Highland at Mac App Store analyse

Beautiful app, but seems a little expensive for what it does. I can’t think of a better way to convert between Final Draft, Fountain (.txt) and PDF format — but for actually *writing*, you’ll probably want something with autocomplete at the very least. Fountain is a very cool syntax for plain text-based screenwriting, but even within the world of Fountain-based software, there are other alternatives out there that are a little more user-friendly, especially at this price. Slugline works quite nicely, or WriterDuet if you don’t mind writing in a web browser and in a very un-Mac-like interface (not for me, but it does work). Also, people bragging about this “replacing” Final Draft never needed Final Draft or any of its specialized features in the first place, I suspect.

Right before my laptop died I converted my screenplays into PDFs instead just saving the final draft files to a thumb drive. I hate having to retype a screenplay from a pdf not a fast typist. But that doesn’t matter when I’m creating a new screenplay. It definitely matters when I have to retype. Destoys my creativity. I purchased the app yesterday. Excited to try. I drop the pdf into the Highland app screen. It released the text instantly. But the formatting was off. So I emailed support they were baffled too. Kept playing with the app and figure out that I all I needed to do was export it into final draft. The script flowed into format and allowed me to edit!!! I am so happy, now I can get back to creating, Pulitzers for the developer.

Took only a few minutes to learn how to use. So simple and efficient. It even does title page formatting. Wish I got this long ago.

Beautiful app, but seems a little expensive for what it does. I can’t think of a better way to convert between Final Draft, Fountain (.txt) and PDF format — but for actually *writing*, you’ll probably want something with autocomplete at the very least. Fountain is a very cool syntax for plain text-based screenwriting, but even within the world of Fountain-based software, there are other alternatives out there that are a little more user-friendly, especially at this price. Slugline works quite nicely, or WriterDuet if you don’t mind writing in a web browser and in a very un-Mac-like interface (not for me, but it does work). Again, Highland is a great file conversion utility, but you can find a better writing environment. Heck, you can easily write a Fountain based script in literally any app and then upload it to WriterDuet for formatting and .pdf or .fdx export. Also, people bragging about this “replacing” Final Draft never needed Final Draft or any of its specialized features in the first place, I suspect.

I guess if you love hand-formatting everything with little glyphs, if you have a fetish for markup, then this app is for you. If you like a frictionless creative workflow, then not so much. Apps like Final Draft aren’t very good from a programming standpoint but at least you aren’t forced to learn an unnatural syntax just to get your thoughts across. The developer (John August) has always struck me as more of a coder than a writer. His priorities are technical, not creative.

I was used to writing in celtx, but decided when I started working on my new project I was ready for a change, and decided on a whim to buy Highland. So far a couple days into it and really enjoying the experience. It doesn’t have a billion features, but what it does it does well and it made writing fun and easy. My only complaint is that the way Highland formats and deals with title pages is fincky and unflexible and I would love in the future to see greater control in that area and a few others. If you like scriptwriting though and are looking for something to write in that isn’t too intimidating or pricy, I’d say this is a good choice.

I’m a screenwriter. I jump between Final Draft and Scrivener. Highland has been monumental in helping me isolate issues and focus on the most vital thing in writing; ‘say one thing at a time’ - with its pure set-up, it helps you focus and ‘dive into’ moments. It’s a sharp tool. Thanks, Highlanders!