Import a Word document or Google Doc into a teleprompter
Many teleprompter apps make you paste your script in by hand, and some won't even accept a paste. Here's how to load a file directly, with headings turned into sections.
Step by step: send any page to Reframely
- Drag the button to your bookmarks bar. On the bookmark page, or in More → Send-to-Reframely bookmark, drag the button up into your browser’s bookmarks bar. You do this once.
- Select your script. Open the page with your script, in Notion, Gmail, a blog draft or anything else, and select the text. With nothing selected, it takes the page’s main text.
- Click Send to Reframely. Reframely opens in a new tab with your script loaded and saved. It travels inside the link, so nothing is uploaded.
- From Google Docs: copy, then click. Google Docs hides its text from bookmarks. Copy your script first; the bookmark opens a paste box, and pasting loads it.
Apps that make this hard
- ikan's Homestream app has no import, according to a reviewer (App Store).
- Desview app reviewers couldn't import files or paste copied text (App Store).
- Elgato's Camera Hub text mode takes typed or pasted text, not documents (Podfeet).
Import into Reframely
- Open Reframely and tap the pencil (or Edit script on the home screen).
- Tap Import and choose your file: .docx, .txt, .md or .rtf.
- Check the text, rename the script if you like, and tap Save.
Headings in a Word file become section labels, which appear as jump buttons on your remote phone.
From Google Docs, Pages or a PDF
- Google Docs: File → Download → Microsoft Word (.docx), then import that file.
- Apple Pages: File → Export To → Word, then import.
- PDF: copy the text and paste it into the editor, since PDFs keep text in a layout that doesn't convert cleanly.
Format scripts for the prompter
- Start a line with
#to make a section label, such as# Intro. - Put cues in brackets, like
[PAUSE]or[SMILE]; they show as amber tags and aren't counted as spoken words. - Leave a blank line between paragraphs.
Format your document so it reads well
- Headings become sections. Use Word's Heading styles (or start a line with #) for each part. They appear as section labels on the prompter and jump buttons on the remote.
- Short paragraphs. A blank line between paragraphs gives you a natural pause.
- Notes to yourself. Put stage directions in [square brackets]; they show as small cues and aren't counted in the timing.
- Tables, images and footnotes don't belong in a prompter script. Move them to separate notes.
Fountain and Final Draft scripts
Screenwriters can import Fountain and Final Draft (.fdx) files from More → Import a file. Scene headings become sections you can jump to. You can also keep only one character's lines, with the other actor's last words shown as a small cue so you know when to come in: handy for self-tapes and table reads.
From a web page, Notion or email
Select the text and use the send-to-Reframely bookmark, or copy and paste it into the editor. Pasting keeps line breaks and drops formatting you don't need.
Questions
Can I import a PDF into a teleprompter?
Copying the text out of the PDF and pasting it is the most reliable route. Reframely imports .docx, .txt, .md and .rtf files directly.
Do Word headings carry over?
Yes. In Reframely, Word headings become section labels you can jump to from the remote.
Sources
Last updated .