The outline panel: an episode by scene, by character, by location

In one line: open the screenplay's own outline panel and use it to move around an episode instead of scrolling through it.

Outline · what each tab lists

Tab	A row carries	Expanding a row gives
Scenes	scene number, INT or EXT, location, the ~Nm estimate	nothing to expand — clicking jumps to that scene
Characters	the name, then how many scenes they are in	one line per scene: S3 and that scene's location
Locations	a pin, the location, then how many scenes use it	one line per scene: S4 and that scene's time of day

The panel's own header reads Outline, with the three tabs under it. Characters and Locations are both ordered by count, most first, then alphabetically. Every row in every tab is a jump link.

What it is for

A micro-drama episode runs a dozen scenes. A television episode runs thirty or forty. Scrolling from scene 27 back to scene 4 to check a plant, twice, gets old fast. The outline panel lays the whole episode out as a list down the right side, and one click takes you there.

The division of labour with the board view is clean: the outline is navigation while you write, the board is where you change the order. You cannot drag anything here.

Opening it

With a .script in the active tab, click the outline icon in the activity bar, or press Ctrl/⌘ + Shift + O. The panel slides in from the right. The same button closes it.

Three tabs

Across the top: Scenes / Characters / Locations.

Scenes

One row per scene: the number, INT or EXT, the location (— if you have not filled it in yet), and the estimated running time, shown as <1m when it is under a minute.

1.  INT  You'an Scriptorium     ~2m
2.  EXT  Linze Harbor           ~1m
3.  INT  The Word Bureau        ~3m

Click a row and the editor goes to that scene. If you happened to be in board or preview view, it switches back to edit first, so you do not have to.

Act headings only group the list for files converted from the old Script Studio, which are the only ones that carry acts. A screenplay file created in 4.0 has none, and the scenes list flat rather than sitting under an empty group header.

Characters

Every name that appears on a character cue in this file, sorted by how many scenes they are in, with that count beside the name.

Expand one and you get every scene they appear in, written as S3 The Word Bureau. Click through to any of them.

The use is obvious once you try it: to check whether a supporting character has dropped out of sight, expand their row and look at the gaps between scene numbers.

Locations

Same shape as characters: each location, how many scenes use it, expand to see which. The expanded rows show the scene number and the time of day, like S4 NIGHT.

This is the tab that earns its keep at scheduling time — everything shot in one place, gathered.

It only knows this episode

The outline panel is per file. It reads the .script you have open and does not stitch twelve episodes together. Once one episode is one file, a cross-episode list has nowhere to live here. To look at another episode, open it in the tree and the panel follows.

For hopping between episodes, Ctrl/⌘ + P quick open is usually faster than walking the tree.

When not to reach for it

• Reordering scenes. Nothing here drags. That is the board.
• Comparing all twelve episodes. Not visible from here. Use a .beats board or a .timeline for the shape of the whole show.
• Hunting for a line of dialogue. That is the search panel — see find and replace.

Related

• Docs: Opening a screenplay file
• Docs: Splitting, merging, inserting and reordering scenes
• Docs: Scene headings: INT and EXT
• Docs: The outline panel for .md files
• Docs: Quick open