Creating a YouTube Channel

Instructions are from the YouTube help module. For additional help options, select “Help” in the lower part of the YouTube screen.  Additional information is also available in the article, “Accessibility Hack: Leveraging YouTube’s Free Automatic Captioning.”

[expand title=”Create an account on YouTube” tag=”h2″]
Create a Google Account to sign in to YouTube:

Android

Tap the Menu and go to Sign in. Tap the plus sign next to Accounts to create your Google Account.

Computer

  1. Click Sign in in the upper right corner of YouTube.
  2. Click Create Account.

Mobile site

Tap the Menu and go to Sign in. Tap the plus sign next to Accounts to create your Google Account.

iOS

It currently isn’t possible to create a Google Account in the YouTube iOS app. However, you can follow the instructions to create a Google Account on the mobile site.

With a Google Account, you can access many YouTube features, including Like, Subscribe, Watch Later, and Watch History. YouTube can also recommend videos based on what you’ve watched, liked, and subscribed to.

To upload videos, leave comments, or create playlists, you can create a channel on your account.
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[expand title=”Create a new channel” tag=”h2″]
With a Google Account, you can watch, like, and subscribe. Google Accounts don’t come with a YouTube channel by default; without a channel, you have no public presence on YouTube.

To upload, comment, or make playlists, create a public YouTube channel. Currently this can’t be done in the Android or iOS YouTube apps, but you can use the mobile site or a computer:

Create a channel with a business or other name

  1. On a computer or in a mobile browser, make sure you’re signed in to YouTube.
  2. Go to All my channels.
  3. If you want to make a YouTube channel for a Google+ page that you manage, you can choose it here. Otherwise, choose Create a new channel to set up a channel with a different name than your Google account name.
  4. Fill out the details to create your new channel.

Learn more about using a channel with a business or other name on YouTube.
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[expand title=”Upload videos” tag=”h2″]
You can upload videos to YouTube in a few easy steps. Use the instructions below upload your videos from a computer or from a mobile device.

Upload videos to YouTube from your computer.

  1. Sign into your YouTube account.
  2. Click on Upload at the top of the page.
  3. Before you start uploading the video you can chose the video privacy settings.
  4. Select the video you’d like to upload from your computer. You can also create a video slideshow or import a video from Google Photos.
  5. As the video is uploading you can edit both the basic information and the advanced settings of the video, and decide if you want to notify subscribers (if you uncheck this option no communication will be shared with your subscribers). Partners will also be able to adjust their Monetization settings.
  6. Click Publish to finish uploading a public video to YouTube. If you set the video privacy setting to Private or Unlisted, just click Done to finish the upload or click Share to privately share your video.
  7. If you haven’t clicked Publish, your video won’t be viewable by other people. You can always publish your video at a later time in your Video Manager.

Once the upload is completed we will send you an email to notify you that your video is done uploading and processing. You can then forward that email to friends or family for easy sharing. If you prefer not to receive notification, you can opt out by visiting your email settings.

Use the YouTube Android app to upload videos by recording a new video or selecting an existing one:

  1. Sign in to your YouTube account and your desired channel.
  2. Tap the camerafrom your home screen or account tab.
  3. Record a new video or select an existing one to upload.
    1. To record a new video: Tap the video camera icon and begin recording.
    2. To select an existing video: Use the gallery to select your video.
  4. Apply optional enhancements to your video.
  5. Adjust your video’s title, description, and privacy settings.
  6. Tap  to upload.

Tip: Go toMenu > Settings > General > Uploads to modify the type of connection used to upload videos. Use this setting to restrict uploads to Wi-Fi only.

The in-app camera feature is not currently available on Android Marshmallow. It’s coming soon!

Use the YouTube iOS app to upload videos by recording a new video or selecting an existing one:

  1. Sign in to your YouTube account and your desired channel.
  2. Tap the camerafrom your home screen or account tab.
  3. Record a new video or select an existing one to upload.
    1. To record a new video: Tap the video camera icon and begin recording.
    2. To select an existing video: Use the gallery to select your video.
  4. Apply optional enhancements to your video and tap NEXT.
  5. Adjust your video’s title, description, and privacy settings.
  6. Tap UPLOAD.

Tip: Go toMenu > Settings > Uploads to modify the type of connection used to upload videos. Use this setting to restrict uploads to Wi-Fi only.

If you’re having trouble signing in, make sure you’re using the email address associated with your YouTube account.
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[expand title=”Add subtitles & closed captions” tag=”h2″]
Subtitles and closed captions open up your content to a larger audience, including deaf or hard of hearing viewers or those who speak languages besides the one spoken in your video. *Please note: Georgia Tech requires that all public videos have captions and/or transcripts.

If you already have captions or subtitles, get help editing or removing existing captions.

  1. Go to your Video Manager by clicking your account in the top right > Creator Studio > Video Manager > Videos.
  2. Next to the video you want to add captions or subtitles to, click the drop-down menu next to the Edit button.
  3. Select Subtitles and CC.
  4. Click the Add new subtitles or CC button.
  5. Choose how you want to add or edit subtitles or closed captions to your video:

Create subtitles or closed captions

You can create new subtitles or closed captions from scratch or edit drafts in progress. Check out our video on creating subtitles and closed captions or follow these instructions:

  1. Choose the language for the subtitles or closed captions you want to create. Use the search bar to find languages that don’t automatically show in the list. If you’ve already started working on a language, you can select it from My drafts.
  2. In the draft for the language you want to work on, play the video. If your fans have added updates since your last version, you’ll see a “Your fans submitted an update” notice at the top of that language draft’s screen.
  3. When you get to the part where you want to add something, type your content into the box. Don’t forget to add text describing other sounds happening in the video. For example, you can add sounds like applause or thunder as [applause] or [thunder] so viewers know what’s going on in the video.
  4. If you need to, adjust when the caption starts and ends by dragging the borders around the text under the video.
  5. Repeat this process for all the spoken words in the video. If you don’t have time to finish the whole video, your changes will be saved in your drafts and you can pick up again later.
  6. When you’re done, select Publish.

To speed up your work, you can also use these keyboard shortcuts:

  • Enter: Add the subtitle.
  • Shift + space: Pause or play the video.
  • Shift + left arrow: Seek back five seconds.

Upload a file

If you have a subtitle and closed caption file, you can upload it to your video. These types of files contain both the text and time codes for when each line of text should be displayed. Some files also include position and style information, which is especially useful for deaf or hard of hearing viewers.

Before you start, make sure that your file type is supported on YouTube.

  1. Choose the language for the subtitles or closed captions you want to create. You can use the search bar to find languages that don’t automatically show in the list.
  2. Select the Actions menu.
  3. Select Upload a file and choose the type of file you have to upload.
  4. Select Choose file > Upload.
  5. Use the editor to make any needed adjustments to the text and timing of your new subtitle or closed caption.
  6. Select Publish.

Transcribe and set timings (original video language only)

You can transcribe your video and automatically line up your text with the speech in the video. A transcript contains the text of what is said in a video, but no time code information, so you need to set the timing to sync with your video.

Note: Since the transcript text is automatically synchronized to your video, the transcript must be in a language supported by our speech recognition technology and in the same language that’s spoken in the video. Transcripts are not recommended for videos that are over an hour long or have poor audio quality.

  1. Choose the language for the subtitles or closed captions you want to create. You can use the search bar to find languages that don’t automatically show in the list.
  2. Select Create new subtitles or CC.
  3. Underneath the video, click Transcribe and set timings.
  4. Type all of the spoken audio in the text field. If you’re creating closed captions, make sure to incorporate sound cues like [music] or [applause] to identify background sounds.
  5. Click Set timings to sync your transcript with the video.

Setting the timings can take a few minutes. While you wait, you’ll be brought back to the video track list. Once it’s ready, your transcription will automatically be published on your video.

Tip: Check out our tips for creating transcript files.

Use automatic captioning

YouTube can use speech recognition technology to automatically create captions. Since these are automatically generated, the quality of the captions may vary from video to video. You can always edit or remove the captions.

Automatic captions are available in English, Dutch, French, German, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Portuguese, Russian, and Spanish.

If your video doesn’t have the option to create automatic captions, it could be due to one or more of the following reasons:

  • The language in the video is not yet supported by automatic captions.
  • The video is too long.
  • The video has poor sound quality or contains speech that YouTube doesn’t recognize.
  • There is a long period of silence at the beginning of the video.
  • There are multiple speakers whose speech overlaps.

Use captioning software & services

You can use caption software to caption your video yourself or have a captioning service do it for you. Use the Caption It Yourself guidelines for a quick overview of video captions and refer to the partial list of companies below to get started.

Note: YouTube doesn’t charge companies for inclusion on this page and doesn’t endorse the software or companies listed here.

Captioning services

The Video Captioning and Audio Transcription Services page lists recommended services for Georgia Tech.

Captioning software

Learn more about subtitles and captions with the Creator Academy best practices or in our YouTube Captions and Subtitles video. You can also learn how to reach a global audience through closed captions and subtitles in the Creator Academy.
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