I'm doing a rewrite of a script and I read that the character speaking has to be at a margin of 4.1, so I have to click on each character talking, move the margin along and then repeat, it gets really tiresome because its a long script (149 pages), and I was wondering if there was a quicker way to do it or if that's the only way. The same question applies to dialogue being spoken. Thanks.

Set your tabs to 4.1 throughout and then all you have to do is press tab a certain number of times. I always set my margins for 1 inch and then three other tabs from the margin at 1, 1.6 and 2.2 for the dialogue, wryly, and character names. Resetting the margin everytime is very tiring. I never do it.

Ah thanks. I knew there had to be a simpler way, the old one was practically killing me. Thanks. By the way how do I actually set the tabs? Is it in one of the dropdown menus or something else? I pressed tab a few times but it goes too far or not far enough for the character speaking. I think dialogue should be okay.

I use macros, which change the indentations (margins change the whole page for me).  So pressing Alt-D goes to dialogue for me, etc.  Tabs are more annoying, IMO, since each line starts in the same place and has to be moved.  After setting up a macro once, it's much simpler.  It even automatically tabs the first line for character names with dialogue.
    By simply changing the tab length, how would you do character names, parentheticals, and transitions?

The web-site that taught me:  http://www.online-communicator.com/spmacros.html

in MS Word i only set and click the tabs for character-cue and wryles only.... then when i do dialogue i just click and drag the margin to 1 inch and 4 1/2 inch.

its really easy.

I only have open office on the laptop I have. Does it still work on that?

Screenwriting software is, IMO, the best way to go. It automatically takes care of margins so you can fully focus on your story. And it has a lot of other cool features.

There are some that can be downloaded for free (i.e. Celtx)

For more information, check this thread: http://www.imdb.com/board/bd0000019/nest/39937921

I use Word for most of my writing, and to set the margins on it, I just click on the ruler where I want the tabs to be. For some WP's, you have to go into tab settings and set them manually.

I have screenwriting software, but I find I can type a lot faster using a word processor because I don't have to change the style type every single line.

Yeah I figured out how to sort out the tabs. I'm just having to going over the older scripts because they were in the wrong format. It's gonna take a while but it has to be done. And thanks.