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Create your first project

Start writing in Plot from a blank page, a starter template, a Final Draft or Fountain script, or a Word document, and find it again on the projects page.

2 min readUpdated

A project holds one screenplay and everything that grows around it: its save points, its draft lines, its notes, and the results of every skill you run. Your projects page lists them all, most recently edited first.

The writing can start before it is a screenplay. Import a Word treatment, or work with prose and scenes together as you develop an idea into a script.

Your projects

The projects page — each card is one screenplay, with its last edit and a New project card at the end.

  1. Open the projects page

    Sign in and you land on Your projects. If you already have projects, press / to jump to the search box and find one by title.

  2. Choose New project

    Select New project. A dialog asks how you want to begin and what to call it.

    The new-project dialog: choose where to start (1), give the project a title (2), pick its format (3), and create it (4).
    The new-project dialog: choose where to start (1), give the project a title (2), pick its format (3), and create it (4).
  3. Pick a starting point

    Choose Blank project to start from an empty page, Learn Inkwell for a short script that walks you through the features, or a starter: Short Film for a contained short with a complete scene sequence, or Stage Play for a playable one-act. A starter is an ordinary project you can rewrite or delete, and it sets its own format. For a blank project, the Format menu below the title sets what you are writing — a screenplay unless you change it. To start from a Final Draft (.fdx) or Fountain file instead, use Import beside New project on the projects page — see Import a Final Draft file.

  4. Create and start writing

    Confirm. The editor opens on your new project with the first scene ready to type into. Your project title sits in the header; select it later to rename.

What next

  • Import a Word document into Plot

    Bring a .docx treatment, outline, or idea document into a new Plot project, review the formatting changes, and begin with editable prose.

    How-to · 1 min read

  • Your document's journey from idea to script

    Understand the stage beside your writing, choose a mode that suits the draft, and keep prose and scenes together as your story develops.

    Concept · 2 min read

  • Import a Final Draft file

    Bring an .fdx or Fountain file into Plot with scene headings, characters, and dialogue intact, and read the import report before you write.

    How-to · 1 min read

  • Write your first scene

    Type a scene heading, move between screenplay elements with Tab, accept a ghost-text suggestion, and reach any command from the palette.

    How-to · 1 min read

  • Plans and quotas

    Every plan's limits — projects, draft lines, save points, skill runs, completions, collaborators, share links, storage, and export formats.

    Reference · 1 min read

What writers have asked about this — open the request to follow it.