Convert a notes PDF to CSV

Not every production hands the editor a CSV. Script supervisors often deliver their continuity notes as a PDF report — beautiful to read, useless to import. Media Sync Tool can convert those PDFs into clip-logging CSVs itself, so a paper-style report becomes loggable metadata in one step.

Where to find it

There are two ways to convert a notes PDF:

Choose File ▸ Convert Notes PDF to CSV… The converted CSV is revealed in Finder, ready to import.
On the empty Continuity Notes screen, click Convert to CSV… at the bottom. It works in the Final Cut Pro extension too.

Both routes end the same way: the CSV is written next to the PDF and revealed in Finder — never imported behind your back. That pause is deliberate. A converted report carries estimated clip names (see Verify the clip names), and those are worth a look before they drive a whole event’s metadata. When the CSV checks out, drop it onto the Continuity Notes screen or pick it with Import CSV….

The Media Sync Tool Continuity Notes import screen, with the Convert to CSV link at the bottom for converting a notes PDF. — The Convert to CSV… link at the bottom of the Continuity Notes screen converts a notes PDF and reveals the CSV in Finder, ready to review.

Where the CSV goes

There is no save dialog to click through. The CSV is written next to the PDF, with the same name — D38 Wed 150726.pdf produces D38 Wed 150726.csv in the same folder — so the converted report stays with the production paperwork and can be re-imported any time without converting again.

Supported report formats

Several common report layouts are recognised automatically — there is nothing to configure and no format to choose:

Facing-page continuity notes — the classic script supervisor layout with slate titles and per-take rows, including Peter Skarratt’s templates.
Daily editor’s logs — day-by-day table reports with scene, slate, take, and description columns.
ScriptE Editor Logs — the per-take editorial report, where each row is one camera on one take.
Take-range logs — one row per setup, with the takes written as a range and the chosen ones listed in a Selects column.
Per-slate continuity forms — reports that devote a form section to each slate.
Spreadsheet edit logs — reports exported from a spreadsheet, where a slate’s details are merged across its takes and the good takes are marked by cell colour rather than by a letter.
General tables — a fallback reader that recognises common column names in other tabular layouts.

Multi-camera setups are read as such throughout: a slate covered by two cameras produces a row per camera, each with its own roll and lens, and per-camera remarks (“A– on the slider, B– on the jib”) follow the camera they describe.

Note: The PDF must contain real text. A scanned report — a PDF of photographed or photocopied pages with no text layer — can’t be read. If a PDF can’t be converted, the error message says so; if your supervisor’s format isn’t recognised, we’d love to see a sample — contact support and we’ll teach the converter that format.

What the CSV contains

The converter reads the report the way an assistant editor would, and writes only the columns your report actually uses:

Scene, Slate, Take — kept strict: only the real values land here, while stray remarks written into those boxes move to a Notes column.
PU — pickup takes are flagged in their own column, however the supervisor marked them (5PU, P/U, and so on).
FPS — off-speed takes are marked (for example @48fps), matching the app’s high-frame-rate handling.
Take Verdict — print marks (P, X) and written verdicts (good, NG) are resolved into a verdict per take, using the same detection the app applies during logging. See Good / NG detection.
Camroll, Sndroll — camera and sound rolls, carried down through the blank cells supervisors leave when a value hasn’t changed.
Sync — MOS marks land in their own column, so silent takes keep their sound-roll history intact.
Clip — a real clip ID, only when the report actually states one. See Verify the clip names.
Clip Name — the name used for matching: the real ID when the report gave one, otherwise an estimate. See below.
Comment, Description, Notes, VFX, Timing — the supervisor’s remarks, verbatim, including lens, filter, and location details when the report carries them.

Note: Wildtracks, room tone, and atmos are sound-only recordings, so they can’t belong to a camera. They come through as their own rows with WT in the Camera column, no camera roll, and no clip name — just their scene, their sound roll, and the supervisor’s description. The same applies when a supervisor slated a wildtrack as though it were a picture take: it still comes through as a sound-only row.

Verify the clip names

Most paper-style reports don’t list camera clip IDs. When they don’t, the converter estimates each clip name from the camera-roll order — first take on roll A013 becomes A013C001, the next A013C002, and so on, re-anchored by any real clip IDs the report does mention.

You can see exactly which names were estimated: the Clip column holds only what the report actually stated, so a row with an empty Clip cell is an estimated one, while a row with a Clip value was named by the supervisor. Check those estimated rows first — and if a roll’s first take is right and its last take is right, everything between them almost certainly is too.

Important: Estimated clip names are only as good as the report. A false start the camera recorded but the supervisor didn’t log shifts every number after it. Spot-check the converted CSV’s Clip Name column against your rushes before logging — a minute of checking protects a whole event of metadata.