How to Annotate Screen Recordings in Descript

In this Descript tutorial, I demonstrate how to annotate screen recordings effectively using basic shapes in Descript. While Descript lacks traditional annotation tools found in other software like Camtasia, you can still highlight specific areas on the screen using rectangles, ellipses, and arrows.
To begin, I select the portion of the screen I want to annotate and then choose a shape from the toolbar. By making a selection in the text first, I ensure that the annotation is restricted to the chosen segment in my composition.
Then, I customize the shape by adjusting its border thickness, color, and removing the fill. For example, I demonstrate how to create a red border around a section of the screen, emphasizing important elements.
Moreover, I show how to add fade-in and fade-out effects to the annotations for a smoother transition. By simply dragging the timeline markers, you can control when the annotations appear and disappear, enhancing the overall presentation.
In addition to rectangles, I showcase how to use ellipses to highlight specific areas and arrows to point to elements on the screen. These basic shapes offer versatility in conveying information effectively, even without dedicated annotation tools.
Chapters:
00:00 Introduction
00:13 Creating a Highlighted Border
01:46 Adjusting the Border for Perfect Highlighting
03:00 Adding Fade In and Fade Out to Annotations
04:02 Other Annotation Shapes
05:14 Conclusion
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[@user-cb4ps2jo5j]

Thank you for your videos! They're very helpful. I'm creating how-to videos explaining software like you are, but I'm using an AI voice. How do I match up the voice with what's happening on the screen? I've figured out many of the necessary skills. For instance, I can speed up/slow down my audio, and I can change how the video is displayed on the canvas. What I haven't figured out is how to show different parts of the screen recording when I want to. For instance, AI is talking about Step 1 and the screen recording is showing Step 3. Aaargh. Do I have to go into Edit Sequence to make the corrections? So far, I've tried recording individual segments separately and adding them to the timeline one by one, but there must be an easier way -- right?

[@Graphicious]

I'm afraid that is one of the workflows that Descript isn't too good at. It's very cumbersome to match audio to existing video or viceversa. Take a look at this tutorial and you'll see how difficult it is, because of the numerous spacing issues, gap clips, incorrectly anchored content, etc.
ua-cam.com/video/DWmxg8P4MSY/v-deo.html
My advice is to generate the audio in Descript but then export and assemble the video in another app. I use Camtasia but really any app that allows you a solid editing experience with multi-track and without a need to add gap clips everywhere is better for this particular workflow.

[@EliasGomezPro]

Suggestion: don't use footage of Descript to explain a feature of Descript, it gets confusing 😅

[@Graphicious]

Makes sense, thanks for the suggestion!