Search FAQs

Filmot's main menu provides access to these search tools:

• Home: subtitle search. Use Auto for automatic captions or Manual for manually created subtitles and transcripts.
• Metadata: search video titles and details with channel, language, date and other filters, including records without indexed captions.
• More → Channel Search: look up channels by their stored names; channel lookup boxes also accept @handles and IDs.
• More → Unlisted Video Search: browse and search known unlisted video records.
• More → Word Cloud Search: find channels where a word is characteristic.
• More → Transverso: compare how expressions are translated in matching manual subtitle tracks.
• More → Title Restorer: find the optional user script that displays stored historical titles and thumbnails in YouTube playlists.

When signed in, the profile menu also includes My Notes, Saved Searches, Daily Results, API Keys and Settings. Prioritized Channels is available with supporter benefits.

Use the channel lookup box on the home page, subtitle search, metadata search or unlisted video search.

• Type a channel name, @handle or UC channel ID and click the matching suggestion to create a green channel tag. Repeat to add more channels.
• To add several at once, paste a comma-delimited list such as @LinusTechTips,@JerryRigEverything,@Dave2D,@GamersNexus. You can mix handles and channel IDs and select up to 200 channels per search.
• If you enter text without selecting a suggestion, Filmot automatically looks it up and uses up to the top six matching channels. Select the suggestion when you need exactly one channel.
• Where an Include/Exclude switch is available, Include restricts the search to the selected channels; Exclude removes those channels from the results.

To reuse a channel list, bookmark the subtitle or metadata search URL. The selected channels are retained in the address, so you can reopen it and change the query or other filters. Signed-in users can also click the bell button to save a named search with its query, channels, filters and description.

The lookup on the home page and subtitle search only includes channels with subtitles available for search. Metadata and unlisted search include all known channels, even when no captions or transcripts have been indexed.

No. Filmot does not have a reliable indicator of whether a YouTube upload was used as an advertisement. There is no dedicated filter for showing only ad videos or excluding them from search results.

No. Filmot's coverage of unlisted videos is incomplete. Videos that were never publicly shared may not be known to Filmot, and prioritizing a channel does not guarantee discovery of all its unlisted uploads.

An unlisted video is not necessarily intended for unrestricted distribution. Filmot's recorded availability may also differ from the video's current status on YouTube.

Use Unlisted Video Search to browse known records. To request review or removal of a record, use the contact form.

No. Filmot does not provide a submission form for playlist links, individual video IDs or missing video details, and it is not set up to ingest user-supplied records for indexing. Its API also has no endpoint for requesting a video recrawl.

Patreon supporters can add whole channels on Prioritized Channels, using a name, @handle or UC channel ID. Priority indexing improves coverage regardless of view count; it is a channel-level feature rather than a way to submit individual videos.

Filmot's discovery of unlisted videos is incomplete, and it cannot guarantee that any particular unlisted video will be found.

Yes. The /getmetadatasearch endpoint accepts an unlisted parameter: 1 selects records marked unlisted, 0 selects records marked listed, and -1 includes both. The related completeData parameter accepts 1 for complete records, 0 for partial records and -1 for both.

The /getchannelvideos and /getvideos endpoints do not have an unlisted filter. You can request isunlisted in their columns parameter to see the status recorded for each returned video.

Status information may be incomplete or outdated. Use an API key from API Keys and consult the API documentation for applicable limits and terms.