Final Draft 7 Professional Scriptwriting Win/Mac

The only new feature that interested me was the outline view, but in practise it's stupid. Most of the time it's impossible to navigate a script by sluglines alone, and the result is more wasted time.

Steer clear of this product.


Warning: Wait Until They Fix It   May 12, 2004
 8 out of 13 found this review helpful

I've used Final Draft for Macintosh since Version 5. It's always been a touch cranky but well worth the trouble. This is no longer the case with version 7.0 (and the upgrade to 7.0.0.33 seems to have made things worse). Cursor position is unstable, that is you probably aren't entering text where you think you are. Randomly, selected text refuses to unselect. Parentheticals won't allow you to move the cursor to the next block of dialog. Smart type "forgets" character names and locations, et cetera. As is, this program is unusable and repeated e-mails to the publisher have gone unanswered.

I hope they fix the problems, until they do I've gone back to version 6, and I'm out the cost of the upgrade.


Buggy software   May 8, 2004
 10 out of 15 found this review helpful

I like and have used FD for years (versions 3 through 6) both on Windows and Mac (5 & 6 Windows only). It has the best layout of any of the major script softwares on the market (I've tried 5 top ones). Having said that, I always found it somewhat buggy, but I put up with it for the sake of the layout. But version 7 is just a disgrace. I would much rather they focused on getting the bugs out than adding more useless features I'll never use. It is now just bloatware, and extremely buggy. I'm boycotting FD until they get the COUNTLESS bugs out (spellcheking that won't "take" after my correction are a particular bugaboo). I guess the FD people find themselves in a bind - they need to generate sales, but unfortunately have no idea how to improve the software - guess what: most of us just need the basics, so unless you really deliver something useful, it is easy to ignore the "new versions". My advice to them: start with taking the COUNTLESS bugs out.


Another writer back to using V6   April 26, 2004
 29 out of 42 found this review helpful

The people at Final Draft really should have worked out all the bugs in Version 7.0 before releasing it to the public. I've used Final Draft for years and this new version is the first that has actually crashed my computer just trying to use it. Go To has problems, as does Index Cards, and even Spell Check doesn't perform properly for me. It doesn't even fix the spelling of the word after I've approved the change. Like the other writers here, I have returned to Version 6 until Final Draft gets the bugs out of this new version. So far, a complete waste of time and money. In this case, newer does not mean better. Stick with V6 if you want to get any work done!


Aren't Newer Versions Supposed To Be Better?   April 23, 2004
 67 out of 83 found this review helpful

I've been using Final Draft for a number of years now, back to version 4.X, and always liked it. Version 6 has been a real winner, with a few annoying quirks. When given an opportunity to upgrade to version 7, I thought, "Great, I'll do it." I'm sorry I did. FD7 may turn out to be a good update to a good program, but as it is now it shouldn't have been released. Just a couple examples -- when I switch to the index card view, I get a screen full of blank index cards, even though I'm many pages into my script. What gives? It's much less convenient to access Scene Navigator and Index Cards in FD7, and as another reviewer wrote, the Go To function doesn't work properly. What a disappointment. So now I'm back to using FD6, which is so much better. I'll be on the lookout for updates that might make FD7 at least usable, but until then I'll stick with FD6. You should do the same.