Captioning with YouTube

Auto Generating Captions for a New Upload

Make sure you are signed into YouTube, otherwise you will not be able to upload/edit videos. Once you are logged in, click Create > Upload Video in the top right corner.

An arrow pointing to the button to upload a video

This will pull up a dialog box in the middle of your screen. Drag and drop or select a file to upload. After it has finished uploading, YouTube will supply a video link.

You will then be prompted to add details to your upload such as a title, description, etc. Once satisfied, click Next (bottom right) to progress to video elements.

The Video Elements dialogue box with arrows pointing to the button to add captions, and where to track progress.Click ADD on the right-hand side of the top bar to add captions.

Another screen will appear asking how you would like to add captions. Ensure the video language is set to English.

You do not have to do anything else; close this window.

You will have to wait, maybe for several minutes, for this stage to be completed.

 

 

 

Once your video has finished processing (check the progress in the bottom left):

  1. Ensure there is a blue dot with a checkmark under Checks.
  2. Click Visibility and set who can see your video. We recommend setting it as ‘Private’ until your captions are complete. You can change this setting at any time.
  3. Return to Video elements.

Video elements dialogue box with arrows pointing to the "Checks" completion marker and the caption language drop-down menu.

You will see the auto-generated captions (as shown above) are finished. Click Edit to review timing, grammar, spelling, etc. This is a necessary step to ensure accuracy.

Your screen should now look like the image found below. Click Done in the upper right corner when edits are complete.

Remember to review your video after completion to ensure accuracy of captions.

Caption editing workspace with an arrow pointing to the "Done" button in the top right corner.

 

Auto Generating Captions for Videos Already on YouTube

Make sure you are signed into YouTube, otherwise you will not be able to upload/edit videos.
Once you are logged in, click Your Videos on the left side of the screen.

Menu with an arrow pointing to where to find your videos on YouTube.

Hover over the video needing to be captioned and click the Details button. It will look like a little pencil. Your screen should now look like the image below.

On the right-hand side of the screen, select the Subtitles option. This will bring up the video editor as pictured in the end of the last section. Click Done in the upper right corner when edits are complete.

Remember to review your video after completion to ensure accuracy of captions.

Video Details workspace with an arrow pointing to the Subtitles button.

 


Revision #5
Created 2025-10-10 20:59:30 UTC by Victoria Shann
Updated 2026-04-01 16:29:07 UTC by Victoria Shann