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Screenplay formatting#

How Nabu turns what you type into proper screenplay format — without you having to think about margins, indents, or where a line is supposed to sit.

A screenplay is built from a small set of line types: scene headings, action, character names, dialogue, and a few others. You type the way the scene plays in your head, and the page formats itself. This page explains what those line types are, how Nabu picks the right one for you, and how to choose one by hand when you want to.

Tip: Type INT. to begin a scene, type a name in ALL CAPS to start a character speaking, and watch the page take care of the rest.

The building blocks#

Every line in your script is one of these element types:

  • Scene Heading — the slugline that opens a scene, like INT. KITCHEN - DAY.
  • Action — what's happening on screen. Plain description, flush to the left margin. This is the default.
  • Character — the name of whoever is about to speak, centered and in capitals (like MAYA).
  • Dialogue — the words a character says, indented under their name.
  • Parenthetical — a short (beat) or (whispering) between a character's name and their line.
  • Transition — a cut between scenes, like CUT TO:, at the right margin.
  • Note — an annotation for yourself. Notes show in the editor but not in your exported PDF; a Fountain export includes them as [[notes]].

There are a few more specialized kinds — centered text, song lyrics, section headings, and synopsis lines — but the seven above are the ones you'll use constantly.

Writing a scene, step by step#

  1. Start the scene. Type INT. or EXT. at the start of a fresh line. Nabu turns that line into a Scene Heading and helps you finish it — offering prefixes, locations from this script's scene headings, and a time of day.
  2. Describe the action. Press Enter. Nabu drops you onto an Action line. Write what's happening.
  3. Bring in a character. Type a name in ALL CAPS — MAYA — and Nabu recognizes it as a Character cue and centers it.
  4. Write the line. Press Enter. Nabu moves you to a Dialogue line under the character's name.
  5. Add a beat if you want one. Press Tab from the character's name to drop into a Parenthetical, type it, and press Enter to land back on Dialogue.
  6. Keep going. Press Enter after dialogue to move to Action, or type another character's name in ALL CAPS to start their line.

How Nabu picks the element for you#

As you type, Nabu watches the line and converts it to the right element automatically:

  • Typing INT., EXT., INT./EXT., INT/EXT, or I/E at the start of an action line turns it into a Scene Heading.
  • Typing a line in ALL CAPS (two or more letters) inside an action block turns it into a Character cue.
  • Typing a standard transition like CUT TO: or DISSOLVE TO: turns the line into a Transition.
  • Typing an opening ( at the start of a dialogue line turns it into a Parenthetical.

You can always override the type if Nabu guesses wrong; see the next two sections.

Moving between elements with Enter and Tab#

Enter moves you to the next element in the natural flow:

  • From a Scene Heading, Enter drops you into Action.
  • From a Character cue, Enter moves you to Dialogue.
  • From a Parenthetical, Enter moves you to Dialogue.
  • From a Transition, Enter starts a new Scene Heading.
  • From a line of Dialogue, Enter starts an Action line — unless the line is empty, in which case an element picker appears.
  • From a line of Action, Enter starts another action line — unless it's empty, in which case the element picker appears.

Tab cycles the type of the current line:

  • On an Action line, Tab turns it into a Character cue.
  • On a Character cue, Tab moves you to a Parenthetical. On an empty Character cue, Tab turns it into a Transition.
  • On a Dialogue line, Tab moves you to a Parenthetical.
  • On a Parenthetical, Tab moves to Dialogue.
  • On a Transition, Tab starts a Scene Heading.

Shift+Tab steps back on action, character, dialogue, and parenthetical lines. On a Scene Heading, Tab walks you through the prefix, location, and time-of-day menus until the heading is complete, then lets you move on.

Tip: Tab on an empty line changes that line's type in place. Tab on a line that already has text splits it and starts a new line of the type you're cycling to, below.

The element picker#

Press Enter on an empty line and a small popup appears. (The exception is lines inside dual dialogue, which follow the normal Enter flow.) Type a single letter to choose what comes next:

  • s — Scene Heading
  • a — Action
  • c — Character
  • p — Parenthetical
  • d — Dialogue
  • t — Transition
  • n — Note

The popup also shows each element's ⌘1–⌘6 shortcut. You can use ↑ and ↓ to move through the list and Enter to pick, or press Esc to dismiss it.

Note: There is no "/" slash menu in the editor. Reach for the element picker, the Tab cycle, or the toolbar buttons instead.

Automatic uppercasing#

  • Character cues are uppercased automatically. Type maya in a cue and it becomes MAYA.
  • Locations in scene headings are uppercased the same way.

To toggle a heading or cue between caps and lowercase, select the text (or put your cursor in the line) and press Cmd+K (or Ctrl+K on Windows and Linux).

Note: Nabu does not do "smart quotes" or other typographic auto-replacement. Capitalization of cues and locations is the only automatic text change.

Nabu can export Fountain#

When you export your script, one of the formats available is Fountain — a widely-used plain-text standard for screenplays. You never have to learn it; the visual editor is the format. Nabu generates the Fountain version when you export.

Good to know#

  • The page paginates for real. Page breaks aren't guessed at fixed intervals — Nabu measures your script the way a printed page would. Page one never shows a page number, by screenplay convention.
  • Pasting cleans itself up. The editor only accepts screenplay element types, so pasted formatting is stripped and the text lands as clean screenplay lines.
  • The element buttons are in the toolbar too. The toolbar has buttons for Scene Heading, Action, Character, Parenthetical, Dialogue, and Transition. Click one to set the current line's type; the active type is highlighted.