The Project editor is where you bring your ideas to life in Descript. It’s your creative workspace for editing audio and video, arranging scenes, applying effects, and managing media — all within a single, unified interface.

This article covers:

• Script editor – Make text-based edits to your transcript, audio, and video.
• Scene editor – Arrange and preview visual layers within scenes.
• Timeline – Adjust clip timing, trim footage, and fine-tune media layers.
• Sidebar panels – Access tools for layouts, stock media, AI actions, Underlord, and more.

Key areas in the editor

Here’s a quick map of the key areas you’ll see when working in a composition within a Descript project:

• Script editor — Where you write, edit, and review your transcript. You can edit your content like a doc and use text-based editing for video and audio.
• Scene editor — The visual preview area where you can resize, move, or arrange elements in your video across scenes.
• Timeline — A visual timeline where you can trim, split, and move clips. Useful for adjusting timing across script and media layers.
• Sidebar — Contains tools and panels for managing files, editing visuals, applying effects, and using AI features:
  • Project — Access your files and compositions
  • Scene — Change layout, background, or apply transitions
  • Layer — Adjust position, size, duration, and effects
  • Elements — Add shapes, text, GIFs, and other layers. Learn more about layers.
  • Stock — Browse assets to add to your project
  • AI Actions— Run automated tools like Studio Sound, remove filler words, or auto-generate social posts
  • Underlord — Descript’s AI powered co-editor.