Wordless media in your script (beta)

Wordless media refers to sections of your Descript script that don't contain spoken words—such as silence, dead air, ambient noise, or pauses in your content. You can correct, copy-paste, delete, or ignore wordless media from the script, and the underlying video or audio will also be affected.

Wordless media is disabled by default

Example of wordless media in the script

This article covers:

Show or hide wordless media in a specific project

  1. Select the project name in the menubar.
  2. Click Project settings from the dropdown menu.
    Composition dropdown menu with Project settings option
  3. Toggle Show wordless media in script to show or hide wordless media in the current project.
    Project settings toggle for wordless media

Enable wordless media for all future projects

If you want wordless segments (like silences or ambient pauses) to show in your scripts by default, enable this in your App settings. This applies to all new projects you create.

Changes to App settings only affect new projects.

To enable wordless media for an existing project, follow the steps in Show or hide wordless media in a specific project.

  1. Open App settings with Command/Control + , (comma).
  2. Click the General tab in the left sidebar.
  3. In the Advanced section, toggle Show wordless media in script to turn it on or off for all future projects.
    General app settings with Show wordless media in script toggle

Label wordless media for captions

Labels let you tag ranges of wordless media in the script track so non-speech audio is identified in open and closed captions.

Add a label

  1. Select a range of audio in the timeline using the Range tool.
  2. Right-click the clip and choose Add label for range.
  3. Rename the label by right-clicking it in the script, clicking Edit label..., then entering a new name and clicking Save.

Right-click menu showing Edit label option on wordless media in the script

Why can't I add a label?

Labels can only be added to audio and video files that have been transcribed and placed in the script track of the timeline. If nothing happens after you select Add label for range, try transcribing the file first. Ranges cannot be placed on clips in the layer lane (above the script track) or on multitrack sequences.

Remove a label

  1. Click the labeled section of audio in your script to select it.
  2. Right-click the labeled audio and choose Edit label...
  3. Click Remove label.

After removing a label, restore any text to the audio by correcting your transcript.