Search FAQs

Both subtitle search and metadata search support sorting, but their controls and default rankings differ.

Default order: subtitle search combines text relevance with video views and channel subscriber count, so popular videos from larger channels tend to rank higher. Metadata search uses title relevance when you enter text. With filters alone and no title query, metadata results follow the order records were added to the index unless you select another sort.

Subtitle search: open Sort By in the left sidebar and choose:

• Date New-Old / Date Old-New: upload date, newest or oldest first.
• Index New-Old / Index Old-New: when the video was added to Filmot's subtitle index, most recent or earliest first.
• Views High-Low / Views Low-High: recorded view count.
• Likes High-Low / Likes Low-High: recorded like count.
• Channel Rank High-Low / Low-High: Filmot's channel score.
• Duration Long-Short / Duration Short-Long: video length.
• Channel Variety: a mix of channels where possible, using each channel's best text match to reduce domination by one channel. It has no ascending or descending direction.
• BM25 Match: text relevance without the view-count or subscriber boost, best match first. It also has no direction option.

Metadata search: use the arrows in the table headings for Uploaded, Duration, Views, Likes, Dislikes where available, and Last fetch. The down arrow sorts high to low, or newest first for dates; the up arrow reverses the order. AutoSubs and ManualSubs cannot be sorted.

Counts are stored snapshots rather than live YouTube statistics. Last fetch indicates when Filmot last encountered information about the video, not necessarily when its statistics or subtitles were updated.

Index order applies to the results of a search, rather than a separate listing of every video. The date-range fields under Filters always refer to upload date, even when results are sorted by index date.

Filmot has no sort based on the exact number of times a term appears in a video, and no sort by transcript word count.

The closest option is BM25 Match under Sort By in the subtitle-search sidebar. This relevance score considers term frequency, how rare a term is across the index and document length, with an additional boost when query words occur close together. A video where your term appears frequently may rank higher, but the ordering is not an exact occurrence count.

Other available sorts include recorded views, likes, upload date, duration, channel rank, index date and channel variety.

Metadata search includes a Show Trends chart for matching videos. After running a search, open the chart to see weekly totals for videos, channels and recorded views, grouped by video upload date.

These are trends in the videos matching your query, rather than the number of searches people make, as measured by Google Trends. The view figures are stored counts, not live YouTube statistics.

To focus on a period, zoom the chart and click Filter By Chart Dates. Filmot reruns the search using that upload date range.

Filmot's search totals are approximate. The displayed numbers of matching videos, channels and other result summaries are estimates, rather than exact counts. They can differ from the number of records you can page through or export.

Filmot limits how far you can page through search results for performance reasons. There is no control for jumping directly to a specified page.

Use filters such as channel or upload-date range to narrow a large search. Exports are subject to per-file limits: up to 60 subtitle-search rows or 100 metadata-search rows without patron benefits, and up to 10,000 rows with patron benefits, reduced to 2,500 when full subtitles are included.

The results on a numbered page can change as Filmot's index is updated.

Filmot does not offer an alphabetical sort by video ID. Subtitle search supports upload date, index date, views, likes, channel rank, duration, channel variety and BM25 relevance. Metadata search supports upload date, duration, views, likes, dislikes and Last fetch.

To order records by ID, export the results with the video ID column selected and sort the downloaded file in a spreadsheet or script. Available formats include CSV, Compact CSV, JSONL and ZIP.

The usual export limits apply: up to 60 subtitle-search rows or 100 metadata-search rows without patron benefits; up to 10,000 rows with patron benefits, reduced to 2,500 when full subtitles are included.

Filmot collects video descriptions, but their text is not indexed for search. Subtitle and metadata searches do not match words that appear only in a description.

Accounts with patron benefits can include stored descriptions in search-result exports, subject to the export limits. Depending on various factors the urls in the collected descriptions might be truncated.

No. Filmot does not collect or index YouTube comments, so their text cannot be searched on the site. Filmot searches video subtitles, captions and transcripts, together with titles and other video or channel metadata.

Filmot collects and stores original video titles. It does not keep translated versions of titles, so title searches use the original text recorded for each video.

Transverso searches for a word or expression in one subtitle language and shows corresponding lines in a second language from the same videos. It helps you see how a phrase is translated in real caption context.

1. Enter your word or expression, using double quotes for an exact phrase.
2. Choose the Search Language, or Detect Language, and the Target Language.
3. Run the search. Results show both language versions, a button to play the video at the matching moment and a link to its side-by-side subtitles page.

Transverso uses selected manual subtitles aligned between language pairs. It does not use automatic captions and does not cover the entire subtitle index, so some videos found by regular search will not appear. Less common language pairs may have fewer examples.

Use subtitle search for broader coverage, or a video's side-by-side page to compare two available subtitle tracks directly.

Search for a word, idiom or expression to hear it used in real YouTube videos. This can help with pronunciation, listening comprehension, conversational vocabulary and understanding how a phrase actually sounds in context.

1. Enter the word, or put a multiword expression in double quotes, such as "ça marche".
2. Search automatic or manual subtitles and select your target language in the results sidebar. Automatic captions are often useful for locating spoken examples; a manual subtitle track may be a translation rather than the language you hear.
3. Play a result at its matching timestamp. On Settings, the Delay Video Start option can begin playback a few seconds before the match so you catch the surrounding sentence.
4. Compare examples from several videos or channels. Replay the passage and repeat it aloud if you are practising pronunciation or shadowing.

Country and channel filters can help you look for regional usage, but a channel's country does not guarantee the speaker's accent, dialect or native language. Listen to the audio and check the context: captions can mishear or mis-transcribe words, and a frequently occurring expression is not necessarily appropriate for every situation. Filmot surfaces real spoken examples; it does not score or assess your pronunciation automatically.

In subtitle search, hovering over a thumbnail can load a YouTube iframe and start playback at the first matching caption. Moving the pointer away before playback begins cancels the preview. Hover autoplay is currently enabled by default.

To disable it, use the Autoplay switch on the subtitle results page, or open Settings, set Autoplay videos on mouse-over to No and save. You can still click a thumbnail to play the video.

Loading a YouTube iframe may allow YouTube to receive technical information about your browser and visit under its own privacy practices. Disabling hover autoplay prevents automatic video previews. On metadata search, unlisted search, channel pages and My Notes, clicking a thumbnail opens a floating window with the player inside the iframe.

Saved-search digests normally run daily, but delivery is not guaranteed at a fixed time. Newly matching records may also be delayed until they appear in Filmot's index.

If an expected message has not arrived:

1. Open Saved Searches in the account that owns the search. Confirm that Send daily email digest is enabled and your active searches are within the account allowance.
2. Check the recipient address. A custom address must be verified before it can receive digests; also check your spam folder.
3. Review the last-run and email status. Daily Results can help distinguish a search that has not run from an email-delivery problem.
4. Use Run or Run All Active to test the search, and Send Combined Email to test delivery. If problems continue, contact support with the visible error or status, but do not send verification links or unnecessary personal information.

Alerts cover newly discovered matches, which may include videos uploaded earlier. A day without an email may simply mean no new results matched.