Publishing a Video to YouTube

Open the publishing screen

Click the greyed-out YouTube icon on the video's row in the library.

If YouTube is not connected yet, the screen says so and offers a link to connect it. You only need to do that once.

Choose the channel and visibility

Pick which connected channel to publish to, then set visibility.

If you intend to check the result before anyone sees it, publish as unlisted or private first and change it on YouTube once you are happy. A public upload is announced to subscribers immediately.

Settle the title

The title arrives pre-filled from the video's title in Zyntro, with a 100-character limit and a counter.

There is also a generate control, which writes a title aimed at YouTube specifically rather than at your library. The two jobs are different: a library title helps you find the video, a YouTube title has to earn a click from someone who has never heard of you. Using the generated option and then editing it is usually the quickest route to a good one.

Check the description and tags

Both are filled in from what Zyntro wrote about the video. The description is the longer text; the tags are comma-separated.

This is worth reading rather than accepting. The description was written to sit under a player on your own page, where the reader already knows who you are. On YouTube it is also doing search work, so adding a line naming the subject plainly, and a link back to your site, is usually an improvement.

Decide about subtitles

Upload transcript as captions is on by default and should usually stay on. Captions are read by a large share of viewers, they are used by YouTube's search, and you have already done the work of correcting them.

If your captions still contain mistakes, fix them before publishing rather than after — they are uploaded as they stand.

Choose a thumbnail

The frame you chose with the Thumbnail Time slider is used by default. You can also upload your own image, or use the thumbnail generation screen to produce one.

A thumbnail matters more on YouTube than anywhere else, because your video is shown beside other people's. A frame grab is rarely as effective as an image made for the purpose.

Publish

Push the video. The upload runs in the background and the screen reports progress. Once it completes, the YouTube icon on the video's row in the library turns full colour and links to the published video.

Updating one already published

Opening the screen for a video already on YouTube gives you two options. Update on YouTube changes the existing video — with a toggle controlling whether the title, description and tags are updated along with everything else. Push as a new upload creates a second, separate video on the channel.

Use update after correcting captions or rewriting a description. Use a new upload only when the footage itself has changed, since YouTube cannot replace the file on an existing video.