[!CAUTION] Due to rapid or unexpected changes in the YouTube website, the YST extension may stop working after these changes. To ensure continued functionality, please use the API mode as a reliable method. Read API mode docs
YouTube Subscriptions Transfer is a browser extension that allows you to transfer or move subscriptions from one account to another using XPath or API. The extension collects a list of channels and enables you to subscribe or unsubscribe to each channel. It interacts with the DOM using xpath and YouTube Data API v3.
Note: When using XPath mode, YST only works when the YouTube webpage language is set to English (US).
Issue: On Mac, popup close when changing webpage. Quick solution: Opening with inspect window when popup open and stay open inspect window.
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Thanks for the tutorial, Zast
Suppose you regularly watch YouTube videos, and you are subscribed to many of your favorite YouTube channels. Those channels are really good. Now your friend also wants to follow your subscriptions. Your friend requests you to share all of your YouTube subscriptions with their account. In this case, you can show your entire subscription list to your friend, and they can then subscribe to those channels one by one. In this case, the 'YouTube Subscription Transfer Extension' can help you transfer all of your subscriptions to their account automatically.
Suppose you are using your personal YouTube account, and you also use an ad blocker in your browser to skip YouTube video ads. Currently, you are posting your videos to your channel. However, in this case, YouTube might block you, possibly in a few days. Now that you are aware of this, you decide to create a new YouTube account to keep your personal and work accounts separate. You want to transfer your work account subscriptions to your new account. You have the option to do this manually, one by one, or you can use the "YouTube Subscription Transfer Extension" to automatically transfer or move them to your new account
Edge Add-ons | Chrome Web Store |
---|---|
Or get the built zip from the release tab. Then follow the instructions in the Load unpacked extensions section. The /dist folder should be considered as the unpacked zip files.
Below is a comparison:
XPath | API |
---|---|
No need to connect an account | Need to connect an account |
Only works on youtube.com | No need to go to any page |
Slow on webpage loading | API requests, so this is fast |
To use the extension, open the Y (yst) icon from the extension panel. If you are not on the https://www.youtube.com page, click the Open YouTube button.
Wait for the page to load completely and wait for the Ready for accept request signal from the content script. Once connected, the options will look like the screenshot below.
In the Data section, you can see how many subscriptions the extension has collected. If you expand the subscriptions, you will see all the channel IDs. You can also add, remove, or update this list and take action from this list.
YST now supports importing a Google Takeout ZIP file to import a subscription.csv
file in XPath mode. The subscription.csv
file contains channel IDs. During the import of the ZIP file, all channel IDs
are converted to custom URLs
for similarity checks with the YouTube page's subscription list. The conversion process utilizes the YouTube Data API.
Go to the Google takeout manager
Click on All YouTube data included
, then on Deselect all
, then select only subscriptions
and click OK
.
Click on Next step
and then on Create export
.
Wait for the email. You will receive a Google Takeout email containing a link to the ZIP file. Download that ZIP file.
Return to YST
, click on Data
, and below that, you will find the Takeout import
section. Click the Click to choose a ZIP file
button here. Then select and choose your takeout.zip file.
Now, YST will automatically import all channels from the subscription.csv
. Afterward, you can proceed with any actions.
This button will collect all subscriptions from your current active tab on YouTube and save them to the Data section.
This button first collects all of your current subscriptions and compares them with the past data from the Data section. If any of the IDs are present in your current subscriptions, the ID is removed from the subscriptions list.
This button first collects your subscriptions and compares them with the past data. If any of the IDs are present in your current subscription list, the ID remains on the list.
This button will appear when any action is running. You can click it to stop the current task.
The Subscribe and Unsubscribe buttons will only appear when the Subscriptions list is not empty
To use the API mode, you first need to switch to API mode. To do that, go to the Settings
tab and you will see an option called Select Mode.
By default, XPath will be active. Click on API.
Now go to the Home
tab and expand the Account
section. You will see two connect buttons.
Connect your account for the two accounts you want to subscribe or unsubscribe from. On the left side, you will see a radio button. After connecting your channels, choose your primary channel by clicking on the radio button.
Now you will see the Collect Channel
button enabled. Click to collect the channel.
After collecting the channel, choose your new account. Then click the subscribe
button to transfer the subscription. Now wait and observe the success and failure count.
By default, there is a 500ms delay for every API request. You can adjust this value in the Settings
tab.
Add REMOTE_DISABLE: true
to the Setting/XPath text box and save to disable auto-updating of XPath at the extension popup when opened.
If the YouTube website updates its site and any XPath value is broken, you can easily update that value by going to the "Settings" tab and selecting the "XPath" option. Now update the XPath values as json format. You need to add REMOTE_DISABLE: true
for disabling auto update from project xpath value. Now click save.
Manually visit the channel page and perform actions.
API mode will use the
YouTube Data API v3
.
By default, there is a 500 millisecond delay for every API request. This will not affect the XPath mode. You can change this value in the settings tab.
# install dependencies
npm i
# build files to `/dist` directory
# HMR for extension pages and content scripts
npm run dev
# build files to `/dist` directory
$ npm run build
chrome://extensions
.Developer mode
.LOAD UNPACKED
button and select the /dist
directory.About page>ID:
or after building and importing it to the browser extensions tab.First, you need to obtain a client ID and API key from the Google Console. Create a project in the Google Cloud Console by visiting https://console.cloud.google.com/projectcreate. Name the project as YST extension
and then click Create.
Next, enable the YouTube Data API v3 by going to https://console.cloud.google.com/apis/library/youtube.googleapis.com?project=yst-extension and click the Enable
button.
Now, configure the consent screen by switching to the OAuth consent screen
tab.
Select "User Type" as "External."
Save and continue.
Now, input the following details:
Save and continue.
Add the following scopes:
.../auth/userinfo.email
.../auth/userinfo.profile
.../auth/youtube.readonly
.../auth/youtube.force-ssl
Save and continue.
Add the email addresses of your two YouTube accounts as test users. Save and continue.
Your OAuth consent screen is now set up.
Go to the Credentials tab and create credentials.
First, select API key. A popup will display with your API key; note it down.
Now, click on the "CREATE CREDENTIALS" button again and select OAuth client ID.
NOTE:<EXTENSION_ID>
is your Extension ID, which you can find onAbout page>ID:
or after building and importing it from the browser extensions tab.
Configure the following:
Web application
YST OAuth
https://<EXTENSION_ID>.chromiumapp.org
https://<EXTENSION_ID>.chromiumapp.org/provider_cb
Click Create,
and a popup will appear with your OAuth client credentials. Note the Client ID.
Now we have the API KEY
and Client_ID
. Here we have two ways to set up these keys. Recommended and easy way is on the setting page.
Click on the settings tab and below you will find the Google API Console Keys
section. Fill out your two keys carefully.
Now, create a .env.local
file in the root directory and set your client ID and API key.
## Google API Credentials
VITE_CLIENT_ID=
VITE_API_KEY=
Again, run npm run build
and reload the extension from the browser extensions tab.