How to copy transcript from YouTube in 2026

Need to copy transcript from YouTube without dragging through a tiny panel? These are the practical methods, from the built-in transcript view to one-click clean markdown.

Method 1: Copy from YouTube's transcript panel

1. Open the video on desktop YouTube.
2. Expand the description and click Show transcript.
3. Use the three-dot menu to toggle timestamps.
4. Select the text in the transcript panel, then copy it.

This is free and official. It is also slow. Long videos can mean hundreds of short caption lines, awkward scrolling, and pasted text that still needs cleanup before it is useful in notes, docs, or AI chat.

Method 2: Copy clean markdown from the extension popup

The YouTube Transcript to Claude popup has a Preview transcript button. Open it on any YouTube watch page, preview the caption track, then click Copy. The extension copies clean markdown with the video title, channel, URL, length, caption status, and timestamped transcript paragraphs.

It prefers manual English captions, falls back to any manual track, then auto-English, then whatever captions exist. Auto-generated tracks are flagged, so you know what you copied.

Method 3: Download a .md file instead

If you want a file instead of clipboard text, use the popup's Download action. It saves the same formatted transcript as a markdown file. That is useful for research folders, course notes, or sharing a source transcript before you summarize a YouTube video.

Copying with or without timestamps

YouTube's panel can hide timestamps, but the raw copy still comes out as caption fragments. The extension keeps timestamps because they make the transcript easier to cite. Each paragraph starts with a [m:ss] marker, grouped around 30 seconds. For more detail, see the guide to YouTube transcripts with timestamps.

Use no timestamps for simple reading. Keep timestamps when you plan to quote, summarize, review claims, or ask questions about a YouTube video.