Best Kept Secret: Customize Colors in Final Draft

Final Draft 7 has many useful features not commonly known; among them is one that allows the user to customize page layout display colors.

A Writers Store customer first drew our attention to the benefits of the display-color option. This Emmy-winning, veteran TV writer was slowly losing her vision. She explained to the product consultant how she was still writing on a mid-1990s word processor with the old green and black display, because this view allowed her to write independently despite her decreasing vision. While she wanted to upgrade her writing software, she needed to be assured that a switch would not render her unable to see the screen clearly while she writes. We looked into it and discovered the display-color feature of Final Draft. Working with her, we experimented with different background and text colors until we found the right setting for her limited vision. She’s been happily writing with her advanced and feature-rich new software ever since.

This feature, also available in Microsoft Word, is beneficial for several reasons. Chief among them, a black screen is easier on the eyes than a white one, especially during those long, late nights before a deadline. Moreover, a black screen consumes less energy, so it is more environmentally friendly.

We suggested to the writer that if she needed to rest her eyes or her vision becomes worse, she can also use Final Draft’s ZOOM feature to enlarge the letters.

To access the display color feature:
1 - open Final Draft
2 - open the “document” menu
3 - select the first option “page layout”
4 - click on the “colors” tab
5 - click on the arrow to expand the color palette (you can change background, text and invisibles.)

NOTE: green or olive text on black is the preferred setting.
NOTE: the script will still print in black and white.