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Step by step

Add your captions to YouTube

Captionr listens to the speech in your video, writes it down, translates it into English and times every line to the moment it is spoken. Then it puts the captions on the matching video in your YouTube channel. Viewers turn them on with the CC button.

1 · YouTube

Your video goes public, unlisted or private here.

Same file, both places

2 · Captionr

The same file comes here to be captioned.

  1. In YouTube Studio

    Step 1: Upload your video to YouTube

    1. Sign in to YouTube Studio.
    2. Select Create, then Upload videos.
    3. Choose your video file and follow YouTube's steps. Public, unlisted or private all work.
    4. Wait for the upload to finish.

    Keep the file. You need the very same file in the next step.

  2. In Captionr

    Step 2: Upload the same file to Captionr and pay

    1. Open Captionr and sign in, then select Upload video.
    2. Choose the same file. Give it a title only you see, and pick the language spoken in the video, or leave Detect automatically.
    3. Select Start upload and keep the page open until it finishes.
    4. Captionr reads the length and shows the price under Check the price and pay. You pay once for this video, and there is no subscription.
    5. Select Pay and start captioning. Your card is only charged when the captions are ready.

    Audio files work too. MP3, M4A or WAV give you the same caption files; there is just no picture.

  3. Captionr works

    Step 3: Wait for your captions

    1. The page says We are on it and shows which of the eight steps is running, for example Step 2 of 8. Usually it takes a few minutes for every 10 minutes of video.
    2. You can close the page. It updates by itself when you come back.
    3. When the page says Your captions are ready, read them under Read the captions to check they say what the video says.

    What is a caption track? The text viewers can turn on while watching, with a time for every line, so YouTube shows each one as it is spoken.

  4. In Captionr

    Step 4: Connect your YouTube channel

    1. Select Add to YouTube, then Connect YouTube.
    2. Google opens. Choose the account that owns your channel. If it is a brand channel, pick it when Google asks.
    3. Google asks you to let Captionr manage your YouTube videos. Select Allow. Captionr only uses this to list your videos and add caption tracks, and does not keep the connection after you leave the page.
    4. The panel shows Channel: and your channel's name.

    Wrong account? Select Use another account. To take access away at any time, select Disconnect.

  5. In Captionr

    Step 5: Pick the matching video and send the captions

    1. Under 1. Choose the YouTube video, go by the length, not the picture. YouTube shows the cover you chose, while Captionr shows the first frame of your file, so they rarely look alike. Videos that say Same length as your video are listed first.
    2. Select your video. Type part of the title in Search your videos if the list is long, or select Show more for older ones.
    3. Under 2. Choose the captions, English captions is ticked for you. Tick the original-language captions too if you want both.
    4. Select Add to YouTube. The button says Sending, then the panel says Done.

    Nothing is uploaded again. Captionr adds a caption track to the video already on YouTube. If you had already added captions named English yourself, they are replaced. YouTube's automatic captions are never touched.

  6. On YouTube

    Step 6: Check the captions on YouTube

    1. From the Done message, select Watch on YouTube, or open the video in the YouTube app.
    2. Turn captions on with the CC button. If another language shows, open Settings, then Subtitles/CC, and choose English.
    3. Play a minute and watch the lines appear as the words are spoken.
    4. To edit a line later, select Open in YouTube Studio. The captions are under Subtitles.

    Your viewers can now turn on English captions while they watch. YouTube can take a few minutes to show new captions, so give it a moment if they do not appear at once.

If something is off

My video is not in the list.
Connect the account that owns the channel with Use another account. If you uploaded to YouTube a moment ago, select Refresh. A video YouTube is still processing shows no length yet.
Captionr says this Google account has no YouTube channel.
You picked a Google account without a channel, or the personal account instead of the brand channel. Select Connect YouTube again and choose the channel.
The Google window did not open.
Your browser blocked it. Allow popups for this site, then select Connect YouTube again.
YouTube is not taking more captions today.
YouTube limits how many caption files apps may send each day. Try tomorrow, or download the SRT file from Captionr and add it in YouTube Studio under Subtitles.
The captions are early or late.
The file on YouTube is a different cut from the one you gave Captionr. Upload the same cut to Captionr and run it again.
The captions say things the video does not say.
On the video page, select Run captioning again. There is no extra charge. Read the new captions before you send them.

Ready to caption your video?

Sign up free, upload your video and see its exact price before you pay.

Caption your first videoRead the written guide