I was recently surprised when one of our professional users (LC, I'm looking at you) requested a 'new' feature: the ability to download boards as Word documents.
I wish I had a picture of what my face looked like as I tried to mentally process this feature request because downloading to Word has been part of WritersRoom Pro® since, literally, day one. That was the moment I realized I need to do a better job of letting our users know all the things WritersRoom Pro® can do; both the obvious features and the ones that are a bit more hidden.
So, without further ado, here's the first in a series of emails reminding you of some of the features you may have forgotten, as well as showing you some of the features you may not have realized are there.
Download to Word
Go to the TOOLS menu (the wrench icon)
Pull down to 'Download report...'
Choose the File Type, in this case choose .rtf which stands for Rich Text Format. It is a mostly universal format that Word opens easily.
Choose which Boards you'd like to download. All contents of the current board you're on is the default, however you can also choose to download 'All boards' which is a great way at the end of the day to generate a document with all changes on it from that day OR you can select which specific episodes to download from the current board you're on.
CLICK the 'Download Report' button and your .rtf file will be downloaded to the default download location you've set up in your browser. Most default to your Downloads folder unless you've changed it.
Open Word, select 'Open', and point it to the downloaded file. You're good to go!
Download to Final Draft
Go to the TOOLS menu (the wrench icon)
Pull down to 'Download report...'
Choose the File Type, in this case choose .txt becauseFinal Draft has an easier time working with .txt files.
Generally, you'll be in a specific episode to download to Final Draft, so stick with the default 'Current board (Episode)
CLICK the 'Download Report' button and your .txt file will be downloaded to the default download location you've chosen in your browser.
Open Final Draft, select 'Open', and point it to the downloaded .txt file. Final Draft will now ask you if you want to import it as a Text or a Script file. Choose 'Script'.
Final Draft will open the file as a script file and you're ready to get to work.
Did you know...
...that you can currently use Final Draft text formatting on your WritersRoom Pro cards using the TAB key?
No TAB with ALL CAPS is for Scene Headings.
No TAB with UPPER and LOWER case is for Action
THREE TABS is for Character name
TWO TABS is for Parenthetical
One TAB is for Dialog
By doing this, when you download your episode as a .txt file and then open it in Final Draft, your cards will be recognized properly by Final Draft and formatted correctly in the script file.
SPOILER ALERT - We are now in testing on both true Final Draft text entry on cards using all Final Draft macros and shortcuts as well as natively downloading your cards to the .fdx file format for easy entry into Final Draft. Look for this cool update coming next month.
That's it! Please reach out to us at support@writersroompro.com if there is a feature or function you'd like to see in WritersRoom Pro. And don't be surprised if it's already built in and just needs a Tips & Tricks email to shine some light on it.
