Word import brings your writing into Plot's editing styles. It does not reproduce the Word page design. Use the preview and Changes to review to check the parts that matter before creating the project.
What carries overLink to this section
| In the Word file | In Plot |
|---|---|
| Paragraphs and headings | Editable prose, with supported heading levels |
| Bold, italic, underline, strike | Supported emphasis, including inherited Word styles |
| Bulleted and numbered lists | Editable nested lists, including supported starting numbers and restarts. Outline levels, including Word's List Number 2 and 3 styles, number 1, a, i |
| Title and Subtitle styles | The document's top headings |
| Left, center, right, and justified paragraphs | Paragraph and heading alignment |
| Hyperlinks | Readable label and address; live Word link behavior does not carry over |
| Tables | Cell text in reading order, with a warning that the table layout is flattened |
| Tracked changes | Current text: insertions included, deletions left out |
| Word fields | Their saved display text; automatic field updates do not carry over |
| Text boxes | Editable text after the paragraph that anchors the box, marked “Text box”; floating placement and shape styling do not carry over |
| Footnotes and endnotes | Reference markers stay in the text; referenced note bodies appear after the main writing, in order of first reference |
| Fonts, sizes, colors, highlights, and page layout | Plot styling, with warnings for changed formatting |
| Images and embedded objects | Omitted, with warnings |
| Comments | Notes after the text they're on, with the commenter's name |
| Scene Heading, Character, and Dialogue styles in a treatment | Scenes where they stand, with the treatment around them still prose |
| Headers, footers, and page numbers | Omitted, with warnings |
Keep the Word original if its page design or embedded media is part of the handoff. A script written in Word can come in as screenplay pages instead of prose; Plot then sets the pages itself, so Word's page breaks and (MORE) lines are left out.
Choose the handoffLink to this section
| Format | Best use | What to check |
|---|---|---|
| A readable treatment, mixed draft, or finished script | Prose uses Plot's typography; script uses screenplay typography. Review the resulting pages, lists, and headings rather than expecting Word's pagination | |
| Word (.docx) for a treatment, notes, or outline | A document someone will edit in Word, Google Docs, or Pages | Headings, lists, emphasis, and alignment use Word's own styles and numbering, and notes become Word comments. Scenes written into a treatment keep their screenplay layout in named Word styles, so importing the file again brings them back as scenes. |
| Word (.docx) for a script | A reader who works in Word, Google Docs, or Pages | Laid out like Plot's script page, title page included. Notes are left out, as in a PDF. For a production office, send Final Draft. |
| Final Draft (.fdx) | A screenplay handoff to another screenwriting tool | Prose formatting and native lists are converted to the text structures the destination supports; this is not a Word formatting round trip |
| Fountain | A portable plain-text screenplay copy | Lists can become visible text markers; Word layout and prose alignment are not plain-text formatting |
Text you keep as a note during conversion doesn't print, so check the export before you send it to a reader.
Symbols in a script PDFLink to this section
Script pages print in a typewriter font with fewer symbols than prose pages. A symbol that exports fine in a treatment can stop the PDF once that passage becomes script, and Plot names the symbols it can't print rather than leaving a gap on the page. Replace them, or export to Final Draft or Fountain.
For the export controls and save-point selection, see Export PDF, FDX, and Fountain.