Filler words like “um,” “uh,” and “you know” can clutter your audio and distract from your message. Descript automatically detects these moments in your script and makes it easy to remove or replace them—without affecting the natural flow of your content.
This feature currently detects filler words in English transcripts only.
This article covers:
- How to remove filler words from your script
- The different ways you can handle each filler word
- Which filler words are detected based on your plan
Usage note
On current plans, this feature uses AI Credits. Learn more about tracking your Media Minutes and AI Credits.
Legacy and Sunset plans track usage differently. See our Understanding your Legacy and Sunset plan guide for details.
Remove filler words from your script
Descript automatically detects common filler words like “um” and “uh” in your composition. These appear underlined in light blue in the script editor.
To remove them, open the AI Tools panel in the right sidebar and choose Remove filler words.
This opens a sidebar with all detected filler words. You can review timestamps, preview the audio, and choose how to handle each one.
Choose how to handle each filler word
You can preview each instance and choose one of the following options:
| Delete | Removes both the text and audio of the filler word. |
| Delete and replace with gap | Replaces the removed audio with a gap clip to maintain timing. |
| Ignore | Strikes through the filler word in the script but removes the audio. Helpful if you want a record of what was removed. |
| Remove from transcript | Deletes the word from the script only—audio remains unchanged. |
Avoid harsh cuts
The Avoid harsh cuts option helps ensure your edits sound natural when removing filler words from your script. When enabled, Descript analyzes the surrounding audio and automatically skips any filler words that can’t be removed without clipping into nearby words or leaving behind an awkward cut. Since this feature runs a quick audio analysis, it may take a moment to process.
Remove filler words from part of your composition
By default, filler word removal applies to the entire composition. To target a specific section:
- Select the portion of your script you want to clean up.
- Duplicate that selection to a new composition: How to duplicate selection.
- Open the new composition and run Remove filler words.
- Copy and paste the cleaned-up script back into your original composition.
Which filler words are detected?
If you’re on a legacy Descript plan, filler word removal has limitations based on your plan tier. For example, Hobbyist (Legacy) is limited to 'mmm', 'um', 'uh', and 'hm'. Meanwhile, Creator (Legacy) plans have access to the complete list of filler words as well as repeated words. Refer to the table below for a side-by-side comparison.
| Hobbyist (Legacy) | Creator (Legacy) |
|---|---|
| "mmm" | "mmm" |
| "um" | "um" |
| "uh" | "uh" |
| "hm" | "hm" |
| "but you know" | |
| "I guess" | |
| "I mean" | |
| "I suppose" | |
| "kind of" | |
| "like" | |
| "or something" | |
| "so" | |
| "sort of" | |
| "well" | |
| "you know" | |
| "you know what I mean" | |
| "you see" | |
| Repeated words |