The last thing you want to spend your time on is something you’ve already done. We’re trying to get more done in less time by using the most effective tools as efficiently as possible. There are very few things as frustrating as having a program (or your whole computer) crash and then realizing you haven’t saved your file or project for a while and now you have to go back and redo all the work you’ve already done. Many productivity apps, like Microsoft Word and Excel, and the Google office-like apps, now include autosave so you don’t experience this frustration. But what about your video editing software?
Recover After a Crash
In my experience, some make a wonky effort at allowing you to “recover” the last project you were working on if it shuts down unexpectedly. It seems like the more prone an application is to crashing, the less dependable their recover function will be. There are also times when a crash isn’t the application’s fault – like when you’re working on a desktop and the power goes out.
I’ve been playing with some other video editors lately and realized that I have taken for granted just how well Descript does at avoiding these nightmares. It’s one of those things I didn’t pay much attention to… until I encountered the crash problem in a video editor that doesn’t reliably get me back to where I was post-crash.
When I’ve had a computer crash while editing in Descript, I get back in, open up Descript, and there’s my project – usually in the exact same state where I left off. Sometimes it might be missing the last one or two actions, but never more than that. This is because, when you’re editing in Descript, it’s doing a lot of the heavy lifting in the cloud and it autosaves a lot. I don’t lose 10 minutes or 2 hours of work and I NEVER have to remember to click a save button anywhere. When I go back into the application after my system crashes, I also don’t have to go through some confusing questions about whether I want to try to restore or “hey, we can try to recover that last file you were working on, but it might be crappy. Wanna try it?” Nope, in Descript it just works.
Another thing I took for granted in Descript is that the app itself rarely crashes. I hadn’t appreciated how stable Descript is until I spent a week using other video editors that DO crash a lot.
Undo
What about mistakes? Most video editors have an undo button, or at least a way to invoke the undo function (for instance: using Ctrl + Z, which is my most valuable keyboard shortcut. ever.) That’s great for going back one action at a time. But, if the thing you want to undo is an action you applied before you opened the application this time, you’re usually out of luck.
Version History
Sometimes I want to go back in time and revert my project file to 10 minutes ago or maybe even yesterday or last week. This happens when I’ve gone down a creative path that just ended up not being what I wanted or I end up with a mess that is so bad It’s confusing and a simple undo (or 10) won’t get me to a good place. This is where Version History comes in.
Version History isn’t a standard feature available in all video editors. Fortunately, Descript has version history which allows you to revert your project to any restore point it’s made in the past – from minutes ago to days ago. You can access Version History anytime in Descript by going to the Descript logo in the upper left corner, then clicking on File, and then Version history. You’ll get a list of restore points on right sight of the screen under the properties panel. Click on any of those restore points to view the project from that point in time or click Restore and the magic time machine will make that previous version your current version. This is super handy when editing experiments go wrong and you need to fall back to an earlier point in the project and go another direction.
Along with undo, version history in Descript also gives me the confidence to try new things – even if I don’t know what they’re going to do or how it’s going to work out. My safety net is only a few clicks away and I know I won’t have to spend a lot of time getting back to where I want to be.
How to use Undo & Version History in Descript
In the video below, I walk you through how to undo in Descript and how to use version history in Descript.
