Control how layers behave across scenes in Descript

Scenes control when visual layers appear, change, or disappear. By default, a layer only applies to the scene where it was added — it starts at the beginning of the scene and ends at the scene boundary. In Descript, you can manually extend a layer across scenes or apply changes to all scenes where the layer appears.

This article covers:

Need help adding a new layer to your scene?

Start with our Add a layer guide. You can also check out the Scenes overview to understand how layers and scenes work together, or visit our Layer and clip overview to learn more about layers in Descript.

How layers work in scenes

When you add a visual layer to a scene, Descript automatically attaches it to the current scene:

  • The layer appears only within that scene
  • Any changes (position, scale, effects) only apply within that scene

Layers stop at the scene boundary and won’t continue into the next scene unless you extend them manually.

Creating a new scene after adding layers?

If you add a layer and then split the scene afterward, the layer will remain visible across both scenes.

Snap a layer to a scene boundary

To attach a layer to an entire scene:

  1. Select the layer in the timeline.
  2. Drag the edge of the layer to the scene’s left boundary until a dashed vertical line appears, then release to snap it.
Layer snapping to scene boundary

How to extend a layer across scenes

Extending a layer across scenes is helpful when:

  • You want a visual element to persist across multiple scenes (e.g. a logo)
  • You’re applying a consistent layout or background
  • You’re styling captions that stretch across scenes

You can extend layers in two ways:

Option 1: Use the Apply to all scenes toggle

Apply your changes to every scene where the layer appears:

  1. Select the layer in the timeline or canvas.
  2. Use the scene editor toolbar or the Layer panel to click Apply to all scenes.
  3. Make your change — such as position, scale, or effect. It will apply the change to that layer in all scenes in the composition.
Apply All Scenes toggle from the Scene Editor toolbar

Option 2: Drag the layer across scenes

  1. Open the timeline and select the layer you want to extend.
  2. Drag the edge of the layer across one or more scenes. Release to set the new duration.
Manually extended a layer across scenes