Enter and Tab: the element flow

In one line: how to write a whole scene without your hands leaving the keyboard — Enter and Tab move to the next sensible element type based on where you are and which format you're in.

The status bar, read from the start

What it prints	What it is telling you
DL Dialogue	the element you are standing on. Five of the six tags are the same in both formats — CH character, DL dialogue, () paren, TR transition, SH shot. Only action changes: △ Action in Taiwan format, ACT Action in Hollywood
Tab→Paren	where Tab goes from this line. Missing entirely when Tab does nothing — which is what a Taiwan-format dialogue line looks like
⇧Tab→Character	where Shift+Tab goes. The Taiwan flow has no Shift+Tab moves at all, so this never shows up there
Enter→Character	where Enter goes while the line has text in it
1,204 words │ 12 scenes │ 7 INT / 5 EXT │ 8 Characters	this file's totals — except the last one, which counts the cast of the whole book

It reports; it is not a picker. With the caret outside any line the whole left half disappears and only the numbers remain.

Why it exists

Every line in a screenplay has a type: action, character, dialogue, parenthetical, transition, shot. If you had to tell the editor "the next line is dialogue" each time, a thirty-line scene would cost thirty extra keystrokes. So Slima writes the common sequence down as a table: Enter walks forward, Tab takes a different road. What's in the table depends on your format, because Taiwanese and Hollywood writing habits differ.

The status bar at the foot of the editor answers the question at all times: the current element type, then where Tab, ⇧Tab and Enter will take you. It only reports — it isn't a picker.

Enter: on to the next element

Current line	Enter, with text	Enter, empty
Action	Action (both formats)	Taiwan: Action; Hollywood: Character
Character	Dialogue	Action
Dialogue	Character	Taiwan: Character; Hollywood: Action
Parenthetical	Dialogue	Dialogue
Transition	A new scene	Action
Shot	Action	Action

When you press Enter on an empty line and the target type differs from the current one, Slima converts the line in place rather than leaving an empty shell behind it. An empty character line prints as a bare colon and an empty transition falls into the middle of the scene, so that road is closed off.

Press Enter on a parenthetical whose next line is already dialogue and the caret simply moves to the start of that dialogue — no empty line wedged in between. That's the natural move right after typing "(very quietly)".

Enter also reads the caret

Caret is	What Enter does
At the end of the line (or the line is empty)	Adds a line below, per the table above
At the start (nothing before, text after)	Inserts an empty line of the same type above
Mid-line	Splits the line: the first half stays, the second becomes a new line of the same type

Splitting only applies to the text-carrying types — action, dialogue, parenthetical, transition. Character and shot lines keep the plain "add below" behaviour; cutting a name or a shot type in half means nothing.

Shift + Enter is a real line break, which action paragraphs occasionally need.

Tab: a different road

Tab is not a cycle through all six types. Where it goes depends on the current element plus your format.

Current line	Taiwan Tab	Taiwan ⇧Tab	Hollywood Tab	Hollywood ⇧Tab
Action	Character	—	Character	—
Character	Action	—	Parenthetical	Action
Dialogue	—	—	Parenthetical	Character
Parenthetical	—	—	Dialogue	Character
Transition / Shot	—	—	—	—

The biggest difference: parenthetical is not in the Taiwan Tab flow. In the Taiwan format, get one by typing ( inside a dialogue line, pressing Ctrl + 4, or using the command menu.

Escape hatches

What you want	How
Name the type outright	Ctrl + 1 action, 2 character, 3 dialogue, 4 parenthetical, 5 shot
Pick from a menu	Type / on an empty line: elements, quick insert (character names, locations), new scene, note
Paste a whole block	Paste multi-line text and the first line lands here; the rest become new elements automatically

Transition is deliberately not on Ctrl + a number: it sits pinned at the bottom of every scene. Click that slot, or the ▾ beside it. See Action, transition and shot.

Who speaks next

While you type a character line, Slima pre-fills a faded name. It reads the recent dialogue order: A spoke, then B, so after B it predicts A. When there's no back-and-forth to read — a monologue, an opening — it falls back to character names mentioned in the nearby action. The roster itself comes from the dialogue in every .script in the book; see Dialogue and character autocomplete.

Scene-level keys

Key	What it does
Ctrl/Cmd + Shift + ↑ / ↓	Previous / next scene
Ctrl/Cmd + Shift + [	Collapse / expand the current scene
Ctrl/Cmd + Shift + 1 / 2	Line focus / scene focus (press again to turn off)
Ctrl/Cmd + C / X	With nothing selected: copy / cut the whole line
Ctrl/Cmd + Z / Shift + Z	Undo / redo

Right-click: the road with nothing to memorise

Right-click any line and you get: copy / cut / paste / select this line; split scene / insert scene above or below / merge with previous / delete scene; six AI quick actions; add to chat; comment and suggest an edit; and four kinds of note. The AI actions and the notes fold into expandable rows so the menu doesn't run two screens long.

Split Scene cuts at the line you right-clicked — that line becomes the first line of the new scene. Which is why the option isn't offered on the first line of a scene: splitting there would leave the original scene empty.

Writing on a phone

A phone has no Tab key, so it takes another road: tap a line and a sheet rises from the bottom with type buttons (Action / Character / Dialogue / Parenthetical / Transition), a text box, Add line below, undo, and delete.

Enter inside that text box means "next line", using the same table as the desktop: after dialogue you get a character line, after a character you get dialogue. Shift + Enter is the literal line break. Enter on a transition that has text still starts a new scene.

Related

• Docs: The script element types
• Docs: Dialogue and character autocomplete
• Docs: Action, transition and shot
• Docs: Scene heading
• Docs: Screenplay shortcuts cheat sheet