Using Descript across Mac and Windows
A guide to cross-platform collaboration
Descript is built from the ground up around collaboration, and we’re thrilled by how many teams — podcasts, journalists, and many others — are using it to work in tandem.
If you work on a team that uses both Mac and Windows computers, this article is for you: it’s a guide to taking advantage of Descript’s cross-platform support, now that Descript for Windows has launched.
👉 First, a little background
Descript for Mac is our original desktop application. Along with a full suite of transcription capabilities, Descript for Mac is the world’s first Audio Word Processor. By editing your text transcript, you can edit the audio beneath it — making it a powerful and unique tool for anyone who works with voice audio.
Here are a few things that are helpful to know about Descript for Mac:
- Descript for Mac can save Projects in two ways: as ‘old-fashioned’ files on your Mac (called packages), and as Cloud-based documents synced to Descript Drive. If you’re going to collaborate with other people, you probably want to save your Projects using Descript Drive; the instructions below will tell you how.
- It’s also possible to collaborate with other Mac users by manually sharing your files, e.g. via another cloud service like Box — but Windows users can’t open these files at all — so if you’re on Mac and anyone on your team is using Windows, make sure to follow the instructions below under How to share a Descript Project on Mac.
Descript for Windows is our brand-new app. It lets you quickly generate an automated transcript, and correct that transcript. You can also add comments, which are visible on Mac and Web as well. It doesn’t yet have the audio editing features of the Mac app — but those are coming very soon.
- Descript for Windows saves to Descript Drive by default, so it’s built for collaboration. Projects created with Descript for Windows can also be opened by Mac users via Descript Drive (which all Mac users have access to).
Your Project’s Web View
In addition to the desktop apps, any Project you save to Descript Drive can be accessed from web browsers via a handy link. The web view features the Project’s full interactive transcript and audio playback, with your audio synced to the text — and also allows collaborators to leave comments. You have full control over the privacy settings of your Project link; by default it will only work for you and the people you invite to your Project.
The web view is also important because it allows Mac users to take advantage of two features that aren’t yet available in the Mac desktop app — namely Version History and leaving comments.
- To access a Project’s web view on Mac, click the Share button in the top-right corner of the app; if you haven’t already done so it will prompt you to upload the Project to Descript Drive. Once it’s finished uploading, open the Share panel to find your Project link (as demonstrated in the animation below) and paste the link into your web browser.
- Descript for Windows already has Version History and full commenting support baked in, so you don’t need to use the web view to access those features. That said, you can still find your Project’s web link (and control its privacy settings) in the app’s Share panel.
Collaborative Comments
Comments are the main way teams communicate using Descript. Whether you’re flagging a compelling moment in an interview or background noise you’ll edit out later — Descript comments are the best way to communicate around audio and text.
- To leave a comment in Descript for Windows, just double-click on a word or select a region of text and click the Comment button. Your comment will be shown in the right margin, Google Docs-style.
- To leave a comment on Mac, open the Project’s web view using the instructions above. Then highlight text in the transcript and click the Comment button.
When you leave a comment, it’s visible to anyone who views the Project — whether it’s on the web, in the Windows app, or the Mac app (Descript for Mac displays the first comment in a thread, with a link to view any replies).
Version History
Want to turn back time? Version history lets you revert back to any previous version of a Project that’s been saved to Descript Drive.
If you’re on Descript for Windows, you can access it by clicking the Calendar button in upper-right corner of the screen. On Mac, you’ll need to open the Project’s web view (you’ll find the instructions above), and then follow the same process.
How to share a Descript Project on Windows
To share your Project from a Windows machine, you’ll begin by opening the Share panel in the top-right corner of the app (see the GIF below for a demonstration).
From here, you can share the Project in one of two ways.
- If you’d like to ensure that only your collaborators can see the Project, you can invite them individually using the Invite people section of the Share panel. Just type in their email address and click Send. You can select whether each invitee has the ability to edit the Project, or just to leave comments.
2. Share a link. The link at the top of the Share panel gives you an easy way to invite collaborators to your Project.
- By default the link will work for the Specific people you’ve invited to the Project (or Just you, if you haven’t invited anyone else).
- If you’d like to share the Project with more people — without having to invite them one-by-one — you can change the link’s privacy setting to ‘Anyone with the link’ (remember: anyone who has this link will get access to your Project; make sure you’re comfortable with that!)
For more on controlling your privacy settings, see our Help Desk article on the subject.
Opening a Shared Project on Windows
Opening a shared Project on Windows is easy: Just click the Project link. Descript for Windows should open up the Project automatically, provided you have permission to view it.
In some cases the Project link may open your web browser and take you to the Project’s web view. If this happens, you can open the Project in Descript for Windows by clicking the Open in App button.
How to share a Descript Project on Mac
To share your Project from a Mac, you’ll begin by clicking the Share button in the top-right corner of the app.
If you haven’t done so already, you’ll be prompted to upload your Project to Descript Drive, the cloud storage service built natively into Descript. The initial upload of your Project may take a while, depending on the size of your audio files — but subsequent saves will be much faster.
Once your file has been saved to Descript Drive, hit the Share button again and you’ll see the Share panel. From here, you have two options for sharing your Project with collaborators:
- If you’d like to ensure that only your collaborators can see the Project, you can invite them individually using the Invite people section of the Share panel. Just type in their email address and click Send — they’ll get an email notification. You can select whether each invitee has the ability to edit the Project, or just to leave comments.
2. Share a link. The link at the top of the Share panel gives you an easy way to invite collaborators to your Project, without having to invite them one-by-one — just copy and send them the link.
- By default, your Project link is set to work for Just you or — if you’ve invited collaborators — the Specific people you’ve invited.
- If you’d like to give access to anyone with the link, change this setting as shown in the image below (remember: this means anyone who has this link gets access to your Project).
- This link is also the easiest way to access the web view of your Project, which will let you leave comments and access Version History from a Mac. Just paste it in your web browser (you may be asked to log into your Descript account).
Opening a Shared Project on Mac
If you’ve received a link or invitation to open a Descript Project, here’s how to open it from a Mac.
First, click the Project link. If the link has been shared with Anyone with the link you’ll see the Project immediately — otherwise you’ll be prompted to enter your Descript account information.
Once you’ve logged in you’ll see the web version of your Project. This may be all you need: it features an interactive transcript and its corresponding audio; you can also view and add comments.
If you’d like to edit the transcript or the audio beneath it, you’ll need to open the Project in the Mac app. To do that, click the Open in App button. Your browser may ask you to confirm that you’d like to use the Descript desktop app to open the Project. Then a file picker will appear, letting you choose where to save the Project on your computer (you can also change the name of the file).
Once you’ve downloaded the Project it may open automatically depending on your browser settings; you can open it manually by double-clicking the file or using the File → Open… command from within the Mac app.
For more information on the capabilities of Descript for Mac — including its audio editing functionality — check out descript.com.
Have questions? We’ve got answers:
Descript offers extensive help documentation. Here are a few articles that may have what you’re looking for.
- Descript for Windows Overview
- Descript Drive Overview — Learn more about Descript Drive, and how it works with Descript for Mac.
- Controlling the Privacy of Your Project
- Getting Started with Descript for Mac
If you’re still stuck, you can always reach us at help@descript.com
