Publish to YouTube
To publish to YouTube from Selects, you connect your YouTube channel once, choose what to post, fill in the video details, and click [Publish]. Selects uploads the video for you, so you do not need to export a file first.
Open the project with the timeline or video you want to publish.
Click [Export] in the top right, then choose [YouTube] under [Socials].
Choose what to publish with the tabs on the left: [Timeline] or [Video]. Click the timeline or video you want.
If you picked a timeline, [Render settings] opens. Choose a [Resolution] and a [Frame rate], then click [Render]. Selects starts with FHD (1080p), or 4K if your timeline is 3,840 pixels wide or more, and the frame rate of your timeline. A video you already have skips this step.
The first time, click [Connect to YouTube]. Your browser opens: sign in to Google, pick your channel, and approve access, then return to Selects. When it is done, the window shows Connected as and your channel name.
Fill in the video details on the right. See Video details below.
Wait until the preview finishes loading, then click [Publish].
Keep Selects open while the video uploads. The status moves from Uploading to YouTube to YouTube is processing your video to Published to YouTube. Click [View on YouTube] to open the video.
Note: While YouTube is processing your video, it already appears in YouTube Studio. It may take a few minutes for higher resolutions to become available.
Video details
The video details for YouTube sit on the right side of the window. Visibility and audience always start empty, so you choose them for every video.
Title: required, up to 100 characters. A counter shows how many you have used.
Description: optional, up to 5,000 characters. A title or description cannot contain the < or > symbols.
Visibility: choose [Public], [Unlisted], or [Private]. You must pick one.
Audience: required. Choose [Yes, it’s made for kids] or [No, it’s not made for kids]. YouTube asks this for every video because of children’s privacy laws such as COPPA.
[Altered or synthetic content]: turn this on if the video has realistic content that was meaningfully altered or generated with AI. YouTube may show a label to viewers. It is off by default.
[Notify subscribers]: on by default. YouTube sends a notification to your subscribers when the video is published. Turn it off to publish quietly.
Under the details, Selects shows the terms you agree to by publishing: YouTube’s Terms of Service and the Google Privacy Policy.
Note: Selects does not set a thumbnail, category, tags, or playlist. Change those in YouTube Studio after the video is published.
Which videos you can publish to YouTube
A video you already have in your project must meet these requirements before you can publish it to YouTube:
Format: MP4, MOV, or WebM
Video codec: H.264, H.265, VP8, or VP9
Frame rate: 23 to 60 fps
Size: width and height between 360 and 4096 pixels
File size: up to 4 GB. YouTube itself accepts larger files, but Selects checks for this limit before it uploads.
Length: up to 15 minutes, unless your channel is verified
If a video is longer than 15 minutes and your channel is not verified, verify your channel on YouTube or trim the video.
Publish several videos to YouTube at once
To publish several videos to YouTube at once, select up to 10 timelines or videos in one go. Selects uploads them one at a time, all to the same channel.
In the YouTube window, tick the checkbox next to each timeline or video. A counter shows how many you picked, for example 3 of 10 selected.
Click [Next (N)]. With more than one item picked, the batch window opens. With one item picked, the usual single-video window opens. Timelines in a batch render at the default settings, so there is no render settings step.
Click each video in the Posts in this batch list and fill in its details. [Copy these settings to all] copies the title, description, visibility, audience, and the other switches from the video you are on to every video in the batch. You can still change each video afterward.
When every video shows [Ready], for example 3 of 3 ready, click [Publish N] and confirm.
Keep Selects open until every upload finishes. The progress reads, for example, 2 of 3 uploaded.
To drop a video, click [Remove from the batch]. To pick different videos, click [Change selection]. To stop, click [Cancel and close]: the upload in progress stops and videos still waiting are not sent. Videos already uploaded keep processing on YouTube.
Manage your YouTube channel
To manage your YouTube channel in Selects, open [Manage channel] next to your channel name in the YouTube window.
[Switch channel]: sign in again and pick a different channel
[Disconnect]: remove the connection from Selects
If you connected more than one channel, pick the one to publish to in the list. Your visibility and audience choices reset when you change channel.
Learn more about the Export menu in Export your edit to editing software, or as a transcript or video.
FAQs
Can I publish a video to YouTube from Selects?
Yes. You can publish a timeline or a video to YouTube from Selects. Click [Export], then choose [YouTube] under [Socials]. Selects renders timelines for you, so you do not export a file first.
Why can I not click Publish for my YouTube video?
The [Publish] button stays off until the video is complete, and Selects shows the reason above it. The usual reasons are: no YouTube channel connected, no title, no visibility chosen, no audience chosen, the preview is still loading, or the video is too long for your channel.
Do I need to keep Selects open while a video uploads to YouTube?
Yes. Keep Selects open until the upload finishes. To stop, click [Stop upload]. YouTube may already have received part of the video, so check YouTube Studio before you try again. Once the upload is complete and YouTube is processing it, you can close the window.
What does “Publishing stopped, confirmation needed” mean for YouTube?
It means Selects could not confirm YouTube’s reply. Open YouTube Studio and check whether the video is there. If it is not, turn on I checked YouTube Studio and confirmed this video was not uploaded, then click [Review a new attempt]. If the video is there, do not upload it again.
What if YouTube says the daily upload quota is reached?
When you see “Selects has reached YouTube’s daily upload quota”, try again after midnight Pacific Time. If YouTube says the video is a duplicate of one already on your channel, it rejected the upload: change the video or remove the older copy first.
What if my Google account has no YouTube channel?
If YouTube says there is no channel for the account, create a channel on YouTube, then click [Connect to YouTube] again.
What if Selects says to update the app to connect YouTube?
If you see “Update Selects to connect your YouTube channel”, your version of Selects is too old to connect. Update Selects to the latest version, then click [Connect to YouTube] again.
Can I publish to TikTok too?
Yes. TikTok sits next to YouTube under [Socials]. See Publish your video to TikTok from Selects.