The uploader hands every finished YouTube link to this extension, and it downloads each transcript
for you. Without it the uploads still work — the transcripts just don't come. You install it once.
Which one? The Web Store version is one click and updates itself, but it's only ever
whatever version Google has finished reviewing — usually a few versions behind. The .zip is always
the newest build.
If you tick “Also send to the Podcast Editor”, use the .zip. Carrying a video through
to its podcast project is a newer feature; an older Web Store build will still download the transcript,
but it won't know which episode it belongs to, so nothing appears in the editor.
Installing the .zip in Developer mode — about 2 minutes
Click ⬇️ Download the newest build above. The version is in the filename —
youtube-transcript-extension-v….zip — so you can always see which
build you have, and compare it with a teammate's.
Unzip it. Mac: double-click the file. Windows: right-click → Extract All…
→ Extract. You now have a folder, not a zip — and the folder keeps the
version in its name too.
Move that folder somewhere you won't delete it — Documents, for example. Chrome
loads the extension from this folder every time it starts, so if you throw the folder away or empty
your Downloads, the extension disappears with it.
Open a new Chrome tab and go to chrome://extensions — type it into the address bar and
press Enter. (Links to chrome:// pages can't be clicked, which is why there isn't a
button here.)
Turn on Developer mode — the switch in the top-right corner.
Click Load unpacked (top-left, it appears once Developer mode is on), choose the
unzipped folder from step 3, and click Select / Open.
If Chrome says “Manifest file is missing or unreadable”, you picked the wrong level —
choose the folder with manifest.json directly inside it.
Pin it: click the puzzle-piece 🧩 icon beside the address bar, then the pin next to
“YT Transcript Scraper”.
Go back to the uploader and reload it (Cmd/Ctrl + R). The line at the top of that
page should turn green and name your version.
Updating it later
Download the .zip again and replace the contents of the same folder.
Go to chrome://extensions and click the ↻ reload arrow on the
extension's card.
Reload the uploader page too — a page that was open during the update loses its connection to the
extension, and will say so.
Not sure which version you're running?
Three places tell you, and they should all agree: the line at the top of this page, the version on the
extension's card at chrome://extensions, and the name of the folder you loaded.