If annotations are missing from your script, work through the steps below in order. Most cases are a hidden Layer (Layer visibility toggled off) or a Lost Layer (caused by opening the file in another PDF app) — both are recoverable. The remaining steps cover file-level and cloud-level recovery.

Quick checks first

1. Are your notes on a hidden Layer?

This is the #1 cause of "missing" notes. Annotations live on Layers, and if the Layer containing your notes has its visibility toggled off, the notes disappear from view.

1. Open your script.
2. Open the Layers from the Top Toolbar.
3. Check that every Layer's visibility toggle is on.

If a hidden Layer was the issue, your notes reappear immediately. See How to show or hide Layers if you're not sure where the visibility toggles are.

2. Close and reopen the file, and make sure Scriptation is up to date

Sometimes notes return on a fresh open:

1. Close all open tabs in Scriptation.
2. Check for an update in the App Store and install it if available — running the latest version can resolve rendering issues that hide annotations.
3. Reopen your script.

Layer recovery

3. Do you have Lost Layers? (Most common after opening the file in another PDF app)

If the script was ever opened in another PDF app — Apple Preview, Adobe Acrobat, GoodNotes, Adobe Fill & Sign, etc. — that app may have damaged Scriptation's Layer metadata when it re-saved the file. Your annotations are still in the file, but Scriptation can't read them as active Layers. These are called Lost Layers, and they're recoverable.

See I'm missing all of my Layers. What can I do? for the full Lost Layers recovery flow.

4. Run a Layer Optimization

A Layer Optimization can repair Layer data that's gotten into an inconsistent state. Run it on the file and check whether the missing notes reappear.

File-level recovery

5. Are you sure you opened the right copy of the file?

It sounds obvious, but it's a common cause — especially with long file names or multiple drafts of the same script. Check:

• The file's location (On My iPad, iCloud, Dropbox, etc.) — opening the wrong cloud's copy is a frequent miss;
• The draft / version date in the file name;
• Whether you might be looking at a fresh import of the script (which has no annotations yet).

If you used Note Transfer to move notes onto a new draft and the notes didn't come across as expected, see My note transfer didn't work. Help!

6. Import a clean PDF and transfer your notes onto it

If steps 1–5 haven't recovered the notes, try this:

1. Import a clean PDF of your script (from your screenwriting program, production office, or cloud backup).
2. Use Note Transfer to move your annotations from the file with missing notes onto the clean copy.

Sometimes the transfer process surfaces annotations that weren't displaying on the original file.

Cloud recovery

7. Restore an earlier version from cloud storage

If your file is stored on Dropbox, Google Drive, or OneDrive, every save creates a restorable earlier version. Log in to the provider's web portal, find a version from before the notes went missing, and restore it. See How to restore an earlier version of your file with Dropbox (the same pattern applies to Google Drive and OneDrive).

8. Check the cloud provider's trash or Recently Deleted

If a conflicted copy or duplicate was auto-deleted, the version with your annotations may be in:

• Dropbox's, Google Drive's, or OneDrive's Trash on the web portal (30-day window);
• iCloud Drive's Recently Deleted folder (Files app on iPad/iPhone, Finder on Mac, or iCloud.com) — for iCloud-stored files (30-day window);
• Scriptation's Recently deleted folder — for On My iPad / On My iPhone files (see I accidentally deleted my script. How do I recover it?).

9. Check for performance-related rendering delays

If your notes appear to be missing but later show up for someone else who opens the same file (or reappear after some time), this can be caused by the device straining to render annotations — especially with several large scripts open at once, or on older/lower-RAM devices. Try:

• Closing documents you don't need so the device can focus its processing power on the files you're actively using;
• Running a Layer Optimization on your larger script files;
• Transferring your notes to a fresh copy of the same script to see if they display correctly there;
• Reviewing Scriptation is running slowly or crashing for further performance troubleshooting.

If notes are missing from every other page, or entire Info Layers have stopped displaying, check whether Master Edit Mode has any pages mismarked as Added instead of Native (or vice versa) — this can happen after removing an inserted page (like a change list) from a script. Always make a copy of your file before adjusting page markings in Master Edit Mode.

10. Did notes disappear after a Note Transfer between two scripts?

If notes seem to have vanished after using Note Transfer — and especially if the new script now shows someone else's notes instead — they weren't overwritten. Note Transfer always creates a new layer on the destination script for the transferred notes, and your original annotations stay untouched in their own layer on the source script. To recover:

1. Open the new script, tap the Layers icon in the Top Toolbar, and look through the layer list — your original notes may already be there in their own layer.
2. Open the original script you transferred from and check its Layers as well — your notes should still be sitting there, untouched.

11. Did notes disappear after force-quitting or reinstalling the app?

Notes should always save automatically, so a hang or crash shouldn't cause them to vanish. If you had to force-quit Scriptation and your notes were gone on reopening, this is usually still one of the causes above (hidden Layer, Lost Layer, or a performance-related rendering delay) — try Scriptation is running slowly or crashing first, then send us a short screen recording of the issue if it happens again.

If you deleted and reinstalled the app, anything stored in On My iPad / On My iPhone is permanently removed along with the app — this is expected behavior, not a bug. Files stored in a cloud service (Dropbox, Google Drive, OneDrive, iCloud Drive) are safe and will reappear once you reconnect that service. See Should I Delete and Reinstall Scriptation? before reinstalling in the future, since it's rarely necessary and risks permanent local file loss.

Still not finding them?

If you've worked through all the steps and your notes are still missing, use the Send us an email button at the bottom of this page. Please include:

• Turn on Automatic App Updates so you're always running the latest version.
• Don't open Scriptation files in other PDF apps — even a quick preview in Apple Preview or Adobe Acrobat can cause Lost Layers.

If you've worked through all the steps above and your notes are still missing, use the Send us an email button at the bottom of this page. Please include:

• Turn on Automatic App Updates so you're always running the latest version.
• Don't open Scriptation files in other PDF apps — even a quick preview in Apple Preview or Adobe Acrobat can cause Lost Layers.

If you've worked through all the steps above and your notes are still missing, use the Send us an email button at the bottom of this page. Please include:

• Turn on Automatic App Updates so you're always running the latest version.
• Don't open Scriptation files in other PDF apps — even a quick preview in Apple Preview or Adobe Acrobat can cause Lost Layers.

Notes still missing after a Note Transfer?

If your notes weren't lost outright but didn't come across correctly during a Note Transfer, this is often caused by pages being mismarked as Native vs. Inserted/Added. When facing pages, sides, or copy/paste pages get mistakenly marked as Native (or vice versa), Scriptation can fail to import annotations onto them, sometimes with an error like "[X] annotations couldn't be imported due to page not having text." Use Master Edit Mode to check and correct each page's Native/Inserted status — all official script pages should be checked as Native, and all facing pages, sides, or copy/paste pages should be unchecked (Inserted/Added). Re-run the transfer afterward.

Live Layers: annotations missing after switching devices

If you switched to a new device and only see an older snapshot of your Live Layers, keep in mind that Live Layers syncing is a manual action — tapping "Share" on a Live Layer uploads a snapshot to the server, but it doesn't happen automatically in the background. Any annotations made after the last "Share" only exist locally on the device they were made on. If that device is lost or replaced before sharing again, that work can't be recovered from the Live Layers server — the only potential recovery path is restoring the old device from an iCloud Backup (if one was enabled) via How to restore your device from iCloud backup. To avoid this, store your script in cloud storage (not "On My iPad") so it backs up automatically, and get in the habit of tapping "Share" on your Live Layers regularly.

What's Next

I'm missing all of my Layers. What can I do?
Knowing your User ID and Device ID also speeds up investigation — see How do I find my IDs for support?.

Best practices going forward

• Sync with Dropbox, Google Drive, or OneDrive instead of iCloud or On My iPad — third-party cloud providers offer version history, the strongest insurance against lost annotations.
• Turn on Automatic App Updates so you're always running the latest version.
• Don't open Scriptation files in other PDF apps — even a quick preview in Apple Preview or Adobe Acrobat can cause Lost Layers.

A note on "ghost" or persistent sticky notes

If you see a yellow sticky note that appears in the same spot on every script — even brand new, unmarked scripts — and tapping it doesn't dismiss it, this is different from a Changed Annotation alert (see Yellow sticky notes appear after a transfer? Changed Annotations.). A persistent note like this that shows up on every new, clean script is usually anchored to a page element embedded by a watermarking or distribution program, rather than being a Scriptation annotation. If this happens to you, use the Send us an email button and send 2–3 episodes' worth of scripts (both the original shooting script and the following revisions) so we can inspect the PDFs directly and identify what the note is anchored to.

What's Next

I'm missing all of my Layers. What can I do?
What are Layers and how do I use them?
How to restore an earlier version of your file with Dropbox
I accidentally deleted my script. How do I recover it?

Updated on: 04/08/2026