Mac Screenwriter 6.7.0.33 "Alpha 19" - Read Me and Download Link

Updated: January 17, 2020

Alpha 19 is available.

Alpha 19 Overview:  

This alpha is a quick set of changes from the previous Alpha 18: It corrects a critical problem which could crash printing the title page if it contained foreign accented letters. Also, connected up the icon for opening the Title Page Publisher (lower left of editing window). Connected the View > Right Element Buttons option, so users can now hide those buttons if they find them distracting.  NEXT UP: Connecting up copy/paste/drag from other applications.

Download Link:  Download the install .dmg (disk image) from this link

FIRST TIME USERS:  PLEASE READ #1 through #5, below, before downloading.

The Alpha is a feature-rich pre-beta version that can be used by most of our clients.  We update this early version on a regular weekly basis (typically late Thursday).  

IS IT OK TO WORK WITH THE ALPHA TEST RELEASES?

Any registered user of Screenwriter 6.5 may download and install Screenwriter 6.7 Alpha, the Catalina / Big Sur compatible version.  We've put out nineteen Alpha versions, increasing functionality and reliability every week.  Most of our production features are now live.  There's still more work to do.  Should you work with the Alpha release?

Are you a judgmental perfectionist that has no tolerance for defects?  Are you under extreme pressure to deliver a locked script into active production?  You got no time to send us feedback and (occasionally) simple and automated crash reports?   If you are presently running Screenwriter 6.5 on Mojave (or earlier) while waiting for the final Catalina / Big Sur versions, you you could wait and skip the Alpha versions, at least until Alpha 21.

You aren't under extreme production pressure, or you're writing a spec script, and you've moved to Catalina or Big Sur.  You loath working in that "other" script processor.  You'll tolerate some defects and potential crashes and be glad to help out by sending us feedback for a few more weeks until all program features are re-connected.  Go for it -- the Alpha is now very stable and has most of the features critical for writing. Over a thousand Screenwriter users are presently working with Screenwriter on Catalina and/or Big Sur.

So if you want to join in on helping Screenwriter be the best damn program it can be (and you loath that "other" script processor...)  jump on in!  And (almost) every week we produce a new Alpha release!

RELEASE NOTES FOR MOVIE MAGIC SCREENWRITER 6.7.0.33 "Alpha 19"

1. PLEASE READ THESE IMPORTANT CAVEATS
2. Installing the Alpha Release
3. List of features yet to be connected
4. Known Bugs / Defects
5. How to Report Errors, Defects, or Ask Questions
6. Changes in 6.7.0.33 Alpha 19

1.  PLEASE READ THESE IMPORTANT CAVEATS:

Screenwriter 6.7 Alpha 19 is the nineteenth pre-beta version of the 64-bit, full-Retina, all-Cocoa versions of Screenwriter compatible with MacOS Catalina (10.15), Big Sur (11.0), and Mojave (10.14).  Alpha software is PRE-BETA, PRE-RELEASE, which means:

1. There are still missing features! (but we're making progress!)
2. Most features that are "missing" have been written, but aren't yet connected to a menu, command key, or toolbar icon.  (Screenwriter has a LOT of features!)
3. There are few areas that look like works-in-progress.  Wait a couple weeks, download a new Alpha or Beta version, and those areas will magically look a lot better.
4. You CAN easily create a PDF by using the FILE > Print command.  Using Print to create your PDF is the SAME as would be using FILE > Export to PDF...
5. Save Frequently (CMD+S).  Timed Backups are turned on, but Saving (as always) is still required!
6. Menu commands that are colored red mean those commands haven't been connected.  We expect to connect those features to their new user interface on a rapid, daily pace.
7. Remember you can enlarge the screen text in THREE different ways: using pinch-zoom on your laptop's trackpad or MagicMouse, or with the VIEW > Zoom Screen Text (control-Z) command, or use the new zoom slider at the bottom of the edit window.
8. We expect to produce a new Alpha / Beta release at least once per week (usually on Thursday evening).  Bigger features need two weeks.  Now that automatic check-for-update is connected, the program will check once per day for updates (unless you've changed the update check frequency preference).
9. Your script data is safe, but please make backups, preferably using Apple's Time Machine automatic backup software.

2.  INSTALLING THE ALPHA RELEASE:

If you have never installed Screenwriter 6.5 or a 6.7 Alpha version, please click on the following link for step-by-step download, installation, and activation instructions:

LINK:  Installing the Screenwriter 6.7 ALPHA Release

Otherwise, please use the following instructions:

Requirements:  You do NOT need to have Screenwriter 6.5 installed to install and use the Screenwriter 6.7 Alpha. However, you MUST have a Screenwriter 6.5 serial number (which begins with "MMSW"). 

Compatible with MacOS 10.15 (Catalina), MacOS 11 (Big Sur), and MacOS 10.14 (Mojave).

Download Link:  Download the install .dmg (disk image) from this link

Installing:  Download the install .dmg (disk image), double-click the .dmg, then double-click the installer .pkg.  The downloaded file is likely located in the Downloads folder on your Mac.

First Time Launching:  Screenwriter will install into your Applications folder, into a new "Screenwriter 6.7" folder. Open that folder, and double-click on the Screenwriter app. If this is the same computer that once ran Screenwriter 6.5, you might not even be asked to enter your serial number.

If you are asked to enter your serial number, please do so, and also the email address you used for registration, and your registration password.

If this is the first time you have activated Screenwriter 6.5 or 6.7 (Alpha version), here is a more extensive set of instructions for first timers:

LINK:  Activating Mac Screenwriter 6.7 (Alpha version) for the first time

Catalina & Big Sur Security: Catalina and Big Sur introduce a lot of new security measures, and you MAY see an alert like the following:

Make sure to answer OK to that alert, or you will not be able to open or create documents! Alpha 14 may make the next step unnecessary.

Another way to check that is to go into the Privacy tab of the Security & Privacy System Preferences. You should see a section, "Full Disk Access:"

You may need to unlock the preferences before you can add Screenwriter to the list.  Make sure Screenwriter is checked beneath Screenwriter. 

If you have a "Files and Folders" section, add Screenwriter to the list as well.

3.  LIST OF FEATURES YET TO BE CONNECTED:

Alpha versions are going to still have some features that are not yet connected.  "not yet connected" doesn't mean "not yet written" -- these are features that were written as part of the Screenwriter 6.5 you know and love, but now need to be connected to their new 64-bit user interface.  What are some of the features not yet available in this Alpha version?

Expected in Alpha 20-21:

• NaviDoc (Notes, Bookmarks)  [Scenes DONE, others in progress]
• Copy and Paste from other applications
• Some Reports
• Export FinalDraft
• Spell Checker [interactive checking works as of Alpha 11]

Expected in Alpha 22-23

• NaviDoc (Outline)
• Previous Files List
• Document Ruler
• Tag Mode
• Email Script
• Count Words
• SmartCheck
• Speak Selection
• Document Compare

Expected in Final Alpha / First Beta:

• Thesaurus 
• Watermark Printing
• Streamline
• iPartner®
• Index Card Mode

4.  KNOWN BUGS AND DEFECTS (partial list -- know it, live it):

1. If you use a "hard space" (invisible, non-breaking space) between words, selection of text to the right of a hard space may not look correct.
2. Plain old Courier might wrap too wide on the page;  For now, please use Courier MM Screenwriter, which will look better printed and also wrap correctly, giving you correct page counts.
3. Copying and pasting text to or from other applications doesn't work (but copying and pasting WITHIN Screenwriter and BETWEEN scripts works!)
4. When doing drag-and-drop within Screenwriter, there is presently no insertion caret (blinking line) to show you where you are dropping.
5. Reassigning fonts for all styles leaves opens collapsed outline elements
6. UNDO/REDO MIGHT not restore the state of the open/close disclosure triangles correctly.
7. If right scene number is ON, selecting the scene heading text makes it disappear on-screen
8. The blinking caret can sometime become misplaced when changing one style to another
9. Pressing right cursor arrow at the end of a wrapped line takes TWO presses to move to the next line
10. The Save As File type popup menu doesn't yet work (but you can EXPORT to either .mmsw or .mmx
11. Strikethrough attribute is not yet drawing
12. Toolbar Icons that indicate state (like Bold, Underline, Italics) not yet working
13. Outline Styles pane in Element Styles not yet working
14. You can intentionally open the same document in more than one window at the same time -- DON'T!
15. Keyboard Shortcuts pane in Preferences not yet working.  However, all commands have their default shortcuts assigned.

5.  HOW TO REPORT ERRORS, DEFECTS, OR ASK QUESTIONS:

If the program generates a Critical Error ("Assert"), then you will be guided to submit an automatic report.  First, you'll see an alert that asks you for your name, email address, and a brief description of what you were doing when the Critical Error popped up.

After you press the submit button, you'll see a second alert that gives you three options:

Force Quit, Try Quitting Gracefully, and Try Continuing

If there's an issue you need to tell us about, then submit an Alpha tech ticket to report a problem.  To do that, go to techsupport.screenplay.com and click on the Contact Technical Support (the same process as asking any other support question). Please do the following:

• Fill in all of the required fields, plus your serial number
• In the Subject line, please include these three pieces of information:

1. Alpha Version
2. Type of Issue
3. Short Description
4. For example, "ALPHA 19 – CRASH – Inserting Act Break crashes," or, "ALPHA 19 – BUG – Missing Help file", etc.

• Provide a full description of the issue with as much detail as possible. 
• If needed, please provide a copy of a document associated with the crash .
• If you report a crash, please provide steps to reproduce the crash (if possible) and the Mac crash log:
• LINK:  How to send us a crash log on macOS Sierra, High Sierra, or Mojave

6.  CHANGES IN 6.7.0.33 Alpha 19

• CORRECTED: Fixed a critical crash when printing a title page that has foreign language accents.
  
• NEW: Title Page Publisher icon in lower left of window now works.
  
• NEW: VIEW > Right Element Buttons menu item now works: for those of you who find the Right Element buttons distracting, you can now turn them off.
  

CHANGES IN 6.7.0.32 Alpha 18

• NEW:  Title Page Publisher is back in!  It's a little nicer than the previous Title Page Publisher.  You can edit the text right on the page.  There are still a few features to add back in, but it's very good!  NOTE: Use the VIEW > Title Page Publisher menu command or COMMAND+T to open the Title Page Publisher -- the icon in the lower left corner of the document window not yet connected.
• CHANGED default to Check for Update DAILY;
• CORRECTED:  Fixed a crash that could happen when a document window was closed.
• CORRECTED:   an issue where clicking on a selection and starting  drag could possibly crash; 
• CORRECTED:  Fixed issue where critical error reports might not be automatically sent to Write Brothers;

CHANGES IN 6.7.0.31 Alpha 17

• NEW: Automatic Check for Updates has been implemented.

• CORRECTED: Commented out an inappropriate assert that was happening when pressing return at the end of a Centered Title;

   

• NEW: HELP > Check for Updates is enabled.

   

• NEW: Added HELP > Activations & Registration menu command;

   

• NEW: Added Right Element Buttons icons (Outline popup menu omitted for now -- use the Add Element icon in the toolbar for now);

   

• NEW: PageView now centers in Fit-to-Width mode, with a small margin around the page;

   

• NEW: In PageView with NON Fit-to-Width, zooming keeps page with margins centered;

  Minimum Zoom is now 25% and maximum is now 400%;

   

• NEW: PageView has been improved, there's four view modes:

  ⁃  NORMAL -- fit-to-width OFF = edit view is flush left in view; user can zoom as desired

  ⁃  NORMAL -- fit-to-width ON = edit view fits exactly in width of window; If user zooms,

  fit-to-width turns off;

  ⁃  FULL PAGE -- fit-to-width OFF = page centered in view, user can independently zoom;

  ⁃  FULL PAGE -- fit-to-width ON = page centered in view, scaled to width of view plus margins around the left & right side of page. If user zooms, fit-to-width turns off

   

• NEW: Implemented Fit Width menu item.

   

• NEW: Automatically turn off Auto-Zoom-to-Fit if user tries to scale (with zoom gesture, or

  grabbing the zoom slider).

   

• NEW: Added control-N for NAVIDOC > New Note, which was missing.

   

• IMPROVED: Jerky scrolling improved in PageView mode

   

• CORRECTED: Fixed crash when user closes window with FILE > Close, or CMD+W;

   

• CORRECTED: Fixed a long-standing bug where a user-specified scene number in NaviDoc Scenes didn't match the scene number in the main edit window.

CHANGES IN 6.7.0.28 Alpha 16

• NEW:  Full Page View is now turned on! 

   

• NEW:  Background color of production pages now displayed.  NOTE that in a locked script, a "white" page will always display as white, even with Dark Mode selected.

   

• NEW:  Off-paper color is now displayed (that's the area AROUND the page in Full Page view).

   

• NEW:  Added NaviDoc preferences icon

   

• NEW:  Implemented Insert Page Break dialog.

   

• NEW:  Switching between Full Page View and Normal View using menus and icons at bottom left of Status Bar now works!

   

• NEW:  Fit-to-view now works!  NOTE: presently the fit-to-view of Full Page mode isn't "centered" in a really wide window, but you can still see the page margins.  NOTE 2:  Similar to Screenwriter 6.5, you are permitted to operate the zoom slider / pinch-zoom gesture, even while in fit-to-view mode.  However, any operation that resizes the edit view (including hiding/showing the NaviDoc) will revert back to fit-to-view mode.

   

• NEW:  Added a fit-to-width icon to the left of the zoom slider – more convenient than bringing up the Zoom Screen Text dialog

   

• NEW:  Implemented NaviDoc view toggle icon in status bar (far left). 

   

• IMPROVED: smarter about saving the resized navidoc width. 

   

• IMPROVED:  Major performance improvement for typing speed in long documents when NaviDoc Scenes is open.

   

• IMPROVED:  Added status line messages for Saving, so use would know if saving was successful -- or if the program somehow hung during saving.

   

• CORRECTED:  Fixed a crash that could happen after re-opening the NaviDoc Scenes panel if edits happened while it was closed.

   

• CORRECTED:  Fixed a crash that occurred when printing if the Justify checkbox had been turned on (full justification not yet supported)

   

• CORRECTED: Fixed garbage scene number text with alternate scene numbering.

   

• CORRECTED:  problem with NaviDoc Scenes font size slider, which caused saved 6.7 documents to show a really large NaviDoc Scenes font size when opened in the older Screenwriter 6.5 or 6.0.
  
  

• COSMETIC:  Widened text field for maximum zoom value (in Zoom Screen Text).  We recommend 350 as the maximum percentage.
  

   

• Enabled playing of sounds for Timed Backup and Pagination, and while selecting those sounds in Screenwriter Preferences does work, the popup menu is not re-initialized with the correct current selection when returning to the Preferences window.

CHANGES IN 6.7.0.25 Alpha 15v2

• Fixed a problem where the NaviDoc Scenes wouldn't display scene text with foreign characters.
• Changed the Maximum number of UNDOs from 500 to 5000. This should protect users until we rework our new undo/redo system.

Changes in 6.7.0.24 Alpha 15

• Implemented NaviDoc SCENES! Both sliders work, but the option icons (rarely used) are not yet enabled. Documents are temporarily set to always open with the NaviDoc for THIS Alpha version.
• Corrected a Critical Error when saving if you had selected the Radio button preference in the Preferences FILES tab for custom Previous Versions folder.
• Implemented Auto Revision Marks and Remove Current Revision.
• Implemented PRODUCTION > Auto-Revision > Marks and PRODUCTION > Remove > Auto-Revision Marks
• VIEW > NaviDoc will now hide / show the NaviDoc.
• Fixed bug: Changed pagination and auto-save timer to use new, safer method the won't create rare destabilizations.
• Fixed bug related to delete key not scrolling the insertion point into the view.
• Fixed bug: if user selected a custom folder for Previous Versions.
• Disabled UI for choosing custom Previous Versions folder, which was failing.
• Removed an assert if deleting a stale .tmb failed;
• Removed cleaning of old stale autosaved .tmb files (for now);
• Prevented auto-save and pagination while program is quitting, which could crash.
• Muted a critical error assert that was firing for some users:( startElementIndex <= endElementIndex );

CHANGES IN 6.7.0.21 Alpha 14

• A NEW ALERT asks you to do a ONE-TIME confirmation of the location of your Movie Magic Screenwriter Documents folder; This should solve the issue of needing to set Full Disk Access.
• NEW: Made all text fields in all dialogs support CUT, COPY, PASTE, SELECT ALL (and possibly DELETE);
• FIXED an occasional random crash when dragging selected text;
• NEW: Screenwriter 6.7 can now open Screenwriter 2000/4.x .scw files (previously, they couldn't be selected in the open dialog).
• NEW: Screenwriter 6.7 can now EXPORT .scw file format;
• FIXED: When EXPORTING, the EXISTING extension is now stripped off. For example, previously, exporting a document foo.mmsw too .mmx would create a document foo.mmsw.mmx. Now it creates foo.mmx.
• NEW: Changed EDIT > Clear to EDIT > Delete, because that seems to be the MacOS UI name.
• Improvements to error detection of missing or improperly located Templates or Default.Def file;
• Corrected issue where pressing the "Use this Font for All Elements" button wouldn't update an uninitialized (unvisited) style tab. (thanks, Michael Sloane!)
• Corrected a crash/assert in Final Draft import where an errant unicode character could not be translated, where it should have allow the continuation of the import;
• Corrected a bug where importing a Final Draft script didn't start the blinking insertion point.
• Final Draft import now keeps track of the number of characters (letters/symbols) it could not import due to unconvertible encoding (like unusual foreign characters). Lost letters/symbols are substituted with a caret (^) and the user is alerted as to the count of those substitutions.
• Better stability;
• Work-in-progress on NaviDoc Scenes text wrapping (feature is not yet functional).
• Corrected some installer issues for MacOS 11.0 Big Sur.
• Corrected an issue where improperly inserted Unicode characters could crash opening .mmsw documents
• Fixed an issue where opening / creating documents wouldn't allow you to type in the editor until you first clicked in the edit window.
• Corrected a crash if you tried to back out of selecting the Movie Magic Screenwriter Documents folder

CHANGES IN 6.7.0.20 Alpha 13

• All Replace commands implemented.
• Implemented PRODUCTION > Lock Script
• Implemented PRODUCTION > Unlock commands
• Implemented PRODUCTION > Start Next Revision...
• Enabled PRODUCTION > Apply Revision Mark and PRODUCTION > Remove Revision Mark.
• Corrected issue where no return email was included when automatic reporting critical errors via ZenDesk
• Corrected bug where the trailing display of the Scene heading was clipped short by one letter.
• Fixed a bug where several menu items that SHOULD have been disabled were instead ALWAYS ENABLED.

CHANGES IN 6.7.0.19 Alpha 12

• Corrected saving of data in Header / Footer dialog.  All buttons (except Set Font & Preview) now work.
• The Find (Search) window will now properly come to the front if it is behind another window and you press CMD-F. 
• Removed close (and minimize / maximize) buttons on Find (Search) window, since it wasn't working properly. 
• Adjusted the cosmetics of the Find window to make it smaller and tighter. 
• Fixed numerous memory leaks, some numerous and large.  Program performance should be a lot better, especially on slower machines or on machines with very little free hard disk space.  (thanks, Till Noever!)
• Corrected issues with use of Danish / Scandinavian letters in Header & Footer, and Format > Header and Footer dialog. 
• Header & Footer dialog now smart about marking the document dirty when changes were made (it wasn't before); 
• Prevented pagination or timed backups from getting interrupted by pagination or timed backups (improves reliability)
• Changed splash screen to a point AFTER the app is initialized;  Should help prevent spurious error messages. 
• The Header & Footer dialog now allows setting of font, however, it is disabled temporarily because drawing headers & footers with custom fonts isn't enabled.
• Corrected crash related to high-value MacRoman (accented) letters in popup lists (thanks, Till Noever!)
• Improvements to Assert error reporting: previously, if you included a single straight quote (apostrophe) in the body of your error description, the error report ticket would NOT be created; 
• Eliminated an Assert/Crash that could happen if startup was too slow.
• Corrected a bug that prevented user from entering a starting scene number > 100.

CHANGES IN 6.7.0.16 Alpha 11

• Spell checking highlighting is now functioning again!  You can also RIGHT-CLICK/CONTROL-CLICK (or two-finger click on a trackpad) to bring up a context menu to correct the spelling, or add the word to the system dictionary, OR ignore the word for the document.  Documents saved in Screenwriter XML format (ie ".mmx") REMEMBER their list of ignored words for specific documents.
• Corrected absent stack symbolication in Assert ZenDesk ticket creation – this helps us big time when there's a critical error;
• Added MacOS operating system to critical error report;

CHANGES IN 6.7.0.14 Alpha 10

• Removed error/crash associated with the dialog numbering feature;
• Prevented crashing if a critical problem happens while text is being drawn;
• Error reports now have much more useful error tracing information;
• We now preventing automatic pagination and auto-save from being called during while user is typing, or the mouse is down -- this should dramatically increase reliability;
• No longer crashes if user tries to paste text copied from another app (still can't paste text copied from OUTSIDE Screenwriter, but now doesn't crash);
• Removed an irrelevant Critical Error that sometimes occurred during a drag or drag copy (thanks, Metin Huseyin);
• Fixed a bug where printing could crash (thanks, Sille Sterll);

CHANGES IN 6.7.0.11 Alpha 9

• "empty" (unmodified) document windows are now closed when the user opens or imports a document.  
• When double-clicking on a document (or dragging onto the app icon), we no longer open a new, empty document.
• Enabled FILE > EXPORT > Screenwriter XML (.mmx)
• Enabled FILE > EXPORT > Screenwriter 6 (.mmsw)
• Enabled FILE > Save a Copy As...
• Turned back on FILE > IMPORT, but right now it only imports .mmx & .mmsw files, because (presently) other filenames are filtered out.
• Enabled FILE > IMPORT from Screenwriter .mmx and .mmsw (although those are the same as FILE > Open)
• Enabled FILE > IMPORT from FinalDraft .fdx
• Major reworking of Critical Error ("Assert") alert: you can now simply enter your name, email address, and a description of what you were doing when the error popped up, and a support ticket at techsupport.screenplay.com is automatically created!  No confidential script information is transmitted. You are then given the option to Try Continuing, Try Quitting Gracefully, or Force Quit.

CHANGES IN 6.7.0.10 Alpha 8

• MAJOR improvements to multi-document stability, especially when CLOSING document windows;
• Corrected issues of crashing when doing FILE > NEW and FILE > OPEN (or FILE > CLOSE) when in full screen mode.
• Corrected positioning of document windows; Windows are opened near top of screen, staggered. Width & height is preserved, but not position on screen; 
• Page Setup now correctly applies changes and updates pagination; 
• When closing a modified document window, you can now properly CANCEL from the SAVE FILE dialog -- doing so when quitting the app will properly halt quitting the app; 
• In Format > Element Styles Scene Headings tab, Left Margin of Bottom Continued field is widened; 

CHANGES IN 6.7.0.9 Alpha 7:

• Corrected issue where page number didn’t advance when the user scrolled the document. 
• Fixed issue of page number being “? of ?” on page #1 of a new document.
• Connected Find (CMD+F), Find Again (CMD+G,) and Find Again Backwards (SHIFT+CMD+G), plus all find options connected;  (NOTE: Replace not yet connected)
• .tmb timed backups are now properly deleted when saved documents are closed. 
• Stale .tmb files (older than a week) are now automatically deleted. 
• New documents are now named "Untitled <n>" as they used to be in Screenwriter 6.5;
• Corrected a problem where the blinking insertion caret may have accidentally remained the same color as the page's background paper, making it impossible to see where the insertion caret was located!
• Reduced time Splash screen is displayed;
• Fixed a potential crash when cancelling printing;
• Fixed numerous crashes/asserts associated with Full Screen Mode, such as selecting FILE > Print;
• May have corrected an instability issue with multiple documents being open at the same time;
• Corrected bug where modified document wouldn’t be saved if another document was in full screen mode, and the user QUIT the application; 
• Corrected a bug where changes to one document’s paper color wasn’t reflected in other documents if the document being changed was in Full Screen mode;
• Minor cosmetic change: increased width of set field for timed Backup interval in the FILES tab of Preferences; 
• Also, made control size of radio buttons controlling what element types to search for in the Find & Replace dialog;
• Eliminated potential crash on quitting;

CHANGES IN 6.7.0.8 Alpha 6:

• Status bar area added; Page number, Line Number, Status Text; View Icons area (some icons, like their commands, are not yet connected);
• NEW Zoom Slider in Status Bar;  New Zoom Slider stays in sync with pinch-zoom and slider in Zoom Screen text dialog; Grab it and ZOOM!
• Custom background color now works!  Note that this is the "paper color" – not the same as the on-screen production draft color, which isn't yet connected.
• NEW "Paper Color" popup menu (in status bar at bottom), and VIEW > Paper Color menu:  This gives you four options, designed to let you control the text and background color of the editing view.  It's especially useful in combination with Dark Mode: a number of clients told us that while they use Dark mode, they expected that the editing area of the text would remain black text on white background.  These new menus let you flip that around, customize it any way you wish:
  
  • Auto – respects the text/background color of MacOS System Light Mode / Dark Mode Preferences;
  • Light Paper – dark text on light background – even in System Dark Mode!
  • Dark Paper – light text on dark background – even in System Light Mode!
  • Custom Colors – Uses the text and page colors defined in Screenwriter's Misc Preference tab.  Use this by defining your OWN color combination (for example, dark gray text on a canary yellow background!)
• There are tooltips on those menus to help explain them, but the easiest thing is just to give it a try!  NOTE: Paper Color is an APPLICATION preference, not a document preference: when you change the color combination, the colors change in all open documents.  By design, this color combination does NOT become part of the document when you save.
• App launch now respects the option to either create a NEW document on launch, or presents the OPEN document dialog.  (the other two options, Open Last Document and Restore Previous Workspace, are dimmed out until they are implemented.)  NOTE: the feature where opening an existing document closes a clean untitled document window hasn’t been implemented yet.
• Corrected crash when selecting the "Make Default for All New Documents" checkbox in Format > Document Layout..
• Corrected bug where, when opening an existing document where the last element you worked on was dialog, the blinking caret appears on the first line of dialog at approximately the same position as the character name for that dialog.  It now appears at the beginning of the line -- exactly as it did with Screenwriter 6.5.
• Corrected:  If you select either "Make this a Shot" or "Make this a Transition," using the up/down arrow keys from the start-of-scene PopUpList, it causes the app to freeze.
• Corrected a crash that could happen when quitting the application;
• Corrected a bug where the blinking caret MIGHT disappear during zooming operations;
• Main Edit Window data initialization more reliable;
• Connected Zoom Screen Text dialog icon button (in status bar).
• Changed default Custom Color scheme to something different than dark mode, to avoid duplication (delete your ~/Library/Application Support/writebros.Screenwriter67/Screenwriter67 prefs file to see new defaults);
• Multiple windows now change their appearance.

CHANGES IN 6.7.0.7 Alpha 5:

• Timed Backups are now being made again;
• Instead of crashing/Assert when trying to paste text from another app, we now put up a nice alert message.
• Eliminated assert errors for some menus
• Improved potential over-release of disclosure triangles (which caused crash)
• Fixed major and common crash due to using UNDO/REDO when popup lists were used
• Partially corrected issue where shortcuts in User List items (e.g. O.S. & V.O. extensions) were not being properly initialized for PopUpLists
• Prevented crashes with PopUpLists
• Fixed clipped text in “Place Previous Version Files In:” radio buttons, in Preferences FILES tab;
• Color preferences in the MISC and NAVIDOC Preferences tab now use CFBridgingRelease, to prevent memory leak;
• Fixed release by Apple's memory manager (ARC) that led to zombie pointers that crash
• Commented out some erroneous NSLog messages related to typing;
• Eliminated a potential assert when saving in .mmx format (including doing Timed Backups);
• Corrected issue where popup list was left stranded when closing document

CHANGES IN 6.7.0.6 ALPHA 4:

• While Dark Mode works automatically, you cannot yet choose a custom background color
• If you use a "hard space" (invisible, no-breaking space) between words, selection of text to the right of a hard space may not look correct.
• Copying and pasting text from other applications doesn't work (but copying and pasting WITHIN Screenwriter and BETWEEN scripts works!)
• When doing drag-and-drop within Screenwriter, there is presently no insertion caret (line) to show you where you are dropping.
• If you launch the Screenwriter 6.7 application icon, the program ALWAYS starts with no windows opened (ie it will not automatically open your previous document, nor will it present an empty, new document).  To open an existing document, either double-click on the document's icon, or use the FILE > Open menu command.
• Reassigning fonts for all styles leaves opens collapsed outline elements
• UNDO/REDO MIGHT not restore the state of the open/close disclosure triangles correctly.
• Customize toolbar NOT exiting out of "wiggling" customize mode if all toolbar icons in use
• You can't copy and paste (or drag) text between other apps yet.
• If right scene number is ON, selecting the scene heading text makes it disappear on-screen
• The blinking caret can sometime become misplaced when changing one style to another
• Pressing right cursor arrow at the end of a wrapped line takes TWO presses to move to the next line
• The Save As File type popup menu doesn't yet work
• Strikethrough attribute is not yet drawing
• Toolbar Icons that indicate state (like Bold, Underline, Italics) not yet working
• Outline Styles pane in Element Styles not yet working
• You can intentionally open the same document in more than one window at the same time -- DON'T!
• Keyboard Shortcuts pane in Preferences not yet working

CHANGES IN 6.7.0a3 ALPHA 3:

• New: If Screenwriter cannot access the user’s filesystem due to lack of security permissions, then an error alert is displayed, and the Privacy panel is opened so the user can check the box to allow Screenwriter Full Disk Access.
• Corrected: Fade in: wasn't being auto-capitalized. (thanks, Daniel Sussman)
• Corrected: Scrolling position would sometimes jump AFTER cutting/deleting lines of text if your zoom scale was above 165%. (thanks, Michael Cravotta)
• Ctrl-Spacebar is now assigned to insert Hard Space.
• Corrected: We weren’t drawing the dang hard space at all, so two words with a hard space between them was getting scrunched together!
• Corrected: Hard returns were drawing with the section (§) symbol.
• Corrected: Removed two unnecessary asserts related to outline style counts not equaling the styleCountRead. (thanks, Jim Purdy)
• About Box & Splash screen updated to include alpha number.
• Corrected a rare timing bug where accidentally double-clicking on the OK button in Preferences would crash.
• Corrected an inconsistent crash related to inserting a character name from a popup list; 
• “Put in FADE IN:” alert now has a “No” button; 
• Better positioning of Initial Scene Heading Text popup list.
• Corrected the command keys for:
  • Beginning of Line (Home)
  • End of Line (End)
  • Extend Selection to Beginning of Line (Shift+Home)
  • Extend Selection to End of Line (Shift+End)
  • Top of Script (Command+Home)
  • Bottom of Script (Command+End)
  • Extend Selection to Beginning of Script (Shift+Command+Home)
  • Extend Selection to End of Script (Shift+Command+End)
  • Goto Previous Element (Command+Up Arrow)
  • Goto Next Element (Command+Down Arrow)
  • Extend Selection to Previous Element (Command+Shift+Up Arrow)
• Extend Selection to Next Element (Command+Shift+Down Arrow)
• Delete Word Right (Command+Forward-Delete) (thanks, John Geronilla)
• Corrected an inconsistent crash related to inserting a character name from a popup list
• “Put in FADE IN:” alert now has a “No” button
• Better positioning of Initial Scene Heading Text popup list

CHANGES IN 6.7.0.3 ALPHA 2:

• Initial implementation of Dark Mode text!  No more dark unreadable text on a dark background in Dark Mode!  NOTE: when switching in and out of Dark Mode while Screenwriter is running, you MIGHT need to click in your editing window for the colors to change.
• About Box and Splash screen should now be properly centered on any size screen.
• Fixed crashes when user accessed the system search HELP menu (top of Screenwriter's Help menu).
• Corrected bug: "fade out: is not capitalized and pushed flush right.  int. is not capitalized. Program thinks it's the start of an "action" line, not a scene heading. Same thing for ext."  (thanks, Daniel Sussman)
• Corrected issues with triple-click not selecting and entire element.  Also, made it a requirement that a drag-and-drop of a selected area can only be initiated on a single click, so users would be less likely to be going for a triple-click and accidentally begin a drag.  If a 4th (like an accidental quadruple-click) is received, then that 4th click can be the start of the drag operation.  NOTE: CMD+CLICK still (correctly) selects a sentence. 
• Preferences are now immediately written out when pressing OK in the Preferences dialog. 
• The color of the blinking insertion caret mirrors the color of text in dark / light mode.  Note that sometimes the insertion caret MIGHT not switch colors when going switching in and out of Dark Mode while the program is running (might be a Mojave-only bug).
• Changed blinking caret from red to black/white, however we implemented new MISC preference to optionally control the color of blinking caret. 

• Change layout of custom color options in the MISC tab of Preferences.  Using checkboxes instead of radio buttons reduces clutter.

•  Text Color (but not yet Page Color or Background) can now be customized, regardless of Dark or Light Mode.  I like Aluminum or Magnesium as a slightly darker text color in Dark Mode:

•  Captions now erase the area behind their text so they don’t overprint the page break line:

•  The page break line is drawn in gray, which looks better:

Splash screen and about box now show serial number and program version number.

CRASHES FIXED IN 6.7.0.3 ALPHA 2:

• Dragging selected text from inside a NOTE can cause a crash (sometimes accidentally a triple click)
• Fixed bugs with the Previous Versions folder (and .bk backups) not being created, and also a crash when removing stale .bk files. 
• Corrected major mistake when importing text for User Lists from .mmx files:  This corrects a crash when opening .mmx files which contained Unicode Swedish user list items (thanks, Fredrik Olsson).
• Fixed crash in production scripts where A-breaks (fixed breaks, the ones that draw with a single straight line) would assert & crash -- they now draw properly. 
• Asserts errors, which would previously crash the program, now display the error in an alert window, where the error can be selected and copied.  You now have three options: “Try Continuing”, “Try Quitting Gracefully” (which allows you to possibly save), and “Force Quit”.
• Opening scripts with fonts you do not have installed no longer crashes the program.  The missing font is automatically substituted for Courier.  The user is given the option of "OK", "Silence this Warning", or "Quit Program".  Silencing warnings works individually for each document when it is opened or created. 
• Crashes that occurred when clicking on menus have been squashed.