Change Log

What's new in each version. Newest first.

Choosing a character with only a few lines no longer fills the line picker with every line of a long scene. Long stretches where the character doesn't speak are tucked behind a "Show them" button.
PDF scene headings written like "Scene 3" or "Scene Two: The Barn" are now recognized, so scenes no longer run together.
A line of dialogue at the very top of a PDF page could be mistaken for a page header and dropped. Only lines in the top and bottom margins are treated as headers and footers now.

Choose how much of each scene to show: 3, 6 or 12 lines around each of the character's lines, or whole scenes. Your choice is remembered.

Watermarks from Soundwright backups now carry over. Text and logo watermarks both come in turned on, and you can change or remove them on the sides.
Character descriptions on a Soundwright notes page are picked up for the details form.

A link in the menu to more free tools for audio drama creators.
If you marked a character for highlighting in Soundwright, their sides start with the yellow highlight turned on.

Parentheticals now stay where the writer put them. A speech with several directions, like (quietly), (beat) and (turning away), keeps each one between the lines it belongs to instead of stacking them all at the top.
Voice tags in a speaker's name, like (V.O.) or (FILTERED), are no longer mistaken for acting directions.

Parentheticals print on the sides in standard script position. Turn off "Include parentheticals" to print dialogue only.
Watermark, as diagonal text across each page or as a faded greyscale logo in the center. If your Soundwright backup has a watermark, it is turned on for you, and you can change or remove it.
Highlight the auditioning character's name and lines in yellow, on top of the bold.
Sides JSON files now save these options, so they come back when you reopen the file.

The app is now called Sides Builder, with the tagline "Easy audio drama audition sides maker."

A browser tab icon and home screen icon: a script page with your character's lines highlighted.
A preview image and description that show up when you share a link to Sides Builder on social media or in messages.
This change log. The version number at the bottom of every page links here.

Load a text-based PDF, a Soundwright JSON backup, or a Fountain file. Everything is read in your browser and nothing is uploaded.
Reads standard script layout (names above dialogue) and radio layout (NAME: dialogue on one line).
Skips title pages, page numbers, scene numbers, dialogue line numbers, and (MORE) and (CONT'D) markers, and joins speeches that run across a page break.
Picks up character descriptions from a cast list or notes page when the script has one.
Reopen a sides JSON you saved earlier to pick up where you left off.

See every character with their number of lines, words, and scenes.
Merge two spellings of the same name, remove anything that isn't a character, and restore either change later.

The auditioning character's lines are highlighted and shown in bold.
Add context checks one to three scene partner lines before and after each of your character's lines.
Select every line in a scene at once, or show only scenes the character is in.
Fix a misread line's text, or show non-dialogue text and turn a misread line into dialogue.

An audition details form for project title, deadline, character name and description, pay rate, role size, role direction, and submission instructions. Details found in the script are filled in for you.
Sides print in standard script layout with character names and dialogue only. The auditioning character's lines are bold.
An optional * * * marker shows where lines were skipped.
Download sides as a PDF (US Letter, Courier) or as JSON.
Make sides for another character while keeping the script and project details, or start over with a new script.
Light, dark, and system appearance.