YouTube transcripts display a video’s captions as text, offering several benefits.
They allow you to pinpoint words or passages in a video or read along with the audio.
Transcripts also boost accessibility, search engine optimization, and content creation.
This article explains how to search YouTube transcripts on various devices and platforms.
How to Search YouTube Transcripts on Desktop
You can search for words or phrases within YouTube video transcripts using your desktop browser. Just follow these steps:
- Open the desired YouTube video.
- Click the three-dot More menu under the video player.
- Select Open Transcript from the drop-down menu. This displays the video captions as text alongside the video.
- Use your keyboard shortcut (Ctrl + F on Windows or Cmd + F on Mac) to open the browser’s search box.
- Type in your search term and hit Enter. Matching words or phrases will be highlighted within the transcript.
- Click the search box arrows to jump between highlighted matches.
- Select any highlight to go to that spot in the video.
This quick search function lets you scan transcripts for specific dialog, terms, or passages. It then points you straight to the relevant video section.
How to Search YouTube Transcripts on Mobile
To search YouTube transcripts on a mobile device, follow these steps:
- Open the YouTube app on your iPhone, iPad, or Android device and select a video to watch.
- Tap the down arrow on the right side of the video title.
- The video description will appear along with a Show Transcript button; tap it.
- The captions will appear in a box listed along with timestamps.
- Tap the three-dot menu icon to switch between the available languages.
- To search for a word or term, you can use the built-in search function of your device. For example, on an iPhone, you can swipe down from the top of the screen to access the Spotlight Search. On an Android device, you can use Google Assistant or the Google app to search for text on the screen.
- When you have found the section you want, tap on the line to jump straight to that part of the video.
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Benefits of Searching YouTube Transcripts
Searching YouTube transcripts can have many benefits for both viewers and creators. Here are some of them:
- It can save you time and frustration by helping you find the exact part of the video you are looking for, without having to skip through the timeline or watch the whole video.
- It can improve your comprehension and retention of the video content by allowing you to read along with the audio, especially if you are not a native speaker of the language or if the audio quality is poor.
It can enhance your accessibility and inclusion by making the video content more accessible to people who are deaf, hard of hearing, or have other disabilities that affect their ability to hear or understand the audio.
- It can boost your SEO and visibility by making the video content more searchable and indexable by search engines, which can increase your traffic and engagement.
- It can help you with content creation and repurposing by providing you with a written transcript of the video that you can use for other purposes, such as creating blog posts, social media posts, podcasts, ebooks, etc.