Have videos on YouTube you want to turn into a course? Import from YouTube connects your channel, lets you tick the videos, Shorts or playlist you want, and builds a course from them, with each video as a lesson.
Who can do this
- Owners and admins, on Import & migrate (
/settings/import). Staff and viewers see only "Only owners and admins can run imports."
Connect your channel
- Open Import & migrate and find Import from YouTube.
- Click Connect YouTube. Google's sign-in opens.
- Pick the Google account that owns your channel. If Google asks you to choose between your account and a channel, pick the channel.
- Google shows "View your YouTube account". Click Allow (or Continue).
- You're back on Import & migrate with YouTube connected. and your channel's name.
You don't need a Google Cloud account or an API key. Zinstruct only asks for read-only access: it can list your videos, but it can't upload, edit, delete or change the privacy of anything on YouTube.
Browse your videos
Click Browse videos next to your channel. The tabs are:
- All: everything on your channel, newest first, 50 at a time. Use Next → and ← Previous to page.
- Videos and Shorts: the same list, showing one kind. A video counts as a Short when it's 3 minutes or shorter.
- Playlists: your channel's playlists. Click one to see its videos.
Each row shows the title, length, when it was published and its visibility on YouTube. Private videos only play for you, so set them to Unlisted on YouTube before you put them in a course. Live or scheduled streams are marked and can't be imported yet.
Build a course from your videos
- On the browse page, tick the videos you want (up to 50 at a time), or tick the box in the header to select every video on the page. To use a whole playlist, open Playlists and click Make a course: its videos start ticked. Each ticked video shows its lesson number.
- Under Put them in, choose A new course and give it a name, or An existing course and pick it.
- Under Modules, choose a module for your videos with Shorts in their own "Shorts" module, or Everything in one module. A playlist's videos go in a module named after the playlist.
- Under Lesson order, keep The order you ticked them (the default: the first video you tick is lesson 1; Playlist order for a playlist), or choose YouTube publish date (oldest or newest first), title A–Z, or Custom: use the ↑ ↓ buttons in the list to arrange lessons yourself. With Shorts in their own module, Shorts keep that order within it.
- Under Lesson text, choose Use each video's YouTube description or Title only.
- Click Create course (or Add to course). The course builder opens when it's done.
What happens next
- Every lesson is a draft that plays the video from YouTube: you see the YouTube player in the lesson's Video panel, and students see it at the top of the lesson. Nothing is uploaded or changed on YouTube. Uploading a video file in the Video panel replaces the YouTube player.
- Each video's thumbnail is copied into your Media Library and set as the lesson thumbnail.
- A new course is a draft too. Adding to an existing course puts the new modules after its last module and doesn't change anything else in it.
- Rename, reorder or edit the lessons in the course builder, then publish them when you're ready.
- Your channel stays connected until you disconnect it.
Host YouTube lessons on Zinstruct
Lessons you built from YouTube play from YouTube. To have one play from Zinstruct's own player instead (only your students can watch, with no YouTube branding or suggested videos), move its video:
- On Import & migrate, under Import from YouTube, click Host YouTube lessons (the (i) next to it explains what it does).
- Drop your video files on the page, or click to choose them. Use your original files if you have them; otherwise download each video in YouTube Studio (⋮ → Download, 720p) or export your channel with Google Takeout. The page's How to get your video files explains each, including what to do when your channel is a Brand Account.
- Each file is matched to a lesson, by video id when you add Takeout's video metadata spreadsheet (.csv), otherwise by length and title. Check every match, and change or clear any that's wrong.
- Click Move N videos to Zinstruct and keep the page open. Large files go up in pieces, so a short drop in your connection doesn't restart them.
- When a file finishes, its lesson plays the Zinstruct copy and the YouTube player is removed from the lesson. Processing takes a few minutes.
Moving is free up to your workspace's allowance: 1,200 minutes of video. The page shows how much is used. Nothing changes on YouTube. If you need more, contact support.
Import from Google Takeout (no connection needed)
Have a Google Takeout export of your channel? You can build a course straight from it, with every video hosted on Zinstruct:
- On Import & migrate, under Import from Google Takeout, click Import from Takeout.
- Drop the video files from Takeout's videos folder and videos.csv from its video metadata folder, in any order. The page's How to export from Google Takeout covers the export, including Brand Accounts. The other spreadsheets aren't needed.
- Each file is matched to its video by title (Takeout names files after the title) and checked against its length. Fix any pair, or choose Skip this file.
- Choose the Lesson order: YouTube publish date (oldest or newest first), title A–Z, the order you added the files, or Custom — use the ↑ ↓ buttons to arrange lessons yourself.
- Choose a new or existing course, the modules and the lesson text, then click Create course and upload and keep the page open while the files upload.
Each lesson gets its video's title, description (if you chose it) and YouTube thumbnail, and plays from Zinstruct's own player. The videos count toward your 1,200-minute allowance. If a file doesn't finish, its lesson waits on Host YouTube lessons for you to add it there.
Disconnect
Click Disconnect, then Disconnect again to confirm. Zinstruct removes its access at Google and forgets the connection. Courses you already built stay as they are. You can also remove access from your Google account's Third-party apps & services page.
Common messages
- "That Google account has no YouTube channel.": you signed in with an account that doesn't own a channel. Connect again and pick the right account.
- "Zinstruct needs “View your YouTube account” to list your videos.": the permission was unticked on Google's screen. Connect again and leave it ticked.
- "That sign-in link expired.": the Google screen was open for more than 10 minutes. Click Connect YouTube again.
- "Google no longer accepts this connection.": access was removed in your Google account. Disconnect, then connect again.
- "YouTube’s daily limit for Zinstruct is used up.": try again tomorrow.
- "None of the picked videos can be imported": you only ticked live or scheduled streams.
- "Your plan allows N products" (or similar): a new course would go over your plan. Add the videos to an existing course, or upgrade.
- A lesson without a thumbnail: copying that thumbnail failed. Add one in the lesson editor.
- "Moving this video would go over your 1,200-minute allowance": the workspace has moved its allowance. Contact support to raise it.
- "That lesson already has a video on Zinstruct": replace it in the lesson editor instead.
- "videos.csv not added yet" or a file says Pick its video: add videos.csv from Takeout's video metadata folder, or pick the video by hand.
- "These videos add up to N minutes, but your workspace has M minutes of moved video left": skip some files, or contact support.