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Dropslate Docs

YouTube

Dropslate publishes to YouTube through the YouTube Data API v3 (videos.insert with a resumable upload, plus thumbnails.set and playlistItems.insert). A scheduled video is created on the channel at once with YouTube’s own publishAt, so it goes public by YouTube’s clock, not a Dropslate timer. Connecting takes a Google account with a YouTube channel.

Account requirements

Section titled “Account requirements”
  • A Google account with a YouTube channel. A Google account without a channel is refused with ?connect=refused.
  • Until Google verifies the app, the consent screen says the app is unverified; you confirm you want to continue. The permissions are the same.
  • Custom thumbnails need a channel that YouTube has verified by phone; otherwise the thumbnail is skipped and the reason is recorded in the post’s notes.

Connect

Section titled “Connect”
  1. Accounts → Networks → YouTube → Connect.
  2. Sign in with the Google account that owns the channel; approve Upload videos, View your channel and Manage your channel.
  3. The channel appears under Your channels. If the Google account has several channels, the one you were signed in to is connected; sign out of Google and connect again for another.
Google's consent screen for Dropslate listing the YouTube permissions requested.

What you can publish

Section titled “What you can publish”
  • Video - one file per post; title (required), description, tags, category, visibility (Public, Unlisted, Private), Made for kids, a thumbnail (an image next to the video), and under More YouTube settings: language, recording date, licence, embedding, public statistics, synthetic-media disclosure, paid promotion, playlist.
  • Short - a vertical video up to 3 minutes is offered to YouTube as a Short automatically; the composer says so under the tab.

From the API and MCP the same fields go in perPlatform.youtube Since 1.2.0; a title, description or tags for YouTube alone go in overrides.youtube Since 1.3.0.

The YouTube tab in the composer: Title, Description and Tags with Same as base toggles, Visibility, Made for kids, thumbnail, Notify subscribers, Category, Playlist and More YouTube settings.

Limits

Section titled “Limits”
Content typeMediaTextTitleTagsOtherNotes
Video
1 file
video: mp4, mov, webm, avi, mpeg, up to 256 GB
5,000 bytes; refused: "<" ">"100 characters; refused: "<" ">"500 characters total, 30 each
links in the text
Description is counted in bytes: a Cyrillic letter is 2.
Links in the description are clickable only on a verified channel.
Timestamps like 00:00 become chapters.
Short
1 file
video: mp4, mov, webm, avi, mpeg, up to 256 GB, duration up to 3 min, aspect 9:16
5,000 bytes; refused: "<" ">"100 characters; refused: "<" ">"500 characters total, 30 each
links in the text
A vertical video up to 3:00 is published as a Short.

Source: developers.google.com/youtube/v3/docs/videos · checked 2026-09-15

Network-specific behaviour

Section titled “Network-specific behaviour”
  • Description is counted in bytes. 5,000 UTF-8 bytes: a Cyrillic letter costs 2. The counter in the tab shows bytes.
  • < and > are refused in the title and description; the plan marks the row forbidden_chars.
  • Timestamps become chapters when the description starts with 0:00.
  • Links in the description are clickable only on a verified channel.
  • Daily quota. The YouTube project Dropslate publishes through has a daily quota shared by every workspace; one upload costs about 1,600 of 10,000 units. When it is spent, the post is retried after the quota resets at midnight Pacific time - the post’s timeline says when.
  • Not settable through the API (YouTube offers no field): Test & Compare thumbnails, recording location, end screens, cards, monetisation and comment settings. Set them in YouTube Studio after upload.
  • Analytics reads views, likes and comments per video and the channel’s subscriber count; YouTube reports no shares or saves through the API.

Common errors

Section titled “Common errors”
Error Cause Fix
?connect=refused Consent declined, or the Google account has no channel. Create a channel on that Google account, connect again.
youtube_title_required / youtube_video_required in the plan A YouTube post needs a title and exactly one video. Add the title; choose one video file.
forbidden_chars < or > in the title or description. Remove them.
youtube_quota_exceeded The project’s daily quota is spent. Nothing to do: the post retries after the reset; the hint says in how many hours.
youtube_upload_limit The channel hit YouTube’s own upload limit for the day. Wait for YouTube’s reset, then Retry.
youtube_token_rejected The Google token no longer works. Reconnect the channel.
youtube_unverified The channel is not phone-verified, so a custom thumbnail or a long upload was refused. Verify the channel in YouTube, then Retry.
youtube_kids_private YouTube refuses the combination of Made for kids and the chosen setting. Change the visibility or the kids flag.
Section titled “Related”