# YouTube publishing

> Upload Shorts and full episodes to YouTube, finish them in YouTube Studio before they go public, and keep their public times in step with Convia.

> For the complete documentation index, see [llms.txt](https://docs.conviapro.com/llms.txt).

Convia Pro uploads Shorts and full episodes to your YouTube channel, on a schedule or right away. Some things can only be set in YouTube Studio once a video is on YouTube: a custom thumbnail, end screens and a Short's **Related video**. Convia gets your videos there early, privately, and takes you straight to the right page in YouTube Studio.

## Shorts and full episodes

| | Shorts | Full episodes |
|---|---|---|
| Where you publish | A YouTube post: from the post editor, a campaign, **Schedule clips** or an automation | The episode's **Distribution** page, with **Publish to YouTube** |
| Typical source | A clip from the episode | The episode's YouTube video file |
| Finishing in Studio | **Finish on YouTube**, then **Finish in YouTube Studio** | Upload privately, then **Finish in YouTube Studio** |

YouTube decides whether a video is a Short from its shape and length. Convia does not add #shorts. In [Analytics](https://docs.conviapro.com/docs/analytics.md), Shorts are compared only with other Shorts, never with full episodes.

## YouTube settings on a post

Every YouTube post has these settings in the composer:

| Setting | Options and defaults |
|---|---|
| **Published title** | The public video title, up to 100 characters. Leave it blank and the post's internal name is used; with no title at all, one is taken from the start of the text |
| Description | The post text, up to 5,000 characters |
| **Visibility** | **Public**, **Unlisted (anyone with link)** or **Private (only you)** |
| **Scheduled publish time** | When a private video becomes public |
| **Made for Kids** | Required by YouTube. Off unless you turn it on |
| **Category** | People & Blogs unless you choose another |
| **Tags** | Up to 500 characters in total |
| **Default audio language** | The main spoken language |
| Playlist | Optional |

A title over 100 characters, or a description over 5,000, stops the upload with a message saying which is too long, instead of uploading with the end cut off.

Set a channel's defaults under **Default publishing settings** on its card on **Social Channels**. AI assistants connected to Convia can set most of these, but not **Made for Kids**, which stays with you.

## Finish on YouTube

**Finish on YouTube** uploads a video now, privately:

- If the post has a schedule date at least 15 minutes ahead, YouTube makes the video public at that time on its own.
- Without a date, the video stays private until you make it public in YouTube Studio.
- A schedule date in the past, or less than 15 minutes away, is refused, because the video would otherwise go public immediately.

### Finish one post

1. Open the YouTube post.
2. Click the arrow beside **Schedule** and choose **Finish on YouTube**.
3. If the post is dated before its episode's release, confirm with **Upload anyway**.
4. When the upload finishes, the post offers **Finish in YouTube Studio**.

### Finish several posts

Select posts on the **Posts** page, or the Shorts on an episode's **Social Content** page, and choose **Finish on YouTube**. Posts that are not YouTube posts, or are already on YouTube, are skipped. The success message offers **Space them out**, which opens Spread out on the Calendar.

### Make a channel finish on YouTube by default

Turn on **Finish on YouTube** under **Default publishing settings** on the channel's card on **Social Channels**. New videos for that channel then upload privately by default.

### Posts waiting for approval

Owners and managers can finish posts that are waiting for approval. Convia asks first, then approves them, tells their authors and uploads them. For anyone else, those posts stay in the approval queue until a manager approves them. A post a reviewer rejected, and nobody has resubmitted, waits for you to confirm before it is finished, and **Cancel** leaves it as it was. See [Approval & review](https://docs.conviapro.com/docs/approval-and-review.md).

## Finish in YouTube Studio

As soon as a video is on YouTube, including one waiting to go public, its post offers **Finish in YouTube Studio**. It opens that video's edit page in YouTube Studio, and the post names the episode to pick as the Short's **Related video**. Once the video is public, the button reads **Open in YouTube Studio**, and the post shows the published date YouTube set.

Every uploaded YouTube post also has a **Studio** link on the **Posts** page, an episode's **Social Content** page, campaign posts, clip details, automation pages, and the Calendar's **List** and **Agenda** views. Cmd-click or Ctrl-click to open several in their own tabs and work through them without opening each post.

## The Related video routine for an episode's Shorts

YouTube lets you set a Short's related video only in YouTube Studio, and only after upload. The quickest way through an episode's Shorts is to upload them all at once, set their related videos in one sitting, then space them out.

1. On the episode's **Social Content** page, click **Schedule clips** and schedule the episode's clips.
2. Select the Shorts and choose **Finish on YouTube**.
3. Open each Short's **Studio** link and set its **Related video** to the episode Convia names.
4. Click **Space them out** in the success message to spread the Shorts over the days ahead.

You should see the Shorts spread across your posting days, each going public on its new day. Their times on YouTube move only on a channel in the preview described below; on other channels, change them in YouTube Studio. See [Calendar & scheduling](https://docs.conviapro.com/docs/calendar-and-scheduling.md) for Spread out.

## After the upload

- **Title and description** show what is live on YouTube. Change them in YouTube Studio, and Convia picks up the change on its next sync.
- **Tags** you add or change in YouTube Studio appear under your own tags, with **Use YouTube's tags**. Nothing is copied across until you click it.
- **Deleting the post** in Convia leaves the video on YouTube, and the message gives you the link to remove it yourself.
- **The public time** is fixed by YouTube once the video is public.

## Change a finished Short's time (preview)

> [!NOTE]
> Changing a video's publish time from Convia is in preview. It is available only on YouTube channels Convia has added to the preview. If a channel's card does not show **Allow changing videos**, it is not in the preview.

On a channel in the preview, **Allow changing videos** on its card on **Social Channels** lets Convia change the publish time of videos it uploaded. Click it and sign in to Google again. Google shows a notice that this permission is not verified yet; choose **Advanced** to continue.

Then you can:

- Drag a Short that is waiting to go public to a new time on the **Calendar**, an episode's Shorts calendar or a campaign's calendar. The card shows the new time while YouTube is asked, and goes back if YouTube says no.
- Let **Spread out** move uploaded Shorts along with the rest of the queue.

Some limits apply:

- Videos imported from YouTube are always changed in YouTube Studio.
- A video you made unlisted, or unscheduled in YouTube Studio, is left as it is and never set to go public. A publish time you changed in YouTube Studio is kept.
- Changing a time uses part of a daily allowance YouTube gives Convia. If a large Spread out runs out of it, everything else still moves, and **Finish moving** becomes available once the allowance resets at midnight Pacific time.
- If YouTube needs reconnecting, Spread out stops and says so. Reconnect it on **Social Channels**, then choose **Finish moving**.

On a channel outside the preview, Convia does not change an uploaded video's time. If you try, it says the channel has not given Convia permission and points you to YouTube Studio.

## Publish a full episode to YouTube

1. Make sure the episode has its YouTube video file. Until it does, the YouTube card on the **Distribution** page asks you to upload one.
2. On the episode's **Distribution** page, click **Publish to YouTube** on the YouTube card.
3. Pick the **YouTube channel**, then set the **Title**, **Description**, visibility, schedule, category, tags and playlists. You can also stage alternate titles and thumbnails for YouTube's Test & Compare.
4. Click the button at the bottom: **Schedule upload** for a scheduled video, **Upload privately** for a private one, or **Publish to YouTube**. To keep your settings without uploading, click **Save for later**.

If you do not choose a visibility, a full episode uploads as private so you can finish it in YouTube Studio. When the channel has **Finish on YouTube** turned on as a default and no default visibility, the dialog starts on private.

The YouTube card then shows where the upload is:

| Card | Meaning |
|---|---|
| **Uploading to YouTube** | The upload is in progress, which can take a while for large files |
| **Scheduled** | Uploaded, and goes public on YouTube at the time shown. **Edit in YouTube Studio** opens it |
| **Uploaded (private)** | Uploaded with no public time. **Finish in YouTube Studio** to add thumbnails and end screens and make it public |
| **Published to YouTube** | Live, with its visibility. **View on YouTube** and **Edit in YouTube Studio** |
| **Upload failed** | Something went wrong. **Try again** |

Once a full episode is published, edit it in YouTube Studio. **Resync from YouTube**, in the post's **More actions** menu, pulls the latest title, description and visibility from YouTube without waiting for the next sync. A video removed or rejected on YouTube shows **Deleted on YouTube** or **Rejected on YouTube**.

## Related

- [Publishing to each platform](https://docs.conviapro.com/docs/publishing-to-platforms.md): YouTube limits alongside every other platform, and what to do when a post fails.
- [Calendar & scheduling](https://docs.conviapro.com/docs/calendar-and-scheduling.md): Spread out, posting times and the rules for past dates.
- [Episodes & clips](https://docs.conviapro.com/docs/episodes-and-clips.md): the episode pages, clips and the Distribution page.
- [Thumbnails](https://docs.conviapro.com/docs/thumbnails.md): make the thumbnail you then set in YouTube Studio.
- [Approval & review](https://docs.conviapro.com/docs/approval-and-review.md): finishing posts that are waiting for approval.

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Source: https://docs.conviapro.com/docs/youtube-publishing · Section: Planning & publishing · Last updated: 2026-10-03