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.
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. The INTX file you downloaded is the copy that survives all of those.
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; the note under the title says exactly that. Nothing here is on a server.
Where your screenplay is, and is not, stored
Your screenplay lives in two places, both under your control: the browser storage on your machine, and the INTX and export files you download. Your INT.EXT account handles login and beta membership; screenplay content is not part of it. That is also why the beta feedback form asks you not to paste screenplay pages. The writing stays with you.
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.