YouTube: Create and Edit Captions

Introduction to Creating and Editing Captions in YouTube

YouTube is the second most visited website in the world, beating Facebook by 2.8 billion visits annually.  Because of this, instructors my choose to utilize YouTube as a video creating and sharing platform.

Adding captions to your video makes your content available to a larger audience. For students who are deaf, hard-of-hearing, who speak different languages, who are blind, or have a visual impairment, captions are integral to accessing information shared in the video.

The Basics of Creating and Editing Captions on YouTube

Youtube hosts media and provides Auto-generated captions. These captions are inaccurate but the following guide will explain how to create and edit captions using the YouTube website.

1. Login to your YouTube user account.
   • If you do not have an account, follow the steps on the website to create an account.
2. Click the video camera icon in the top-right of the page and select Upload Video; this will open a new page.
3. Click Select Files to Upload, or drag and drop the files onto the page.
4. Select the appropriate video privacy setting.
   • Public videos are publicly searchable.
   • Unlisted videos are not listed in search results, but can be played by someone who has a URL link.
   • Private videos cannot be searched that can only be linked through URL.
   • Scheduled videos will post publicly at a predetermined time.
5. Enter your title, description and tags.
6. Click the Advanced Settings tab on the top of the page; set the video language to English and check the Community Contributions checkbox.
7. Click Publish.
8. Go to the Published Videos page and click the gear on the bottom of the video.
9. Click ‘Subtitles/CC’ and select ‘Add Subtitles/CC’. A new window will appear.
10. Click ‘Add new subtitles/CC’; select English. The page will refresh.
11. Select ‘Transcribe and auto-sync’.
12. Add the appropriate text and once completed click ‘Set Timings’