Google Docs (for screenwriting) Active
The co-writing default — with Fountain shims bolted on.
At a glance
- Maker
- First release
- 2006
- Status
- Active — still developed and sold
- Platforms
- Web, iOS, Android
- Pricing
- Free with a Google account; Workspace for teams
- Native formats
- — cloud docs — exports .docx, .txt, PDF
What it is
Docs is how writing teams actually share drafts. For screenwriting it needs help: templates and Workspace add-ons (like Fountain+ Exporter) push it toward PDF or Final Draft. Export early, convert freely.
What people are saying
The good
Genuinely liked for co-writing: real-time editing, suggesting mode and comments make it the default remote scratchpad, and sharing Drive links is how many writers exchange drafts. Free and open from anywhere.
The bad
It has no native screenplay formatting and long scripts degrade badly, with tab-and-style formatting breaking as documents grow. The community workflow says it all: draft together in Docs, then export and format properly in a real screenwriting app.
Paraphrased consensus from user reviews, forums and retrospective coverage across the web.
Where it came from
Launched 2006 from Google’s acquisition of Writely; every serious screenwriting path through it since has been a Fountain shim.
Worth knowing
Because Docs is just rich text, every screenwriting workflow in it ends with an export — usually straight into this site’s converter.
Getting scripts in and out
Imports: Word (.docx), Plain text (.txt), Rich Text (.rtf)
Exports: Word (.docx), Plain text (.txt), PDF (.pdf), Rich Text (.rtf)