Amara Support Center

Create and export subtitles from Amara to your YouTube channels:

• Connect YouTube channels to an Amara user account

• Connect YouTube channels to a team (if you are an administrator)

• Automatically import subtitles from YouTube to Amara 

• Confirm subtitle export from Amara to YouTube

Note: This process is similar to the Vimeo integration with Amara. 

A YouTube account can only be connected to one place on Amara. You can connect your YouTube account to your Amara user account or one Amara team but not to multiple users or teams.

 Connect to your Amara User Account

To enable Amara users to create subtitles for videos on your YouTube channel, connect your channel to your Amara user account:

1. Click your username in the top right corner 

2. Select Account from the dropdown menu

3. Scroll down to YouTube Sync

4. Click “Connect to YouTube”

5. Review permissions

6. Log in and choose a YouTube channel to connect

Turn off Youtube Sync by clicking the “Disconnect” button.

After connecting, Amara will import subtitles and video title, description, and thumbnail for all: 

• Existing public and unlisted videos 

• New videos (added after you connect channel)

Subtitles are exported from Amara to your YouTube channel after they are completed and published on Amara.

 Changes made to subtitles on YouTube will not update on Amara. Use Amara to edit subtitles.

Adding Videos

If you would like to manually add a video from your YouTube channel, copy and paste the URL in the Subtitle a Video page. Any videos added this way will show on the Videos tab of your account.

Note: To export subtitles to YouTube videos, you must connect YouTube channel to your Amara user account.

Checking for importing and exporting issues

There are a couple of places you can check for any syncing issues and resync any subtitles that did not properly export to YouTube:

1. Username menu > Account > YouTube Sync > Check for Syncing Issues.  

The “Check for syncing issues” link will open a page where you can view errors and attempt to export subtitles.

2.  User profile > Videos tab > choose video > choose language > Sync History tab

Submit a support ticket with your Amara username and video URL if you continue to have trouble syncing your subtitles.

Connect to your Amara Team

Connect YouTube channels to your Amara team:

1. Go to your team page by selecting it from the user menu

2. Click the Settings header menu item

3. Select Integrations from the sidebar on the left

4. On the "Accounts" header, next to search box, click the [+] button and then on “Add YouTube account”

5. Select the channels to connect to your team

After your YouTube channels are connected to the team, Amara will:

• Import videos automatically from YouTube to Amara

  • Enable in Settings > Integrations

• Import subtitles automatically when you add a video from your YouTube channel to Amara

• Export subtitles when marked complete on Amara 

• Changes made on YouTube won't be reflected on Amara and may be overwritten. Use Amara to edit subtitles.

You can customize the actions above on your team’s Integration Settings page.

If you are an administrator of two or more teams, you can choose which teams to use for importing and exporting in Settings > Integrations > “Sync subtitles for videos from these teams.”

Adding Videos

To add a video hosted on YouTube to your team:

1. Go to your team page > Management tab

2. Got to the Videos page > click Add Videos

3. Enter the URL of the YouTube video

4. Set video language

Public videos are easiest for Amara users to view and subtitle.

You can also browse the public videos on Amara and click the Add this video to one of your teams link in the left panel.

Checking for importing and exporting issues

Check your video’s privacy settings on YouTube. Allow embedding on videos you want to add to Amara.

Only completed subtitles will export to the connected host site. Click on the video, then the subtitle language, and check to see if the subtitle is marked as “Complete.”

You can review your subtitle export history YouTube on the Integrations page or on the Sync History tab for a set of subtitles.

1. Team Page > Settings Tab > Integrations page:

2. Team Page > Management > Videos > select video > select subtitle language > Sync History tab

View Sync History for a set of subtitles on an old-style team or in the public video library:

Click video card > select language > click Sync History tab:

Submit a support ticket if you continue to have trouble syncing your subtitles.

Privacy and Special Considerations

YouTube video player:

• Videos are hosted on YouTube, so any updates made to the video content on YouTube will be reflected on Amara

• YouTube privacy settings for a video determines what it looks like in the video player where the video is embedded

When you upload a video through your Account integration or through the Subtitle a Video page:

• The video is added to the Amara public library

• Anyone on Amara will be able to see the video page with the video title, description, and any subtitles

• If the video is set to private on the original hosting site, other users will not be able to play it on Amara

• Currently, we do not support re-importing subtitle tracks from YouTube to Amara after the video is added to Amara.

•  YouTube auto-generated subtitles are not imported to Amara.

•  Subtitles imported from YouTube will appear on the Subtitle Details page as “imported with video” by “Amara Bot.”

For videos added to teams:

 Owners and administrators of an Amara team can change the visibility of their team and its videos in Team Settings.

• If the video visibility in a team is set to Private, only the team members (and members of chosen evaluation teams) are able to see the video, thumbnail, title, description, and subtitle text

• If the video visibility is not Private, anyone will be able to access the video and subtitle pages

For videos added to Amara from YouTube:

• The description will contain “Help us caption & translate this video!” with a link to the video page

• Subtitles exported from Amara may contain an end credit in the final subtitle

• If you wish to remove credits, you must disconnect your channel from Amara before manually making changes on YouTube

Thank you for your contributions to support an inclusive and accessible media ecosystem!

If you have any questions or suggestions, please share your feedback!

To submit a quick ticket, click No in the Did you find it helpful link below.