Articles on: Transferring Notes

No Native Pages Detected message? Here's what to do next.

The "No Native Pages Detected" message means Scriptation doesn't see any official script pages in the file you're transferring from. Every page in that file is being read as Inserted/Added — things like sides, facing pages, or pages added in Scriptation — and Note Transfer needs at least one Native page to match against.



Quick refresher: Native vs. Inserted


Scriptation recognizes two kinds of pages:



You see this message when the source file is made up entirely of Inserted pages. Here's how to fix it, depending on what kind of file you're transferring from.


Fix 1 — Transferring from a file in iCloud that won't load


If the source file is stored in iCloud and Scriptation can't seem to read it at all:


  1. Close the Transfer window;
  2. Go to the File Browser and open the annotated file in a new tab. If it doesn't open at first, close the tab and try again. (If it still won't open, see recovering a corrupt file.)
  3. Once the file is open, switch back to the new draft and re-run the transfer.


Fix 2 — Transferring from Sides created in Scriptation


  1. Open the Sides file and enable Lock Mode;
  2. Re-run the transfer.


✅ TIP: Before transferring, rearrange your sides into the correct pagination — Note Transfer matches by order.


Fix 3 — Transferring from non-Scriptation sides or another script


Use Master Edit Mode to mark the script pages as Native:


  1. Open the source file and enable Master Edit Mode;
  2. Open the Page Manager view and touch or click Master;
  3. Uncheck every page that should be a Native script page;
  4. Touch or click Save;
  5. Disable Master Edit Mode and re-run the transfer.


📝 NOTE: Transferring notes from a non-script document (like a one-liner or schedule)? Mark all pages as Native.


Fix 4 — The PDF has no readable text (scanned / image-only)


If none of the above works, your source PDF may be image-only — a scanned page or an exported image rather than a text-based PDF. Scriptation can't identify native pages (or transfer most note types) when there's no text layer for the algorithm to read.


To check: open the file and try the Text Highlight tool on a line of dialogue. If the highlight doesn't snap to text, the PDF is image-only.


To recover:


  • Ask your production folks for a text-based PDF — most screenwriting programs (Final Draft, Highland, WriterDuet, etc.) export this by default. See How should my script be formatted? for what to request.
  • Or, run OCR on your existing PDF using a tool that can produce a searchable PDF, then re-import.


⚠️ HEADS UP: If the transfer keeps crashing during the Analyzing phase, that's a separate non-native page issue — see Transfer is crashing? How to fix non-native page issues.


Still stuck?


If none of these fixes resolves the message, use the Send us an email button at the bottom of this page and attach both files.


What's Next


How do I transfer my notes?
How do I use Master Edit Mode?
Transfer is crashing? How to fix non-native page issues
How should my script be formatted?

Updated on: 25/06/2026

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