Preferences / Settings are settings that control the way in which many Final Draft features operate. Settings are saved between sessions.
To set Preferences / Settings
- Choose Final Draft 13 > Preferences / Settings and the dialogue appears, open to the General tab;
- Click the desired tab and make any changes;
- Click OK to apply the settings.
The three tabs are:
- General
- Auto-Save / Backup
- Format Assistant
General Tab
The first tab of the Preferences dialogue is for general application preferences:
General
Speech Commands
Enables / disables speech commands. See Edit > Start Dictation.
Scroll keys mimic MS Word
Enables / disables the option to make keyboard navigation and scrolling functions consistent with Microsoft Word conventions rather than macOS conventions.
Capitalize first word of a sentence
Enables / disables the automatic capitalization of the first letter of the first word of new sentences.
Automatically Check for Updates
Enables / disables the option to connect to an online service that determines if the installed version of Final Draft 13 can be updated. If a newer version is available, it can be downloaded for free.
Recent Items
Sets the number of recently-used documents offered by the Welcome to Final Draft screen that appears when the program is opened.
Track Writing Stats
Enables / disables recording of pages written / session times over a selected period of time. The data collected can be seen only by the user (unless the user decides to share them). See Writing Stats for more information.
Beat Board: Create Flow Lines via Drag/Drop
Enables / disables the creation of flow lines between Beats on the Beat Board by dropping one on top of another. See Flow Lines.
Appearance
System sets Final Draft's color scheme to be controlled by the operating system's. For example, if the computer is set to switch to Dark Mode at a certain time of day, Final Draft will switch to a dark mode at that time as well.
Day Mode sets Final Draft's color scheme to black text and markings on a white page and a white background behind the Toolbar:
Night Mode sets Final Draft's color scheme to white text and markings on a dark grey page and a black background behind the Toolbar:
Midnight Mode sets Final Draft's color scheme to white text and markings on an almost-black page and a black background behind the Toolbar:
System / Day / Night / Midnight mode may be also be selected with the icon in the Status bar at the bottom of the application window:
For more information read "How do I customize the appearance?"
Zoom – Disable Trackpad Zooming
Check this box to eliminate unintended zooming if the trackpad is touched accidentally. Checking this box has no impact on zooming through other means. For more information read "How do I modify the window and document display?"
Writer
Enter the name to be used for Track Changes. From the color picker, choose a color to be associated with this writer for Track Changes and collaboration.
Auto-Save / Backup Tab
Auto-Save Every
Check this box to have Final Draft automatically save open documents at a time interval specified. Defaults are On and 15 minutes.
To change the Auto-Save time interval, select a different number of minutes from the Auto-Save Every dropdown.
Ask Before Auto-Save
Check this box to have Final Draft display a confirmation message before it automatically saves the open document.
If changes have been made to the open document since the last time it was saved, and the Ask Before Option is checked, a confirmation message appears before Final Draft saves the document:
If multiple documents with unsaved changed are open, a prompt to save N documents appears:
To save, click Save.
To not save at this time, click Don't Save.
To continue to Auto-Save automatically, check Do not ask me this again but keep Auto-Save on.
To disable Auto Save, check Turn Auto-Save off.
Auto-Backup Enabled
Check this box to have Final Draft automatically create a backup copy of a document every time it saves. The maximum number of backup copies Final Draft keeps in the backup folder can be set here and the location of the backup folder may be changed. This can be on the local hard drive or, better yet, an external storage device.
When Final Draft creates a backup copy it is named [date] [time] [filename].fdx. For example, if a script named Tangle & Moss is saved on December 31, 2024, at 1:37pm, the backup is named 2024121337 Tangle & Moss.fdx.
Backup Folder File Count
To change the maximum number of copies Final Draft saves to the backup folder, enter a number in Backup Folder File Count (default is 1000; maximum is 10,000).
After the maximum number of backups are saved, the oldest backup will be deleted at the moment a new backup is created.
Open Backup Folder
Click this button to access the backup script files.
Select New Folder
Choose this option to move or rename the backup folder. For example, Final Draft can be set to save backups to a cloud storage synch folder or another hard drive.
To change the location of the backup folder
- Outside of Final Draft, create the new backup folder in the desired directory or storage device and give it an appropriate name (such as Final Draft Backups);
- In Final Draft, go to the Final Draft menu and choose Preferences;
- Select the Auto-Save/Backup tab;
- Click Select New Folder button;
- Navigate to the new backup folder that has been created;
- Select the new backup folder and click Open;
- The path to the new backup folder will be displayed.
For more information on auto-save and backing up your files watch the following video:
Format Assistant Tab
The third tab of the Preferences dialogue is the Format Assistant preferences. See Format Assistant for details.
These options determine whether and / or how to use the Format Assistant before printing.
Scan for formatting errors before printing
Check this box to have Format Assistant check scripts before they are printed.
Always ask me before printing
Check this box to have Final Draft ask whether a script is to be scanned for formatting errors before printing.
For more information on Format Assistant watch the following video: