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Videos

Caption many videos in one order

Who this guide is for

Creators who want captions for a whole set of videos, for example every video on a YouTube channel that has none yet, and want to upload them together and pay once.

Prerequisites

  • A Captionr account, signed in on the website. Orders of several videos are made on the website; the phone app captions one video at a time.
  • The video or audio files on your computer. YouTube does not hand your videos back to other services, so the files have to come from you.
  • A payment card.
  • To add the captions to YouTube at the end: the same videos already on your YouTube channel, and the Google account that owns the channel.

Step-by-step instructions

Where to find it: Videos › Caption many videos

Add your videos

  1. Select Videos in the app menu, then select Caption many videos, the card beside Upload one video. A new order opens with the heading Add your videos.
  2. Under Language spoken in the video, choose the language of your videos, and the Dialect if you know it. It is set for every video in the order.
  3. Drop your files on Drop your files here, or click to choose, or select it and choose them. You can choose many at once, up to 50 videos and 25 hours in one order. Each file can be up to 2 GB.
  4. The files upload three at a time. Each one shows Waiting to upload, then Uploading, then Reading the length, and then its length. Keep the tab open until every file has uploaded.
  5. To take a video out of the order, select Remove next to it. To add more, select Add more files.
  6. If one video is in a different language, select its title, change Language on its page, and come back to the order.

Note: If a file shows Upload did not finish, select Remove and add the file again. If an upload fails, select Try again. A file that waits more than 3 days without payment is deleted and shows File deleted, upload it again: select Remove and add the file again before you pay.

See what your channel needs (optional)

  1. Under Match with your YouTube channel, select Connect YouTube and choose the Google account that owns your channel.
  2. The page says how many of your YouTube videos have no captions yet, how long they are in all, and about what captioning them costs. Below that it lists those videos with their picture, title and length. A video whose file is in the order says File added: and the file's title; the others say No file added yet. A long list shows the first 8, with Show all N under it.
  3. Under that, each file you added shows the YouTube video it belongs to. Captionr matches them by length. Where several YouTube videos have the same length, choose the right one from the list. A file with no YouTube video of its length shows No YouTube video has this length.

Nothing is sent to YouTube at this point.

Pay once

  1. Under the list, the page shows the number of videos, their total length and one price. Each video is rounded up to a whole minute. The minimum charge applies once to the order, not to each video.
  2. Select Continue to payment. The heading changes to Check the price and pay.
  3. Enter your card and select Pay and start captioning.

Important: Your card is only held when you pay. It is charged when the order has finished, and only for the videos that could be captioned.

While we caption them

  1. The page says We are captioning your videos and shows how many are ready, for example 4 of 12 ready. A few are captioned at a time, in the order you added them.
  2. You can close the page. To come back, select Videos, then the order under Orders of several videos.
  3. Each video is also in your Videos list. Select one as soon as it says Ready to review to read or download its captions.
  4. To stop the order, select Cancel order, then Yes, cancel order. Videos that are already ready are charged. The rest are not, and wait in Videos to be paid for one by one or deleted. If nothing is ready yet, the hold on your card is released, nothing is charged, and the order goes back to Add your videos.

Add all to YouTube

  1. When the order has finished, the page says Your captions are ready and what was charged.
  2. To check a video first, select Review captions next to it.
  3. Under Add all to YouTube, select Connect YouTube and choose the Google account that owns your channel.
  4. Check the YouTube video shown next to each of your videos. Where it says Choose the YouTube video, pick the right one.
  5. Select Add all to YouTube. Each video shows Adding captions, then Added to and the YouTube video's title.

Important: A caption track Captionr added before is replaced. Other tracks, and YouTube's automatic captions, are left alone.

Expected result

Every video in the order has its captions, you were charged once for the videos that could be captioned, and each matched YouTube video has a new caption track. Viewers turn the captions on with the CC button. YouTube can take a few minutes to show them.

Common questions / troubleshooting

Why do I have to upload the files? They are already on YouTube. YouTube does not let other services download a channel's videos, even with the owner's permission. Use the files you kept. If you no longer have them, you can ask Google for a copy of your YouTube videos with Google Takeout (takeout.google.com).

What does an order cost? The same price per minute as a single video. Each video is rounded up to a whole minute, and the minimum charge applies once to the whole order. Ten two-minute clips cost the price of 20 minutes, not ten minimum charges.

One video failed. Do I pay for it? No. You are charged only for the videos that were captioned. The page says how many could not be captioned. Open one to see why, or upload it again.

How long does an order take? A few videos are captioned at a time so that every customer is served. A large order can take several hours. Each video is ready to open as soon as it is done.

I closed the tab while files were uploading. The files that had finished are still in the order. Open the order from Videos, remove any file marked Upload did not finish, and add the missing files again.

Can I pay for one video of the order on its own? Not while it is in the order. Its page says Pay for this video with its order and has the button Go to the order. To pay for it alone, select Remove in the order and upload it with Upload video.

Can I delete a video while the order is running? Not until the order has finished. To stop everything, select Cancel order.

A file was matched to the wrong YouTube video. Choose the right one from the list next to it before you select Add all to YouTube. The match is by length, so two videos of exactly the same length need your choice.

A video says No YouTube video has this length. The video on YouTube was cut or changed after upload, or it is on another channel. It is skipped. Open the video and use Add to YouTube there to pick the YouTube video yourself.

YouTube is not taking more captions today. YouTube limits how many caption files apps can send each day. The videos already done stay done. Come back tomorrow, connect again and select Add all to YouTube: only the remaining videos are sent.

Why do I have to connect YouTube again? For your safety the connection lasts about an hour and ends when you leave the page or sign out. Captionr keeps nothing from your YouTube account, so the matches are worked out again each time you connect.

How long are the files kept? As for any video: the video file 3 days, its audio 7 days, and the captions and transcript 30 days after captioning. The panel How long we keep your files on the order page shows this.

Can I do this in the phone app? Not yet. The app captions one video at a time. Its Videos page has a card, A whole set of videos? Caption them together, with a button that opens the website. The videos of an order made on the website do appear in the app, where you can review them.