Changelog
Follow up on the latest improvements and updates.
RSS
- Fixes an issue preventing some projects from being opened.
- Fixes a bug preventing some users from using the Local download option when exporting
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Release Version 110
Record button in Drive view
There is a new Record button accessible from Drive view. This will open a project with the recorder open, or take you to Rooms when you select Record with others. We added this to make it easier to find our recording capabilities and give users an even faster way to get started.

Publish becomes Export
We’re reposting this from version 109 as we have ramped this change up to 100% of users. A few of the details have also changed so it is worth taking a quick review:
The "Publish" button has been renamed to Export and the selection panel has been rearranged. All of the available options work as they did before but the names are slightly different, for reference:
- The main button is has been relabeled from PublishtoExport.
- The Descript (web link)option will create a Descript share page, if you were mainly using the “Publish” option before, you’ll useDescript (web link)option going forward. This is the first option on the dropdown menu.
- To export the file directly to your device, use the Local downloadoption from the dropdown menu. If you were mainly using the “Export”option in the past, you’ll useLocal downloadgoing forward.

Editor updates
- We have removed the Correction wizard. This was an outdated and under supported tool for making Script corrections. Very few users engaged with it and all the improvements we’ve made to general correction tools have made it obsolete.
- In the past, using Re-transcribe file would use your transcription balance. This is no longer the case, any Re-transcribing a file for any reason will notresult in transcription time being used.
Import from YouTube
We unfortunately had to remove the Import from YouTube option due to changes on Google's end. We are not yet sure if we will be able to bring this feature back but we will keep you updated when we know more.
Rooms updates
Here are the updates we made to collaborative recording with Rooms in v110.
- We added a some new notifications for hosts when a guest has a less-than-stellar connection, or when their upload progress is lagging.

- Guests will now be auto ejected if all of the call owners leave for longer than 2 minutes.
- Rooms will now display upload progress for guests during recordings which can be view from the People tab.
- We added a username display to the guests camera card when their camera is off.
- We fixed a bug effecting echo cancellation.
- We fixed a bug causing upload state to exceed 100% erroneously.
Email verification requirements
We will soon require all users to verify their email address in order to continue using Descript. This should not effect as vast majority of users, who have already verified their email address. However, if you have not yet verified, you’ll receive a banner warning asking you to verify your email address. Please do so a quickly as possible to prevent any interruption when we do eventually enforce this requirement.
Local file storage
Many users have already been moved to an upgraded version of the Desktop application. This newer version provides a host of benefits that improve performance and playback speed. It also completely eliminates the need to store project files locally.
When the upgraded version is downloaded, any files that haven’t finished uploading will be stored for you in a local folder so you can retrieve them as needed.
Bug Fixes
- Fixed a bug causing the cursor to get stuck when adjusting keyframes
- Fixed a bug causing slide-fades to apply to all clips
- Fixed a bug forcing users to reinstall after updating the app
- Fixed a bug causing local exports to be a black screen
- Fixed a bug preventing the dialog box from changing from Correct to Remove in the word search tool
- Fixed a bug causing waveforms to disappear when zoomed out.
- This patch removes the Import from YouTube option due to a number of bugs that it was causing. We are not yet sure when we will be able to bring back this feature, but we will provide an update as soon as we can.
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Descript's February Round-up
It's been a big month here at Descript. Check out all of the "exciting" updates we made in February in this video roundup hosted by the Descript Changelog:
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Descript Season 8
Welcome to Descript Season 8 - which is focused on features that make you look good by default. In our last update, we announced our overhaul of our Templates library, now known as Layouts. The new Layout pack library has freshly redesigned layouts for you to choose from.
Join Descript's Head of Brand Vanessa for a deep dive into our new Layout packs.
You can click here for a playlist showing off all of the new layouts.
Seeing it is one thing, but why not try it for yourself?
To make this all easier to find and understand, we’ve also renamed the Canvas section to Scene editor. While the term Canvas may be somewhat common to video editing - we’re asking you once again to rewire your brain a tiny bit: Scenes are like different sets in a play, and the Scene editor is where you build the scaffolding.
And tying all of these changes together, we’ve added a new Layout picker to make it easier to preview layouts before adding them into your project. This can be accessed from the Scene panel, from the Scene editor toolbar, or from the Script toolbar.
Each of our new Layouts includes our new Smart transitions, which detect all the layers that change between scenes in a project, and automatically adds transitions for each one as it moves into the next layout. This can include fades, zooms, and other animations for a 1-click layer of professional polish.
Join us for a live demo with CEO Andrew Mason on March 11th, 2025. He’ll be showing off the new layouts, smart transitions, and taking your questions. Register here.
This patch fixes issues in our backend system and will not result in any user facing changes.
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Release Version 109
Descript Version 109 features two important changes to terminology that coincide with polish we've added since launching our new Layout picker in the last update. Here's what you need to know:
Canvas becomes Scene Editor
We’ve renamed the main visual editing space in Descript from “Canvas” to Scene editor. This relabeling is to help illustrate the relationship between:
- Layouts — the visual content in a section of your video
- Scenes — sections of your video that have unique layouts

While the term Canvas may be somewhat common in video editing — we’re asking you once again to rewire your brain a tiny bit: Scenes are like different sets in a play, and the Scene editor is where you stage them up.
Only the wording has changed, this will not effect any existing workflows but it’s an important change to be aware of for navigating the app.
Publish becomes Export
Some users will notice that the "Publish" button has been renamed to Export and the selection panel has been rearranged. All of the available options work as they did before but the names are slightly different, for reference:
- The main button is has been relabeled from PublishtoExport.
- The Descript (default)option will create a Descript share page, if you were mainly using the “Publish” option before, you’ll useDescript (default)option going forward. This is the first option on the dropdown menu.
- To export the file directly to your device, use the Local download option from the dropdown menu. If you were mainly using the “Export”option in the past, you’ll use Localdownloadgoing forward.

This change will be rolling out slowly. As of now, 50% of users will see the new
Export
button, and increase over the next few weeks. If you’re not seeing it just yet, keep any eye out.Editor updates
- We’ve added some helpful decoration to the toolbars to show you how many current effects, animations, or transitions are currently applied, shading over already applied effects in dropdown menus and more subtle changes to make it easier to read your layer setting from the toolbars.

- Audio and video effects now both have “above the fold” effects listed, and off by default. This is just to help make these features and other effects easier to find.
- We’ve made some backend improvements to Text-to-speech generation. They will now generate faster and produce a higher quality output.
Bug fixes
- Fixed a bug preventing transitions from transferring when moving a Scene
- Fixed a "Location not available" error that occurred when opening the Timeline Export folder.
- Fixed an issue where the error "Cannot call an event handler while rendering" appeared when accessing the Desktop app.
- Fixed an issue where text background colors didn't follow fade parameters.
- Fixed an issue causing visual artifacts to appear in exported video files.
- Fixed an issue where scrolling/zooming in the Sequence editor caused the Composition timeline to zoom unintentionally.
- Fixed an issue causing Studio Sound to fail consistently.
- Fixed a bug where Rooms/Recording projects appeared successful but remained stuck on "Initializing transcription."
- Fixed an issue where effects were not audible in editor playback but were present in exported/published files.
- Fixed an "Attempting to Decode Unknown Reference" error when using or opening layouts.
- Fixed an issue preventing users from exporting compositions.
- Fixed a bug where Green Screen didn't work when Layer Border was enabled.
- Fixed an issue where stalled transcriptions were not marked as failures.
- Fixed a bug where clips couldn't be created from non-English transcripts.
- Fixed an issue where .RTF Transcript exports included unwanted formatting when copied to the clipboard.
- Fixes a bug preventing some audio effects from being applied.
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Release Version 108
Improvements to working with Scenes and Layouts
We’ve made some big changes to working with Scenes and adding Layouts. First, you’ll notice that the term “template” has been replaced with the term Layout pack. A Layout pack contains individual layouts which are organized by Scene-type (i.e. Title, Lower Third, 3-camera etc.)
As a refresher, Scenes are divisions in your timeline that represent changes to your visual layout.

We’ll preselect a default layout pack, but you can click Change layout pack to visit the Gallery, view your Private custom layout packs, or view packs available from your Drive. Each layout has a number of different styles that you can view by hovering over the Layout card and clicking See More.

There’s a handy search bar, and we pre-filter your layouts to only show layouts that match the amount of layers in your composition (i.e. If you only have 1 camera file, we won’t show multicam layouts unless you toggle off the filter.)
The 3-dot menu on this panel these options:
Save scene as new layout
Copy layout
Paste layout
Reset layout (removes all non-script layers)
Please note that these changes are rolling out to users over the next two weeks.
If you don’t see them right away, you will by the time version 109 is released. Scene toolbar
We’ve added a new Scene toolbar under the Canvas anytime a scene is selected. You can use it to swap layouts on the fly, adjust transitions, or add backgrounds to your scene. This toolbar also shows the current layout-type for easy reference
If you’re having deja vu, this was announced and rolled back a few months ago.

Add scene in Script toolbar
There is also an option to Add scene from the Script toolbar. This will take you straight into the new Layout picker panel so you can quickly build your project from scratch before you’ve added any content or quickly apply layouts to you script by highlighting each scene-to-be.

New Layout packs
We’ve refreshed our collection of premade Layout packs (FKA templates,) adding newly designed packs, redesigned packs, and removing some layout packs that simply won’t be missed.

Here are some of the new packs, which sound tasty and look great:
Berlin carrot
Helsinki blueberry
Luxembourg celery
Lisbon tofu
Shanghai blackberry
Casablanca clementine
You can locate the gallery by clicking "Change layout pack" from the scene panel.
Smart Transitions
With all the updates to working with Scenes and Layouts, we’ve added a new type of Transition animation that was created to save you mountains of time. Smart transitions apply automatically to all visual layers in a scene, and select appropriate crossfades, zooms, wipes etc. to the Scene transition. This transition effect comes applied automatically to some of our default layout packs, or you can add it manually from the Scene panel on the sidebar.
Translated dubbing and captions support for Chinese, Japanese and Korean
You can now create translated dubbing and captions for Chinese (Mandarin,) Japanese, and Korean. These are in the same list along side our existing translation options. These languages also feature native sounding speakers for Business and Enterprise plans.
Eye contact
Eye contact - our tool that draws the speakers eyes to the camera at all times - is now out of Beta. This just means that we’ve observed the number of bugs and other errors to be low enough that the feature is considered stable. As an added benefit, this effect now processes instantly when using the Web or upgraded Desktop version of Descript.
Editor updates
- You can now add transition effects at a clip level when you add a cross fade and click for more options. This was initially the result of a bug, but due to some users mentioning it had a utility, we implemented it as a feature.

- The Labs toggle for Smart Transitions has been removed as the feature is now live for all users.
- You can toggle on Smart Transitions for All scenes in the Settings menu. This option is in Beta which means you could encounter bugs or other unexpected behavior while using it.
Exclusive to Business and Enterprise users — improved custom AI speakers
Business an Enterprise users will be getting an improved training model when generating AI speakers. This updated and improved model creates more natural sounding custom AI speakers. Any existing voices will be retrained using the new speaker model so the benefits are back-ported.
Bug fixes
- Fixed a bug where moving a scene wasn't updating its associated scene transitions correctly
- Fixed a bug causing speaker labels to disappear when using TTS
- Fixed a bug resulting in “Error changing text” when editing a project
- Fixed a bug causing delete to function as backspace
- Fixed a “no frames were encoded” when exporting by markers
- Fixed a crash when moving clips between layers
- Fixed a bug causing sync errors when publishing video with Eye Contact
- Fixed a bug preventing Drive admins from adding projects without being granted project access
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