9 essential YouTube tips you'll use every day – CNET

YouTube is already your go-to for playing music videos, learning new skills and subscribing to your favorite personalities and shows. But if you’re just pressing “play,” you’re not doing enough. If you didn’t know you could download 500 songs at once, play back a video starting at a specific point or turn on captions and subtitles, don’t feel bad. 

Just kick back and soak in all the things you can do to make your YouTube video watching and listening experience that much better. Check out these helpful tips that you’ll use daily.

Get YouTube Music to download up to 500 songs for you

YouTube Music is launching a new feature soon called “smart downloads” where you can download up to 500 songs to listen to offline. However, if you have YouTube Music Premium, you may already have access. YouTube chooses the songs based on the type of music you typically listen to. You’ll have control over how many songs YouTube downloads. The music will download at night, over your Wi-Fi connection.

Play back a video starting at a specific time

You’re watching a 38-minute long video and discover a hilarious part, so you send the video to all of your friends and tell them to fast forward to 13 minutes and 20 seconds. But, did you know you can just send them the link from that time point? 

All you have to do is add &t=13m20s to the end of the URL (the numbers can be changed to reflect the time stamp) and your friends won’t have to skip ahead.

You can also pause what you’re watching and hit Share (located below the video) > Start at and copy the link to send to your friends and family.

Make a GIF from a video

It’s easy to make a brilliant GIF to sweep the internet. 

1. Simply type “GIF” before “YouTube” in the URL of the video you’re watching. It’ll look something like this: www.gifyoutube.com. 

2. You’ll be redirected to www.gifs.com, where you can select the clip ($175 at Walmart) you want to turn into a GIF. 

3. From there, you’ll select the part of the video you want to turn into a GIF and click the green check mark located on the lefthand side of the screen. 

4. Click Trim Video.

5. Select Create GIF, then choose who can see it and add a title and tags.

6. Click Next and copy the link to the GIF to share on social media.

Keyboard shortcuts to move forward and backward

Skip ahead in a video by using your arrow and letter keys on your keyboard — on any device. You can go forward or backward in a video on your desktop (you can also use J & L keys to rewind or fast forward 10 seconds). Or if you’re using your phone, double tap the screen to move forward or backward. You can also swipe left or right on your phone to move on to the next video.

To see the full list of keyboard shortcuts on your desktop, click on the three stacked dots in the top right corner and select Keyboard shortcuts.

Save a video for offline viewing on your phone

You can save a video for offline viewing on your phone’s YouTube app if you’re a YouTube Premium member. Simply tap Download and select the display quality. The video will be located in the Library tab when you’re ready to watch.

YouTube TV mode (when watching a movie)

When you’re watching a movie or video on YouTube, YouTube TV mode gives you a larger viewing screen without going into full-screen mode. It’s especially helpful if you’re watching YouTube videos on your smart TV. 

Go to www.youtube.com/tv and enter your Google login information. You’ll have to verify your account information with an on-screen code. The quality of the video you select should automatically be in HD for the best viewing experience.

Turn on captions when you’re in a quiet place

If you’re in a library or at work and you don’t have headphones, you can turn on the captions in a video. All you have to do is click the CC icon.

Also, if the speaker is using a different language you aren’t familiar with, use the built in Google Translate. Tap the settings icon that looks like a gear, select Subtitles > Auto-translate and choose your preferred language. 

Use dark mode

At night time, a bright white screen can be tough on your eyes. Fortunately, YouTube offers Dark Theme to make the light on your screen less harsh. In the YouTube app, go to your settings and slide the toggle switch over. On your computer, click on the three stacked dots in the top right corner, select Dark theme and click on the toggle switch.

Read more about Dark Mode for Android and iPhone apps.

Picture in picture lets you watch video while using another app

You may want to send a text message while playing a YouTube video and that’s where the picture-in-picture option comes in. Picture-in-picture shrinks the video you’re watching into a smaller square that you can move around on your screen. Unfortunately, this is only available for YouTube Premium members on Android mobile devices. 

You can turn this feature on by going to your Android settings > Apps & notifications > Advanced > Special access > Picture-in-picture, select YouTube and toggle the switch on.

See more YouTube Music tips and tricks and learn how to get started with Google’s video service.