Final Draft 12 Arrives with Improved Beat Boards and Outline Elements

Final Draft 12 is here with modest updates allowing screenwriters to conjure new story ideas through improved beat boards, new outline elements, and enhanced ScriptNotes.

Since the major changes more impact the story development tools from Final Draft 11, the company is allowing customers who purchased FD 11 after February 15, 2021, to upgrade to Final Draft 12 for free. 

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Beat BoardsCredit: Final Draft

With the updated beat boards, the software gives you unlimited space to organize your thoughts how you see fit. You can plan set pieces and store character research, plot points, or location ideas. The boards allow you to stylize the text and images and connect beats using Flow Lines, similar to any flow chart outline. You can also color code the boards, spell check them, or send beats directly to the script to access. 

Outline EditorCredit: Final Draft

The outline editor is where you can transfer your beat board for further expansion, while outline elements allow you to send your outline to script. Unique indents allow for planning structure on multiple levels, and you can adjust the size of beats in the outline editor to see a bird's eye view of the work. Additionally, ScriptNotes now appear as flags on the page where you can click the flag to open and edit the notes in a popover. Popovers now sync to ScriptNotes in the navigator. 

Final Draft 12 has also added the ability to import PDFs that can be fully edited and reformatted, among several other updates. You can check out the full list of changes here. 

If you already own Final Draft 11, you're in good hands, especially with the new night mode and speech-to-script function. If you'd like to try out Final Draft 12, there is a 60-day trial available. That's plenty of time to get started writing your first draft with the help of our How to Write a Screenplay eBook. 

To upgrade from a previous version, Final Draft is offering a special price of $79 through a digital download. If you're new to Final Draft, they have educational options for $99 and a non-educational option for $199. 

You can find more about Final Draft 12 here.