The Auto-Highlight feature uses an algorithm that recognizes the industry-standard Character Name and Dialogue formatting. Since Scriptation deals with PDFs and doesn't receive Character / Dialogue metadata from screenwriting programs, the app analyzes the margins of the document and then applies the highlighting.

Standard formatting indents character names close to the middle of the page -- they're not centered -- and dialogue is immediately below. Some characters will at times have extensions such as O.S. (offscreen), V.O. (voiceover) or CONT'D (when dialogue is interrupted by an action paragraph).
Scriptation will interpret script text formatted this way and highlight characters reliably. However, if the script isn't formatted to the industry standard, errors can occur. For example, while the formatting in the following script appears to be standard and in no way out of the ordinary, it's actually not standard and the character names won't be detected in Scriptation:
|| NOTE: Auto-Highlight isn't set up for manual entry of character names.

If your script is formatted correctly but the character names still aren't being highlighted...

...the PDF might be flattened. A "flattened" PDF is a file where the contents on the PDF are no longer recognizable as individual parts, so the Scriptation algorithm (or any PDF program) isn't going to be able to recognize ANY text in the file.

This often happens with scanned files and with some watermarking programs.

How to tell if a PDF has been flattened

An easy way to test if your file has been flattened is by trying to use the Text Highlight function:


If the Highlight function doesn't recognize any text, then the file has been flattened. You may want to ask your production office if they can distribute their files in a different way.

What's Next?

Transferring Actor Highlights
Highlighting tool vs Highlighting with the Marker
What is Reader Mode?

Updated on: 08/01/2025