Required credentials overview

Depending on the features you want to use, different credentials are required.

Always required

• YouTube Data API Key

Required only for Google Sheets export

• Service Account JSON
• Spreadsheet ID

Required only for transcripts

• OAuth Client Secrets JSON

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Step 1 Create a Google Cloud project

1. Open https://console.cloud.google.com
2. Sign in with your Google account
3. Click Select project
4. Click New project
5. Name it for example youtube-exporter
6. Click Create

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Step 2 Enable the YouTube Data API

1. In the project go to APIs and Services
2. Click Library
3. Search for YouTube Data API v3
4. Click Enable

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Step 3 Create a YouTube Data API Key

1. Go to APIs and Services → Credentials
2. Click Create credentials
3. Select API key
4. Copy the generated key

Optional but recommended:

• Restrict the key to YouTube Data API v3 only

This key is entered into the field:

YouTube Data API Key

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Step 4 Enable Google Sheets API

This step is required only if you want to write data to Google Sheets.

1. Go to APIs and Services → Library
2. Search for Google Sheets API
3. Click Enable

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Step 5 Create a Service Account

This step is required only for Google Sheets export.

1. Go to APIs and Services → Credentials
2. Click Create credentials → Service account
3. Name it for example sheets-writer
4. Finish creation
5. Open the Service Account
6. Go to Keys
7. Click Add key → Create new key
8. Choose JSON
9. Download the file

This file is selected in the application as:

Service account JSON

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Step 6 Share the Google Sheet with the Service Account

1. Open your Google Sheet
2. Click Share
3. Add the service account email The email can be found inside the JSON file under client_email
4. Set permission to Editor
5. Save

Without this step the application cannot write to the sheet.

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Step 7 Get the Spreadsheet ID

Open your Google Sheet in the browser.

The URL looks like this:

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/SPREADSHEET_ID/edit

Copy only the part between /d/ and /edit.

Enter this value into:

Spreadsheet ID

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Step 8 Set the worksheet name

The worksheet name must match exactly.

Examples:

• Sheet1
• Example
• Tabellenblatt1

This value is entered into:

Worksheet name

The name is case sensitive.

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Step 9 Create OAuth Client Secrets

This step is required only if you want transcripts.

1. Go to APIs and Services → Credentials
2. Click Create credentials → OAuth client ID
3. Choose Desktop application
4. Name it for example transcript-provider
5. Create and download the JSON file

This file is selected in the application as:

OAuth client secrets JSON

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Step 10 Configure OAuth consent screen

1. Go to OAuth consent screen
2. Choose External
3. Set an application name
4. Set a support email
5. Set a developer contact email
6. Save

Add yourself as a test user

1. Scroll to Test users
2. Add your Google email address
3. Save

Without adding a test user Google will block the login.

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How to run the project

The project is structured as a Python package and must be started from the project root folder.

The root folder contains:

• youtube_exporter/ directory
• requirements.txt

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Windows quick start

On Windows, you can simply double click start.bat in the project root folder.
This will automatically install all required dependencies and launch the graphical interface.

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Run using Windows Command Line or PowerShell

1. Open the project root folder
2. Open a terminal in that folder
3. Install dependencies

pip install -r requirements.txt

4. Start the graphical interface

python -m youtube_exporter.main

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Run using Visual Studio Code

1. Open Visual Studio Code
2. Click File → Open Folder and select the project root folder
3. Open the terminal via Terminal → New Terminal
4. Install dependencies

pip install -r requirements.txt

5. Start the application

python -m youtube_exporter.main

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Optional Command Line Usage (Advanced)

The tool can also be executed without the graphical interface.

Example:

python -m youtube_exporter.main --api-key YOUR_API_KEY --channel @channelname --max 10

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Common errors and fixes

403 Permission error when writing to Sheets

• The Google Sheet is not shared with the service account
• The service account does not have Editor permissions

400 Unable to parse range

• The worksheet name does not exist
• The worksheet name is misspelled or uses different capitalization

quotaExceeded error

• The YouTube Data API daily quota has been reached
• Wait until the quota resets or use a new Google Cloud project

Transcript field is empty

• The channel does not provide captions
• You do not have ownership or access via OAuth
• This is expected and compliant behavior

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Compliance notice

This project uses only:

• YouTube Data API v3
• Google Sheets API
• YouTube Captions API via OAuth

Transcripts are never scraped. If transcripts are not officially accessible, the field remains empty.

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Summary

• Fully compliant with Google and YouTube policies
• Reusable and configurable
• Safe for client delivery
• No scraping and no policy violations

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End of documentation.