LibreOffice Writer is the suite’s word processor, and can be used for virtually any task involving… well, processing words, of course. But how about screenwriting (aka writing screenplays)?
We saw a discussion on Ask LibreOffice where user Peter J. talked about his experiences in this field. Initially he described LibreOffice’s limitations in screenwriting, but then robleyd pointed out to the new Markdown support added in LibreOffice 26.2. Peter explored this new feature and concluded:
“So, basically, if I was to write a screenplay now, I would use LibreOffice Writer”
What changed in the software, to change Peter’s mind? He explained:
The problem with LibreOffice Writer was exporting. Its HTML output is HTML 4… with font tags. Very bad. It can be cleaned up relatively easily, but it takes some tinkering skill, therefore it is no good route.
BUT the sizzling new export to Markdown functionality changes everything! Now you can easily share what you have cooked up. You have a professional PDF export… PLUS an export to Markdown.
He went on to explain how LibreOffice Writer is now a good tool for writing movie scripts, because:
It has pagination. You can set up A4 and other formats easily and precisely.
It has styles. You can create as many paragraph styles as you want. Nevertheless, you only need a few, like 5…
You can precisely set up these styles. You can easily apply these styles, using short keys, too. You can easily modify these styles, before, during, after.
AND… you can export it to Markdown. From Markdown you can get to Final Draft easily.
