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Write with focus mode, goals, and sprints

These tools help you keep writing: a distraction-free view, a goal for the script, timed sprints, and a to-do list. The Statistics tab also shows which words you repeat and how dialogue splits by gender.

Use focus mode

Focus mode hides the menus, the side panel, and the project around the editor. Every line except the one you're writing fades, and that line stays at a comfortable height on the screen.

  • To turn focus mode on, click in the toolbar, choose View > Focus mode, or press ⌘+⇧+F.
  • To leave focus mode, press Escape, press ⌘+⇧+F again, or click at the top right.

The sprint timer and your goal stay at the top right while you write.

Set a writing goal

A goal belongs to the screenplay, so everyone working on it sees the same goal.

  1. Click the goal ring in the toolbar.
  2. In Goal, choose Pages, Words, or Words per day.
  3. Enter a Target, then click Save.

The ring fills as you get closer. Words per day counts the words added since you first opened the script that day. To remove the goal, choose No goal, then click Save.

Run a writing sprint

A sprint is a timed writing session that counts the words you add.

  1. Click in the toolbar.
  2. Click 15 min, 25 min, or 45 min, or enter your own length in Minutes and click Start.

While the sprint runs, the toolbar shows the time left and the words written so far. Click it to Pause, Resume, or Finish early, or Discard the sprint without saving it. When a sprint ends, it's added to Your sprints, which lists your recent sprints on this screenplay.

Keep a to-do list

The To-dos tab of the side panel is a checklist for the screenplay that everyone working on it shares.

  • Add a to-do: Enter it in New to-do, then click Add. To tie it to the scene you're in, select Link to current scene first.
  • Check off a to-do: Select its checkbox. Click Clear done to remove the finished ones.
  • Jump to a linked scene: Click the scene shown under the to-do.
  • Link, unlink, or delete: Click next to the to-do.

Check repeated words and dialogue by gender

Open the side panel, then click the Statistics tab.

  • Repeated words lists the words you use most often in action, dialogue, and parentheticals, leaving out common words and character names. Choose Whole script or Current scene. Click a word to jump to each place you use it.
  • Dialogue by gender shows how much of the dialogue each gender speaks, using the gender in each character's bible. It also counts the scenes where two or more women speak, the scenes with only one woman, and the scenes with none. Click one of these to jump to its scenes.

See also