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Revision tracking in Inkwell helps you mark script changes for production, rewrites, or collaboration. This guide covers revision marks, color coding, and exporting revised drafts.

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What are revisions?

In professional screenwriting, revisions indicate which lines have changed between drafts. Productions use revision marks to:
  • Track script changes during shooting.
  • Identify new dialogue or scenes.
  • Coordinate updates across departments (actors, crew, etc.).
Inkwell’s revision system follows industry standards, making your scripts production-ready.

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Enabling Revision Mode

Before you can mark revisions, you need to enable Revision Mode:

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Toggle Revision Mode

  • Menu Bar: Select Revision → Show Revision Mode (toggle on/off).
  • Keyboard Shortcut: Press Cmd+Opt+R.

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Choose Your Revision Color (Generation)

Inkwell offers 9 industry-standard revision generations:
  1. Blue (1st revision) — marker: * (Shortcut: Cmd+Opt+1)
  2. Pink (2nd revision) — marker: ** (Shortcut: Cmd+Opt+2)
  3. Yellow (3rd revision) — marker: *** (Shortcut: Cmd+Opt+3)
  4. Green (4th revision) — marker: **** (Shortcut: Cmd+Opt+4)
  5. Goldenrod (5th revision) — marker: ***** (Shortcut: Cmd+Opt+5)
  6. Buff (6th revision) — marker: ****** (Shortcut: Cmd+Opt+6)
  7. Salmon (7th revision) — marker: ******* (Shortcut: Cmd+Opt+7)
  8. Cherry (8th revision) — marker: ******** (Shortcut: Cmd+Opt+8)
  9. Tan (9th revision) — marker: ********* (Shortcut: Cmd+Opt+9)
To change colors:
  • Click the pencil icon in the window header toolbar (top-right) and select a color swatch.
  • Use the Revision → Generation menu.
  • Press Cmd+Opt+G to automatically advance to the next generation (color) in the sequence.

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Revision basics

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How revisions work

Marked lines appear with:
  • Colored highlights behind the text in the editor.
  • Colored page stripes on the ScrollMap.
  • Asterisks in the right margin when exported to PDF or printed (e.g. * for Blue, ** for Pink).

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Automatic vs Manual Marking

Automatic (Revision Mode ON):
  • Any typing edits or additions are automatically marked with the active revision color.
  • Deletions are tracked invisibly so they can be finalized.
Manual Selection:
  • Select any existing text in the editor.
  • Select Revision → Mark Selection to apply the current revision color manually.
  • Select Revision → Clear Selection to remove revision tracking from the highlighted text.
  • Previous Revision (Cmd+Opt+[): Jump the cursor backward to the previous revision block in the script.
  • Next Revision (Cmd+Opt+]): Jump the cursor forward to the next revision block.

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Committing and clearing revisions

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Commit Current Generation

Once a revision pass is finalized and distributed, you can lock those edits:
  • Select Revision → Commit Current Generation.
  • This commits all additions and deletes any marked text from the current revision color level, preparing the script for the next draft color.

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Clear All Revisions

To strip all revision tracking data completely and start fresh:
  • Select Revision → Clear All Revisions.
Clearing revisions is permanent. Make sure you have exported a backup PDF or FDX file if you need to reference those change marks later.

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Exporting & Importing revisions

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Export to PDF with revisions

  1. Press Cmd+P or select File → Print Preview.
  2. Click Export PDF.
  3. In the PDF settings sheet, make sure Include Revision Markers is checked.
  4. Your PDF will print with colored overlays and/or standard asterisks (*) in the right margin.

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Export to Final Draft (FDX)

Exporting your script via File → Export → Final Draft (.fdx) preserves all revision colors and levels so that other production team members can open the file in Final Draft with your change history intact.
Fountain plain-text exports strip revision formatting. Use PDF or FDX if you need to share a revised script.

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Common revision questions

No. In screenwriting, revision marks are tracked per line or paragraph element to ensure readability when printed on set.
After using all 9 colors (Blue through Tan), you can cycle back to Blue. However, if you are past revision 9, it is standard practice to commit all changes and establish a new “White” script baseline.

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Next steps

Exporting files

Save your revised script as PDF or Final Draft

Formatting basics

Master Fountain syntax and screenplay elements

Navigation & productivity

Speed up writing with shortcuts and tools