Learn how to do anything: How to Link to a Certain Time in a YouTube Video

Monday, November 19, 2018

How to Link to a Certain Time in a YouTube Video

This wikiHow teaches you how to create a YouTube link that opens the linked video to a specific time.

EditSteps

EditCopying the Video Link

Open YouTube. Go to https://www.youtube.com/ in your computer's web browser. This will open the YouTube home page.
- If you aren't signed into your account, you can click SIGN IN in the upper-right corner and then enter your email address and password to sign in. This isn't necessary unless the video you want to view is age-gated.
Go to the video you want to use. Search for the video on which you want to link to a specific time, then click or tap the video to open it.
Select the correct time. Go to the time to which you want to link in the video.
Click the "Pause" icon. It's in the lower-left side of the window.
Right-click the video window. Doing so prompts a drop-down menu.
- If the video has annotations enabled, make sure you right-click on a section that doesn't have an annotation. You can also disable annotations by clicking the gear icon at the bottom of the player window and then clicking the red "Annotations" switch.
- On a Mac, hold down the key while clicking the video.
Click . It's in the drop-down menu. Clicking this option will copy the video URL to your computer's clipboard.
Paste the link elsewhere. To paste the link into a text field (e.g., a Facebook post or an email), click the text field, then press either (Windows) or (Mac) to paste in the link.
Add the time stamp manually. If you want to manually link to a specific time in a YouTube URL, do the following:
- Place your cursor on the far-right side of the video's URL.
- Determine the number of seconds into the video you want to link (e.g., if you want to start at the five-minute mark, you would be 300 seconds in).
- Type at the end of the address, making sure to replace "#" with the number of seconds (e.g., &t=43s).
  - For example, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dQw4w9WgXcQ would become https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dQw4w9WgXcQ&t=43s here.
- Select the YouTube video's URL.
- Press (Windows) or (Mac) to copy the URL.
- Paste the URL elsewhere by pressing or .

EditLinking in the Comments Section

Open YouTube. Go to https://www.youtube.com/ in your computer's web browser. This will open the YouTube home page.
- On mobile, you can just tap the YouTube app icon.
Go to the video you want to use. Search for the video on which you want to link to a specific time, then click or tap the video to open it.
Note the time to which you want to link. Go to the section of the video you want to use, then, in the lower-left side of the video player, view the current time stamp.
- For example, if the video is 20 minutes long and you want to link to the five-minute mark, you would see 5:00 / 20:00 in the lower-left side of the video player. In this case, "5:00" is the current time stamp.
Scroll down to the "Comments" section. It's below the video player.
- On mobile, you'll have to scroll down past all of the related video options to reach the "Comments" section.
Select the comment field. Click or tap the comment text field, which is at the top of the "Comments" section.
Enter the time stamp. Type in the time stamp (e.g., ) for the moment to which you want to link.
Click . It's a blue button to the right of the comment field. Doing so posts your comment and turns your time stamp into a live link. You or any other user can click the time stamp to skip to that point in the video.
- On mobile, tap the "Send" icon.