Importing a Script#

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

How to import a file#

From your dashboard, click New Project, then choose Import Project.
Drop a file onto the dropzone, or click it to browse. (If the dropzone is focused, pressing Enter or Space also opens the file picker.)
Nabu uploads the file and takes you to a review screen where you confirm what it is.
Review the Project details section — the Type, Format, and Target length Nabu detected. You can also set a Genre. Adjust anything that's off.
In the Import options section, choose how you want to import it (see below).
Click Import. Nabu builds your project.

What file types you can import#

The upload window 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
.nabu — a Nabu Bundle you exported, to restore a project (see below)

Fountain imports recognize uppercase character names with non-English capitals, such as ÓLAFUR, ÞÓRUNN and ÆSA, and keep the dialogue beneath them.

If a file is too big, empty, or in a format Nabu doesn't accept, the screen tells you before it tries to upload.

If an upload fails, the window keeps the upload picker available. Nabu’s own upload limits show their guidance; an unrecognized refusal shows the HTTP status and asks you to try again in a moment.

Note: If an import is already running, Nabu offers Cancel Import.

Restoring a Nabu Bundle#

Drop a .nabu file — the Nabu Bundle from the Export page — onto the same dropzone. There is no review step: Nabu restores it straight away.

It always comes back as a new project, under the bundle's title. Nothing already in your projects is changed or replaced.
When it's done, the window shows the title, Restored as a new project., and what came back — your scenes, your characters and, when all of it returned, Nabu's understanding of your story. Anything the bundle held that couldn't be restored is listed below that.
Your open story questions return too.
Click Open project to go to it.

If the file can't be restored, the window says why, and Back to upload returns you to the dropzone. If a restore was cut off part-way, what came back is already in your projects: delete that project and restore the bundle again.

Nabu checks the backup’s size before uploading it. If it is too large to restore right now, your projects stay unchanged; choose another file. If that refusal appears after a restore starts, choose Back to upload.

Closing the window doesn't stop a restore — it finishes on its own and the project appears in your projects. If you refresh while it's open, the window opens again where it was.

The review step — confirm what your file is#

After the upload, Nabu shows a review screen with two sections.

Project details#

Type — what the file is: Treatment, Complete screenplay, Partial screenplay, Outline, or Idea. Nabu tells a screenplay by its scene headings (a Final Draft file by its own Scene Heading elements), never by its length, and picks Complete screenplay with a short line saying why — for example "Set to Complete: 113 scenes, and the last one is finished." It picks Partial screenplay only when the script stops short: its last scene has a heading and nothing under it, or it stops on a character's name before the line. If Nabu can't tell, it says "Nabu will work out what this is once it has been through the pages." For a PDF whose scene headings it couldn't recognize, it says so instead, and analyzing the file works out what it is.
Format — the shape of the work: Feature, Short, TV Pilot, TV Episode, Web, or Vertical. Nabu's guess comes from the page count (under 40 pages a short, 40–64 a pilot, 65 or more a feature; TV act or episode headings point to a pilot or episode), and a line under the pills says what it went on — for example "Set to Feature: about 77 pages." It is only a guess — change it if it's wrong.
Target length — a slider for your intended screenplay length. A partial screenplay starts at least at the usual minimum for its format; a treatment, prose document, or file of unknown type starts at the usual minimum for its format. A complete screenplay can start at its estimated length, within the format’s range. The source file’s estimated page count appears separately above. You can deliberately choose a shorter target, down to one page; changing Format keeps its upper limit.
Genre — optional.

If any guess is wrong, tap a different pill to override it. If a PDF has no detected scene headings, Nabu says so and offers Import and analyze. This does not prove the file has no scenes; older formatting or scanned pages may need a different source file.

The line above the details shows the scene count and the page count. If part of the file couldn't be brought in, a line says which part — for example "Nabu couldn’t bring in the Beat Board from this file. The script itself came through in full." An empty Beat Board, which Final Draft saves in every file, is not a problem and shows nothing.

When Nabu has recognized a screenplay, Import and analyze goes straight to the analysis — and so does a short you choose to Grow into a feature: nothing is spent working out what the file is. After analysis of a file Nabu didn't recognize, if Nabu is unsure of the type, it asks you to choose Treatment, Complete screenplay, Partial screenplay, Outline, or Idea before continuing. Your choice survives a refresh and takes priority over the suggestion.

Import options#

Import and analyze — Nabu analyzes it fully: genre and structure, a treatment and synopsis, sequences, characters and continuity, and story notes. This uses your plan.
Import only — Your script in the editor with scene numbers and a structure map. Free, instant, no AI. This option appears only for files Nabu confidently recognizes as screenplays.

Nisaba is your AI writing partner inside Nabu; she does the analysis work. See Meet Nisaba.

Short film or a feature?#

If your file's format is Short and you choose Import and analyze, an inline choice appears:

Develop as a short — keep it as a short and work on it as-is.
Grow into a feature — use the short as a starting point for a feature-length screenplay. Your original short is left untouched. During a quiet stretch the bar says Working... instead of a percentage.

Uses your plan: Import and analyze is part of the Pro plan and uses part of your plan; the card shows an estimate such as "Estimated N% of your plan — you pay actual usage." If your plan doesn't include it, the review screen says so before you import. Import only is always free.

What happens after you confirm#

For screenplays, Import and analyze first shows Preparing your screenplay… while it prepares the pages. Once the pages are ready, editing opens. Further analysis — structure, characters, story notes — can continue in the background.

A status banner sits at the top of your project page while the import runs. It updates in real time and disappears when finished. Only the person who started the import can cancel it.

For Import only, there's no banner — you land straight in a project with your scenes parsed and ready to edit.

From a treatment: Nabu keeps your text and prepares its section headings. Everything Nabu fills in, the genre and tone included, comes from your treatment, and unless you named the project, Nabu names it after your treatment. In the Treatment, Nisaba asks about what your document leaves open and offers answers back as edits for your approval; if it stops before its ending, she says so and suggests finishing it there. You can still finalize when you are ready.

From PDF: a speaker's printed name keeps its words, spelling and digits. Page and scene numbers in the margins are handled separately.

Years in headings or right-aligned story text stay in the script. Shouted words and a speech made only of punctuation stay with their speaker. Repeated pagination markers do not become extra action.

Clock times in headings keep their minutes, including when a PDF joins the heading and its scene number.

Nabu restores measured word gaps in fixed-width PDF text, including embedded fonts. A wrapped time phrase stays in its scene heading when its placement and the completed heading agree; a separate action paragraph stays separate.

If a PDF paints the same text twice in the same place, Nabu reads it once. Repeated letters and words printed in different places stay as written.

Names with an ordinal or a “+” joint cue stay attached to their speech, including side-by-side dialogue. A number that cannot be confirmed as page or scene numbering stays in the script.

Scene headings are recognized wherever the PDF prints them, including PDFs that print every line at one margin. PDFs that indent with spaces instead of margins keep their speakers and speech when the spacing can be measured. A centred line with no speech under it, such as a transition or a sound, is not read as a speaker. A stray dot or a page number at the top of a page does not become a scene.

Uppercase captions at the PDF's action margin stay as action. Right-aligned continuity and act or episode closing labels keep their words and transition formatting. Character cues at their own margin, including side-by-side speakers, stay attached to their speech.

Right-aligned presentation words such as LATER stay as action when they are outside the speaker margins. An uppercase action line separated from later prose by a blank line does not become an empty speech.

A long uppercase name directly above its dialogue keeps its full cue. A numbered heading read aloud as part of a speech stays with the speaker; it does not create another scene.

Centred titles and labels with nothing spoken under them, like THE END, OVERTURE or the film's title, stay as action text. The same words used as a character cue with speech stay with that speaker.

If a measured character cue has no dialogue beneath it, the import review names the cue and its PDF page: “Page 2 · MANDELLA: character cue with no dialogue beneath it.” The review shows up to five cues, then the number remaining. The cue stays in your script. You can confirm the import and fix it in the editor. Refreshing keeps the finding visible in the review. Centred titles kept as action have no finding.

Opening action or speech before your first scene heading stays at the beginning of the script, without an invented heading. An opening FADE IN: stays above your first scene. A speaker's cue stays with its speech, even when that cue repeats the title. Explicit title-page fields remain separate, including a title and credits printed at the top of the first page. If no scene headings are found, Nabu keeps the script in one untitled scene and includes an import warning. Repeating page headers and footers stay out of the screenplay text, including headers whose page number is joined to the title and author or labelled “pg.”.

From Final Draft: the cards on your Outline 2 row become your sequences, over the scenes they sit above. A card on Outline 1 named after a story beat marks that beat. Cards past your written pages stay in the file and go back to Final Draft when you export. A target length you set in Final Draft fills Target length.

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.

For a partial screenplay, Nabu maps only the pages you've written and leaves the rest of the structure open. Your target length stays separate from the imported page count.

What each control does#

Dropzone — drag a file here, or click to browse. Shows the chosen file's name and size before you upload.
Type pills — sets what the file is (Treatment, Complete screenplay, Partial screenplay, Outline, Idea).
Format pills — sets the shape of the work (Feature, Short, TV Pilot, TV Episode, Web, Vertical).
Target length slider — sets your intended page count.
Genre — optional genre for the project.
Import and analyze / Import only — choose whether Nabu analyzes the file or just parses it.
Import — builds the project with your chosen settings.
Cancel — closes the review and cancels the upload.
Cancel Import (on the status banner) — stops an import you started.

If an import cannot be completed, its status says Your import could not be completed.

Good to know#

Closing the review 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 — it doesn't just hide the screen.
It survives a refresh. Once a file is uploaded, if you refresh or come back later, the review picks up where it left off.
Your changes are kept. If Nabu reads the pages again after you have changed your treatment, direction, premise and theme, or story map, it keeps yours and asks once whether to update them to match the pages.
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.