Import a Word Document into Plot

Import a Word document from the projects page to start a new Plot project with editable paragraphs, headings, lists, and emphasis. A script written in Word can come in as screenplay pages instead, with its scene headings, characters, dialogue, and title page in place.

1. 1

   Save your source as .docx

   Use Word's .docx format. For an older .doc file, save a .docx copy first. From Google Docs, download a Microsoft Word .docx copy. Keep the source file for its original page layout and any images.

2. 2

   Choose Import file on the projects page

   Select your file and give the new project a name. Each import starts a new project.

3. 3

   Choose a project format and starting mode

   A Word file starts as a Treatment, which exports to Word and PDF. A script written in Word starts as a Screenplay instead, which exports to Word laid out as Plot's script page, as well as to PDF, Final Draft and Fountain. Choose Series bible for a show's reference document, or a script format such as Screenplay if you already know where it's headed. Start writing in follows the format you choose: Treatment for a treatment or series bible, Freeform for a script format. Pick a different mode there if you'd rather start another way, and it stays picked when you change the format. You can change the mode later from the editor.

4. 4

   Review the import

   Choose Review import. Read the preview and Changes to review, especially if your document uses tables, images, fields, or page layout — Plot sets the text in its own typography. A long document's preview shows only the beginning; the whole document is imported. Choose Back to pick a different file or format, then review again.

   If your file reads like an outline — mostly headings and numbered points — Bring it in as offers two shapes, each previewed from your own file. Word document keeps the headings and numbered lists as they are in Word, numbered 1, a, i. Outline beats turns each list point into a beat you can reorder and develop, with the points under it as its beats. Word document is chosen unless you pick the other.

   If your file reads like a script — scene headings and speeches, whether set with Word's script styles, with indents and tabs, or typed flush left — Bring it in as offers Screenplay pages first, already chosen. Each scene heading, character, parenthetical, line of dialogue, and transition becomes that element, a title page before the first page break becomes the script's title page, and (MORE) and CONTINUED lines are left out because Plot sets the pages itself. Choose Word document to keep it as prose in a treatment instead.

5. 5

   Create the project and mark the starting version

   Choose Create project & open. Read through the imported writing, then use History to name a save point or tag a milestone such as “Imported treatment” before substantial restructuring. That gives you a version to compare or restore later.

   

Import into a project you already openedLink to this section

A blank screenplay, treatment, or series bible offers the same import on the page itself. On an empty screenplay, choose import a file in the “Already have pages?” line under the sample opening; it takes Word, PDF, Final Draft, and Fountain files. On an empty treatment or series bible, choose Import a Word document under the suggested outline. Either one replaces the empty draft and creates a save point. Import is also in the Import / Export menu in the editor toolbar.

If you choose an older Word (.doc), Rich Text (.rtf), OpenDocument (.odt), or Pages file, Plot tells you to save a .docx copy first. Open it in Word, Pages, or Google Docs, save or download it as Word (.docx), then import that copy.

Keep developing the draftLink to this section

Add prose, outline, and script sections, or check what Word formatting carries over. If your finished script is also available as FDX or Fountain, import that screenplay file so each element arrives exactly as your screenplay software marked it, with nothing left to Plot's reading of the page.