Index Cards
A visual card-based view of your scenes for big-picture planning.
What Are Index Cards?
Index Cards show each scene in your screenplay as a visual card, similar to how screenwriters traditionally pin index cards on a corkboard. Each card displays the scene heading and an optional synopsis.
Opening Index Cards
Open Index Cards from View > Index Cards. The cards appear in a panel alongside (or instead of) the editor.
Working with Scene Cards
Each card shows:
- Scene heading — The location and time (e.g., "INT. OFFICE - NIGHT")
- Synopsis — A brief summary of what happens in the scene
Adding a Synopsis
Click on a card's synopsis area to type a brief description of the scene. Synopses help you see your story at a glance without reading the full script. They are not included in the screenplay itself — they're for your planning purposes only.
Reordering Scenes
One of the most powerful features of Index Cards is drag-and-drop scene reordering:
- Click and hold a card.
- Drag it to a new position in the card grid.
- Release to drop it. The scene (including all its content) moves to the new position in your screenplay.
Note: Reordering scenes in Index Cards moves the actual scene content in your screenplay. This is a real change to your script. If you want to undo it, press ⌘Z.
Fullscreen Mode
Click the fullscreen toggle to expand Index Cards to fill the entire window. This gives you a distraction-free view of your story structure, much like a physical corkboard.
Common Use Cases
- Story outlining — Write scene headings and synopses before fleshing out the full script.
- Restructuring — Drag cards around to experiment with scene order without manually cutting and pasting.
- Overview — Get a bird's eye view of your entire script to spot pacing issues.
- Pitching — Use the fullscreen card view to walk through your story visually.