A step-by-step guide to bringing your YouTube videos into Voltax
1. What YouTube Ingestion does
YouTube Ingestion lets you bridge your YouTube video library directly into Voltax, so you can publish and monetize your social content through Minute Media's video players (Accompanying Content and Vertical) without manually downloading and re-uploading files.
In short, it lets you:
- Connect your YouTube channel to Voltax with an API key.
- Import videos from that channel into your organization's My Videos library - automatically or by hand-picking.
- Disconnect a channel at any time.
| Why does it help? No more uploading the same file twice. Your YouTube content stays consistent across platforms and becomes monetizable on your own site in a few clicks. |
2. Before you start
You need the Social Ingestion Manager role
Connecting channels and approving imports is reserved for users with the Social Ingestion Manager role. If you can't see the screens described below, ask your Voltax administrator to grant you this role.
With this role, you can:
- Connect and disconnect social accounts.
- View the channel's video library and its metadata.
- Approve which videos are imported into My Videos.
- Set Automatic Imports from your YouTube Channel
| Note: All users can view and use videos once they reach My Videos, but only a Social Ingestion Manager can initiate the import. |
Have these ready
To connect a channel, you'll need:
- Your YouTube channel ID - How to get it
- Your YouTube channel name
- Your YouTube API key - generated from your YouTube/Google account - How to get it
3. Connect your YouTube account
This is the one-time setup that links a YouTube channel to Voltax.
- Go to VMS › Social Ingestions in Voltax.
- Click Connect Social Account. A drawer opens on the right with the connection fields.
- Fill in the fields (see the table below).
- Click Connect Account to create the connection.
- If it succeeds, the connected channel appears in the Social Connections table with its name and details. If it fails, an error message is shown - double-check your API key and account name and try again.
| Field | Required? | What to enter |
|---|---|---|
| Channel ID | Required | Type or paste your YouTube channel ID. |
| Channel Name | Required | Type or paste your YouTube channel name. |
| API Key | Required | Paste your YouTube API key. |
| Channel Category | Optional | Add an extra category that is added to every video imported through this connection (in addition to the category YouTube already assigns). |
| Channel Tags | Optional | Add extra tags applied to every video imported through this connection (in addition to YouTube's own tags). |
| Good to know Every connection is recorded in Voltax's audit log, so there's always a record of who linked the account and when. |
4. Import videos into Voltax
Once a channel is connected, you can bring its videos into My Videos in one of two ways: let the system import everything automatically, or hand-pick videos yourself.
Option A - Automatic import (import everything going forward)
Use this when you want every video added to your channel to flow into Voltax without any action needed on your end; the videos will retain the same category and tags they have on YouTube. If you added any additional categories or tags via the connection table, they will also be added to the videos.
- Open the connection: go to VMS › Social Ingestions and edit the relevant channel connection.
- Turn on Enable Automatic Import.
- That's it. Voltax will start pulling new videos from that channel into your organization's My Videos library.
You can turn off the automatic import at any time simply by turning the toggle off.
| Note: The Automatic Import will only import new videos added to the YouTube channel after the toggle is enabled. Any video uploaded to the YouTube channel before the toggle is turned on won’t be imported automatically and can only be imported via the manual flow. |
| Tip: Automatic import is best for channels where you want everything published. To stay selective, leave it off and use manual import instead. |
Option B - Manual import (hand-pick videos)
Use this when you want to choose exactly which videos go into Voltax.
- Go to VMS › Social Imports.
- Select the channel connection you want to import from.
- Click New Import. A grid shows every video available in that channel.
- (Optional) Narrow the list using the date filter.
- (Optional) Click any video to open a quick preview of the YouTube embed and confirm it's the right one.
- Select the videos you want. Tick them individually, or use Select all. Note that vertical and horizontal videos are displayed separately, but can be imported together.
- Click Import. Voltax starts transferring the files.
|
How long does it take? A. When connecting the channel for the first time, it might take up to 24 hours to show all the videos’ data in the New Import grid. The process of populating the grid with historical video data happens only once when connecting the channel. After that, the data will always appear in the grid. B. Manually imported videos appear in My Videos anywhere from a few minutes to a couple of days, depending on how many you imported. C. If Automatic Import is enabled, any video uploaded to the connected YouTube channel would be imported into My Videos up to an hour after being added to the channel. |
| Already imported? Videos that are already in Voltax are clearly marked in the grid (a disabled check mark), so you won't import the same video twice. |
| Note: The system can import videos that are up to 15 minutes long. Videos longer than that can’t be uploaded to Voltax using the Social Ingestion tool and must be imported separately via the usual import-videos flow (by uploading a file or pulling an MRSS feed). |
5. Disconnect a YouTube account
Disconnecting stops Voltax from syncing with a channel. Videos you already imported stay in Voltax.
- Go to VMS › Social › Social Connections.
- Click the Disconnect Account icon next to the channel in the table.
- Read the confirmation message, and confirm to proceed.
- Voltax revokes the channel's access tokens. The connection is removed, Automatic Import is stopped (if it was on), and the action is logged. Following deletion of the connection, the publisher may request the deletion of any previously imported videos at any time by submitting a written request.
| Reconnecting later You can reconnect the same channel any time by repeating the steps in Section 3. Videos already in My Videos are unaffected. |
6. Quick answers
Q. Who can connect a channel or approve imports?
Only users with the Social Ingestion Manager role. Standard users can use videos once they're in My Videos, but can't start an import.
Q. What's the difference between automatic and manual import?
Automatic import brings in every new video uploaded to a connected channel. Manual import lets you hand-pick specific videos and is also the only way to import old videos (those uploaded to the connected channel before Automatic Import was enabled).
Q. Will I accidentally import the same video twice?
No. Videos already in Voltax are flagged in the import grid with a disabled check mark.
Q. How long until imported videos show up?
Between a few minutes and a couple of days, depending on how many videos you imported.
Q. If I disconnect a channel, do I lose my videos?
No. Disconnecting only stops syncing. Videos already imported stay in Voltax.1