My Final Draft File is Too Big to Email

Even .fdx files can't say no to a $14 studio lunch

Final Draft tech support ends at 5:30 pm PT. Which guarantees that, when you have a Final Draft file mysteriously exceeding Gmail's 15MB file limit, it'll be at 5:31...or any time in the 15-hour window when Final Draft doesn't offer tech support. But the script (and more importantly, your showrunner) doesn't care what time it is and it needs to be published in time for tomorrow's shoot. If you want to keep moving ahead with the distro, it's important to understand why file boat happens and, more importantly, how to fix it.

File Corruption

A bloated file is evidence of file corruption. Final Draft's official position is "over time, any computer file can become damaged." If all computer files are equally likely to become damaged, than Final Draft files are saved in a quantum time-accelerated state that, to us 4th-dimensional-dependent mortals, makes it seem like .fdx files are more prone to corruption.

What is File Corruption?

File corruption and file bloat are not dissimilar to a malignant tumor. If Final Draft doesn't recognize a piece of code (either something that was copied and pasted into it from another program or a different version of Final Draft), it puts more code around it to try and decipher how to process it. Every time the file is saved, that code grows until the file is so bloated that it can't be sent or Final Draft takes too long (or too much processing power) to open it.

Cleaning Up a Corrupt .fdx File

The Official Final Draft Solution

Final Draft's solution for fixing a corrupted file instructs you to File > Export Script. Under File Format, click "Plain Text Format (*.txt) and save with a new file name.

Close your current file, then go to File > Open and click the new plain text file. You'll be prompted to select whether you want it opened as Text or Script. Choose script. Then, despair at the amount of work now ahead of you. This method

• loses all revision history

• removes the option to unomit formerly omitted scenes

• erases the title page and headers

• uncheats any cheated margins

• deletes custom formatting

• spits on the graves of your ancestors

This is an unwelcome situation, but if you're unable to wait till tech support reopens, this may be your only option. You'll need to reactive Revision Mode and manually Mark Revised (⌘]) all the revisions that would appear in the corrupted file.

This may result in a side-by-side printout of the corrupted script and the rebuilt script - the two should ultimately look identical in every way.

The Unofficial Solution

Final Draft is a compiler: it reads the code in the file and uses the instructions to create the environment and living script you interact with. Which means you can bypass Final Draft and access the code directly and quite simply. Create a copy of your .fdx. Then, right click or Ctrl+click on the new file, select Open With, then Text Edit.

The code might look intimidating but it's relatively straightforward. You can see above that <Text> describes the text in each <Paragraph> and the <Paragraph Types> describe the elements (eg: action, dialogue, etc.). The / symbol is used to end that line of code. Code that reads

<Paragraph Type="Action">

<Text>Sasha lies in bed, writing in her notebook. Sherlock enters from the bathroom, donning only a towel, and slips under the covers next to her.</Text>

</Paragraph>

looks like

It's relatively straightforward. Corrupted files, however, often contain characters that shouldn't show up in a screenplay, like the pi symbol (π), repeating lines of <Paragraph> </Paragraph> (eg: a paragraph with no text in it), or an embedded image <Picture Id=> it can no longer find.

Those are places to start (and can be searched for in Text Edit with ⌘+F), but without being overly familiar with Final Draft's code, it's hard to identify what's out of place.

But generally, if you see something that looks like absolute garbage, it probably is.

The Best Solution: Wait Until 8:30 am PT

Beg. Plead. Do whatever it takes to convince your boss to wait until Final Draft's tech support opens. They generally have the ability to perform the Unofficial Solution above but officially.