Mark up your script
Pens, highlighters, book tabs and notes — on the PDF exactly as it was sent to you.
Open your script and tap Read & Annotate. Your sides open full-screen, just as they arrived. Pinch to zoom, swipe to turn the page, and watch the page count in the bottom corner. Everything you do here saves itself — there's no save button to remember.
The buttons along the top
- Highlight
- Lights up every line one character speaks.
- Tab
- Sticks a coloured tab on the page you're reading. Tap it again to take the tab off.
- Notes
- Turn it on and tap the page to leave yourself a note.
- Draw
- Opens the drawing tools — pens, highlighters, an eraser.
- Details
- Rename the script, see the cast and how many lines each character has, and re-cast yourself.
and take turns — switching one on switches the other off.
Highlight one character's lines
Tap and pick a name. Every line that character speaks — right through the script, not just this page — turns yellow. A tick shows who's currently lit up.
To clear it, tap again and choose No highlight. Subtext remembers your choice for this script, so it's still there when you come back.
Draw on the page
Tap and a small tray of tools appears. Tap a tool to pick it up; the one you're holding wears a ring.
- Pens
- Black, red, and blue. A fine line, for a scribble in the margin.
- Highlighters
- Yellow, green, blue, and pink. Broad and see-through — go over the same words twice and they won't turn muddy.
- Eraser
- Tap any mark and the whole of it lifts off. It won't touch your notes or the yellow character highlight.
- Undo
- Takes back your last mark on this page. Keep tapping to keep going back.
A finger draws, and two fingers swipe the page along. The moment you touch an Apple Pencil to the screen, Subtext hands drawing over to the Pencil for the rest of the session — then a single finger turns pages, the way it should.
Leave yourself a note
- Tap . A reminder appears: Tap the page to drop a note.
- Tap wherever the note belongs, type it, and tap Save.
- A small amber dot — — marks the spot.
Tap the dot any time — you don't have to be in note mode — and the note opens with Edit and Delete beside it. Tap away to close it. Drop as many as you like, anywhere on any page; each one stays pinned to its exact spot, however far you zoom.
Tab the pages you keep flicking back to
Tap and a coloured tab appears on the edge of the page. Subtext names it after the scene heading it finds there, or after the page number if there isn't one. Tap again to remove the tab.
Tap a tab to jump straight to its page. Press and hold one for three choices:
- Rename
- Call it what you'll actually look for — the fight, my monologue.
- Colour
- Amber, green, rose, navy, or violet.
- Remove
- Takes the tab off that page.
On an iPad the tabs sit out on the right, labelled. On an iPhone they tuck into a thin stripe of colour down the edge — tap it to fan them out.
When you're done reading
Tap Go Off Book in the bottom corner and Subtext takes you into casting, and from there into rehearsal. Your marks stay on the page, waiting for the next time.