Continue writing

Where the cursor sits matters. At the end of a block, ⏎ Enter continues the writing flow. In the middle of text, it splits the text at the cursor.

Move to the next part of the script

1. Finish We should go. in a Dialogue block.
2. Press ⏎ Enter at the end of the text.
3. With the default settings, the next block is Character. Enter Alex.
4. Press ⏎ Enter and write Give me a moment. in the new Dialogue block.

These are the default transitions when you press ⏎ Enter at the end of a nonempty block:

Current type	Next type
Scene	Stage direction
Stage direction	Character
Character	Dialogue
Dialogue	Character
Aside	Dialogue
Lyrics	Lyrics
Notes	Stage direction

To change these transitions, see Customize your writing flow. The editor follows your next-block settings. An Aside within a sung passage resumes Lyrics.

Continue the same speech

At the end of a nonempty Dialogue block, press ⇧ Shift + ⏎ Enter. The next block is also Dialogue, ready for another part of the same speaker’s speech.

For example, continue We should go. with Before they find us. without adding another speaker name. This creates a separate Dialogue block; it is not a line break inside the existing block. In Lyrics, the same combination continues with another Lyrics block.

Split text you have already written

Place the cursor between Before they and find us. in a Dialogue block, then press ⏎ Enter. The text after the cursor moves into another Dialogue block, and the cursor starts there.

This preserves the type when splitting ordinary writing blocks in the middle. A Scene heading is different: its trailing text moves into the configured next type, rather than becoming another scene heading.

If text is selected when you press ⏎ Enter, the selection is replaced as part of the operation. Collapse the selection first when you want to keep all the text.

Choose what to write in an empty block

In an empty Scene, Stage direction or Character block, press ⏎ Enter to open the compact type chooser.

• Choose Scene, Stage direction or Character to use that type for the empty block.
• From the keyboard, use ← Arrow left or → Arrow right to select a different type, then ⏎ Enter to apply it.
• Press Esc to close the chooser and keep the current block.

If you keep the current type selected and press ⏎ Enter again, the editor inserts another empty block of that type. Clicking its current-type button instead closes the chooser without inserting a block.

An empty Dialogue, Lyrics or Aside block behaves differently: ⏎ Enter changes it to Character, ready for another speaker. It does not open this chooser.

Related tasks

• Insert an Aside between parts of a speech.
• Choose a type directly from the toolbar.