How to get a YouTube transcript (and what to do if you don’t see it)

How to get a YouTube transcript (and what to do if you don’t see it):
Open the video on YouTube using a computer (this works best). Under the video title, look for the three dots (⋯) next to “Share” and “Save,” then click Show transcript. A text version of everything said in the video will appear on the right side of the screen, and you can scroll, copy it, or click lines to jump to that moment in the video. If you don’t see “Show transcript,” it usually means you’re on a phone app (which often hides it), the creator turned transcripts off, or YouTube is being glitchy. In that case, try opening the video in a desktop browser, switching to “Desktop Site” on your phone, or using a backup site like DownSub to pull the captions. If captions (the “CC” button) don’t exist at all, there may simply be no transcript available.

Using DownSub:
Go to DownSub.com, paste the YouTube video link into the box at the top, click Download, and then choose the TXT or SRT file to get the transcript as plain text.

Summary

• Use a desktop browser, not the YouTube phone app

• Click the three dots (⋯) under the video → Show transcript

• If you don’t see it, try Desktop Site, another browser, or signing out

• Check that CC (captions) exist on the video

• If all else fails, use a backup tool (e.g., DownSub) or the video may not have a transcript at all