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How to upload a YouTube Short from a computer

YouTube has no separate "Shorts" upload endpoint — Shorts are just videos that meet a shape (vertical) and length (3 minutes or under) rule, and YouTube classifies them automatically after upload. Both the manual and automated paths below upload the same way; what makes it a Short is the video itself.

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By SkedCast Team · Updated · 6 min read

Key takeaways

  • YouTube's real caption limit is 5,000 characters.
  • YouTube supports genuine native scheduling — SkedCast can hand it the publish time directly.
  • The manual, native way to post is below, alongside exactly what SkedCast automates on top of it.

How to post on YouTube manually

The native, no-scheduler way to post on YouTube, step by step:

  • Go to YouTube Studio (studio.youtube.com) in a browser and sign in with the Google account for your channel.
  • Click Create → Upload videos, and choose a vertical video file that’s 3 minutes or under.
  • Add a title (up to 100 characters) and description, and choose whether it’s made for kids (required by YouTube’s COPPA rules).
  • Publish immediately, or use YouTube Studio’s native "Schedule" option to set a future date and time — YouTube does support this natively.
  • YouTube automatically classifies a qualifying vertical, short video as a Short; there’s no separate manual toggle to force it.

How to schedule it automatically with SkedCast

What SkedCast adds on top of the manual flow above:

  • YouTube is one of only two platforms in this series (with Facebook) where SkedCast can hand the scheduled time to the platform’s own native scheduling, rather than holding it in SkedCast’s own engine — the publish time must be set in the future.
  • SkedCast’s "Publish as a Short" option pre-checks your video against YouTube’s own Shorts shape and length rules before upload, so you catch a video that won’t actually qualify before it’s scheduled — though YouTube always makes the final classification after processing.
  • A single Google account can own multiple channels or Brand Accounts — SkedCast asks you to pick the exact one to connect so uploads never land on the wrong channel.
  • Bulk-schedule a batch of Shorts across a content calendar in one pass instead of uploading and scheduling each one individually in YouTube Studio.
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FAQ

Is there a separate upload process for a YouTube Short?
No — YouTube has no dedicated Shorts upload endpoint. A vertical video that’s 3 minutes or under is automatically classified as a Short by YouTube itself, whether it was uploaded manually through YouTube Studio or scheduled through SkedCast.
Does YouTube support native scheduling?
Yes — YouTube is one of the few platforms in this series with genuine native scheduling. SkedCast can hand the scheduled publish time to YouTube’s own systems rather than holding the post itself.

Ready to broadcast everywhere?

Sign up free — no credit card. You land on the Free plan, and you can start a one-time 7-day Studio trial from your workspace whenever you are ready. Connect your first accounts, import a batch, and watch one post fan out across every platform.