you can open scenes and start reading or editing right away. It updates in real time and disappears when the import is finished.

If you started the import and change your mind, the banner gives you a cancel button. (Collaborators in the same workspace can see the import running but only the person who started it can cancel it.)

When everything settles, you have a full, editable project — scenes you can open, a board of scene cards, and structure Nabu can help you work with.

What each control does¶

Dropzone — drag a file here, or click to browse. Shows the chosen file's name and size before you upload.
Cancel (before upload) — clears the selected file so you can pick a different one.
Upload — sends the file to Nabu and moves you to the preview step.
Type picker — sets what the file is (Complete screenplay, Partial screenplay, Treatment, Outline, Idea).
Format picker — sets the shape of the work (Feature, Short, TV Pilot, TV Episode, Web, Vertical). Hidden for Ideas.
Confirm button — builds the project; its wording matches the type you're importing.
Cancel (on the import banner) — stops an import you started, for screenplays brought in through this flow.

Good to know¶

Closing the preview before you confirm cancels the import. If you close the dialog with the X, Escape, or by clicking outside it before confirming, Nabu cancels the upload on its end — it doesn't just hide the screen. After you've confirmed, closing simply navigates away and your project is safe.
It survives a refresh. Once a file is uploaded, the import has a durable home. If you refresh or come back later, the preview picks up where it left off rather than starting over.
You don't pay just to upload. Importing a file doesn't charge anything at upload time. The only path that does AI work up front is importing a treatment, and that's the only place you might see a cost noted before you commit.
Trust your eyes on the verdict. Nabu's classifier is good, but it's a guess. If the type or format looks wrong, override it before confirming — it's much easier than fixing it after.