# FDX > Final Draft’s native XML format — still the file many coordinators, studios, and production tools expect. Inkwell imports and exports FDX so a Plot draft can enter and leave a Final Draft workflow without rewriting by hand. Also known as Final Draft, .fdx ## In practice FDX is a handoff format, not a reason to stay locked inside one app forever. Many coordinators, studios, and production tools still expect Final Draft's XML on delivery day. Inkwell imports and exports FDX so a Plot draft can enter and leave that workflow without rewriting the script by hand. On import, standard scene headings, cues, dialogue, and common elements map into Plot's structured types. Edge cases should surface as warnings rather than silent drops — review them before you keep drafting so you are not surprised later when a dual-dialogue block or title page field needs a quick fix. Export back when the next person still lives in Final Draft. Edit where your history and review passes live; treat FDX as the exchange format that keeps production conversations unblocked when someone else needs that familiar file type. ## See it formatted - [How to format dual dialogue in a screenplay](https://www.inkwell.software/resources/screenplay-formatting/dual-dialogue-and-overlapping-dialogue): Format two characters speaking at once, create dual dialogue in Inkwell Plot or Final Draft, and decide when an interruption works better as stacked dialogue. [Inkwell vs Final Draft](https://www.inkwell.software/compare/final-draft) ## Common questions ### Will I lose formatting when I import FDX into Plot? Standard scene headings, cues, dialogue, and common elements map into Plot's structured types. Edge cases surface as import warnings rather than silent drops — review them before you keep writing. ### Can I export back to Final Draft later? Yes. Export FDX to return a structured draft to a Final Draft-centric pipeline when production asks for it. ### Should I keep editing in FDX or in Plot? Edit where your history and collaboration live. If you want named save points and reviewable skill passes, keep the canonical draft in Plot and treat FDX as an exchange format. ### Is FDX the same as a PDF? No. PDF is for reading and printing a page image. FDX is Final Draft's structured XML, which production tools can open and edit as a screenplay file. ## Related terms - [Fountain](https://www.inkwell.software/glossary/fountain): An open, plain-text markup for screenplays. Light conventions — scene headings, character cues, dialogue — keep the file readable in any text editor while still carrying structure. In Plot you write normally; Inkwell understands the structure as you type. - [Locked script](https://www.inkwell.software/glossary/locked-script): A shooting draft whose page and scene numbers are frozen so every department shares one numbering scheme. After lock, changes become marked revisions instead of silently reshuffling the whole script. - [Revision colors](https://www.inkwell.software/glossary/revision-colours): The industry color sequence (white, blue, pink, yellow, and onward) used to mark each revision pass on a locked shooting script so the set knows which pages are current. - [WGA-compliant screenplay formatting](https://www.inkwell.software/glossary/wga-formatting): Professional screenplay layout that conforms to WGA and industry submission conventions — familiar margins, element spacing, pagination, and production behavior that let readers focus on the story. - [Read the pillar guide](https://www.inkwell.software/learn/fdx-handoff): A longer guide for this workflow --- Canonical page: