The short version
- Save INTX regularly. It downloads the canonical project file to your machine.
- The recovery draft in your browser is a safety net, not a home. It protects you from a closed tab; it does not survive clearing browser data, another browser, or another machine.
- Recent Local Work (in the command menu) lists everything the browser is holding: recovery drafts, INTX backups, and local copies.
- Cloud Copies are optional. They are encrypted in your browser and need the recovery kit on a new device.
Save INTX: the file you own
Press Save INTX in the top bar (or run it from ⌘K). INT.EXT downloads a .intx file containing the complete project: the screenplay, title page, notes, saved draft versions, revision sets, and The Table. A backup copy is also kept in browser storage at the same time.
The INTX file is the copy to keep, back up, and move between machines. PDF, FDX, and Fountain are exchange exports for sharing and moving between tools; always keep the INTX alongside them. See Exporting your screenplay.
To continue from an INTX file, press Open in the top bar and choose the file.
The recovery draft: your safety net
While you write, INT.EXT saves a recovery draft to browser storage moments after each pause in typing. You can see it working: the status near the save button reads "Recovery" with a time.
If you close the tab and come back, the app restores that draft automatically and tells you: Recovered browser draft - Save INTX to own it. Take the hint: the recovery draft is local to this one browser profile on this one machine.
The recovery draft will not protect you if you clear the browser's site data, use a private or incognito window, switch browsers, or switch machines. An INTX file survives those changes. Optional Cloud Copies can also recover an encrypted snapshot on another device when you have its recovery kit.
Recent Local Work: everything the browser holds
Run Recent Local Work from the command menu (⌘K). It lists, grouped:
- Recovery Drafts: in-progress browser drafts. Press Continue to pick one up.
- INTX Backups & Local Copies: backup copies made whenever you saved or opened a project in this browser. Press Open Backup or Open to load one.
Everything in this list is local to this browser. Encrypted cloud snapshots, when enabled, appear separately under Cloud Copies in the command menu and in the Cloud status at the top of the writer.
Cloud copies and the recovery kit
Cloud Copies are an optional extra safety net. INT.EXT encrypts the screenplay, project title, and project key inside your browser before anything is uploaded. The server and storage provider receive encrypted data, not readable screenplay pages. Local browser recovery and Save INTX still happen first.
When you enable Cloud Copies, INT.EXT downloads a recovery kit. This kit is the key to opening those encrypted copies on another browser or computer. It is not your account password, and resetting your password does not replace it.
- Keep the recovery kit in a password manager or another secure place away from this computer.
- On a new device, open Cloud Copies, choose Use Recovery Kit, and select the kit file.
- Keep saving INTX files. Cloud is an extra copy, not the file you own.
If you lose the recovery kit and every device that is still unlocked for Cloud Copies, the encrypted cloud copies cannot be recovered. INT.EXT does not hold a spare key and cannot bypass the encryption.
Where your screenplay is, and is not, stored
By default, your screenplay lives in browser storage and in the INTX and export files you download. Cloud Copies are optional. When you enable them, INT.EXT uploads browser-encrypted snapshots and keeps version history. The server stores ciphertext and retrieval metadata, not the recovery key. Keep that kit somewhere safe and keep saving INTX files. The feedback form still asks you not to paste screenplay pages because feedback is a separate, unencrypted support channel.
Recommended habit
At the end of each session, press Save INTX. It takes a second, it puts the current draft in your hands as a file, and every safety feature in the app then has a canonical copy to fall back to.