In the August 2004 Macworld , our review of Final Draft 7 (   ) stated that the program didn’t live up to its predecessors’ good reputation. We noted problems with screen redraw, instant crashes when trying to print, text-editing goofs, general instability, and horrible telephone support. Two updates later, Final Draft has released version 7.0.0.52.

This update brings Final Draft 7 to a usable level, similar in stability to version 6. Text editing is much more reliable. The scrolling artifacts are gone. We still noticed sporadic screen-redraw issues, most notably text creeping into the toolbar and ruler area (it disappeared after about 20 seconds).

We discovered another bug while testing this time. When outputting scripts to Rich Text Format, Final Draft 7 ignores the screenplay-style text-case formatting (putting lowercase letters where capital letters should be). And some punctuation marks, such as em dashes (—), are handled incorrectly.

Previously, it was impossible to reach Final Draft support. The company has since established a 24-hour toll-free support line. They do charge for support, but the first 20 minutes are free for new customers.

Final Draft’s 7.0.0.52 update puts its flagship product back on track. The support hotline is also welcome.