Retrieving Youtube video trascript (subtitles)

itoldusoandso · ‎May 27, 2021

I’m looking for a way to import subtitles to Airtable.

Fir instance Airtable has Youtube video links in one of the columns.

The solution (e.g. script) would grab that link, go to Youtbe and fetch the transcript.

Anybody has attempted this?

Here is somebody who shared a script apparently.

gist.github.com

https://gist.github.com/Phoenix-Effect/fbc8e54af71424d7ce4e86d54182f8b1

main.py

import pafy
import os
import glob
import re
from airtable import Airtable
from airtable.auth import AirtableAuth
import requests
from pathlib import Path
from webvtt import WebVTT

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Dominik_Bosnjak · ‎Jul 02, 2021

Transcripts can be pulled from the YouTube API, check the existing YouTube stats script from the marketplace, this seems to be the matter of querying the right property from YouTube’s servers. There’s really no need to reinvent the wheel, unless your goal is to learn by reimplementing a basic Airtable-YT integration from scratch.

itoldusoandso · ‎Jul 03, 2021

Do you mean this one?
Do I need to have understanding of programming a script?

I assume this is the information I will need?

Dominik_Bosnjak · ‎Jul 03, 2021

Yes, that’s the one. Won’t solve your issue on its own but it’s great for getting acquainted with the YouTube data API.

Videos | YouTube Data API | Google Developers

Do I need to have understanding of programming a script?

You can get by just experimenting with various property names, that links above has a ton to get you started with. Since you’re interested in subtitles, I’d start with this page:

Captions: download | YouTube Data API | Google Developers

There’s even a convenient console in the sidebar to experiment with before getting to the Airtable integration part.

Basically, look into these docs a bit, try to use their info with that script you found, and see if you can manage to poll the data manually with that combo. Afterward is when you should start thinking about how to automate that action, which is still easier than trying to reimplement that Python repo you found and linked to originally.

If that’s too much, Integromat and similar services offer largely drag-and-drop interfaces that should let you do what you want without so much as looking at code. But that will all depend on how often do you need these transcript “pulls” to happen. If it’s not that often, then start with Integromat right away as you might be able to get by just with the free automation quota.