How to Share Videos

Sharing video online can be tough. Often, video files are just too large to share as attachments over email or text messages. Luckily, there are many options you can use to share videos both privately and publically. This How.com.vn teaches you a few different methods to share videos.

Method 1

Method 1 of 4:

Sharing a Video From a Smartphone or Tablet

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Open your Gallery or Photos app. If you are using an Android device, tap the Gallery icon to open the Gallery. On iPhone and iPad, tap the Photos app to view your photos and videos. The Photos app has an icon that resembles a colorful flower.
- Some videos may be too large to share over email, social media, or as a direct message. Use this method to share brief videos with your friends and family. For larger videos, you can share videos using YouTube, Google Drive, or Dropbox.
Tap the video you want to share to open it on your phone.
This displays the video options at the bottom and top of the video.
On Android, the share icon resembles 3 dots connected by lines. It appears at the bottom of the screen. On iPhone and iPad, it's the icon that resembles a square with an arrow pointing up. It's in the upper-right corner.
To share the video on a specific app, tap the app you want to share the video file over. You can share it over Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Facebook Messenger, Messages, YouTube, Mail, Gmail, and more. This attaches the video to a message or post in the app. You can also tap a contact to share the video with a contact over a text message.
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Add a contact. If you are sharing the video over email, text message, or direct message, you will need to add a contact. Enter the email address of the recipient in the "To" line or tap the name of the contact or friend you want to share the video with.
- If you are sharing the video over Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, or another social media platform, you can share the video to your wall or stories without having to select a specific contact.
Use the message box to compose a brief message about the video for your friends or contact to read before viewing the video.
Depending on which app you are using, tap the icon that resembles a paper airplane, or says Send or Post. This will send the video over the app.
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Method 2

Method 2 of 4:

Using YouTube

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Go to https://www.youtube.com/ in a web browser. YouTube is one of the best options for sharing videos with other people. You can upload as many videos as you want and control the visibility settings so that you can control who sees the video. The only downside is YouTube doesn't have an option to download videos. This means that this is probably not the best option for video editors that want to collaborate on a project. It's great for sharing videos with the public and friends.
- If you are not signed in to YouTube, click Sign In in the upper-right corner and sign in with the email address and password associated with your Google account.
- In order to upload videos that are longer than 15 minutes and link videos to external websites, you must verify your YouTube account.
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Click the camera icon. The camera icon with a plus (+) sign on it is in the upper-right corner of the YouTube web page. This displays a drop-down menu for uploading videos to YouTube.
- If you have a video on your smartphone or tablet, you can upload a video to YouTube directly from your phone using the YouTube app.
It's the first option in the drop-down menu that appears when you click the camera icon.
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Drag and drop the video file in the "Upload Video" window. It's the window with the blue button in the center of the screen. You just need to navigate to the video file on your computer and click and drag the file into the window.
- Alternatively, you can click the blue button that says Select Files and navigate to the video file you want to upload and select it. Then click Open.
Use the box labeled "Title" to provide a brief but descriptive title for your video. Use the box labeled "Description" to provide a detailed description of the video.
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Select a thumbnail for the video. This is the image that appears on YouTube when your video appears in search results and on YouTube. Click one of the images from the video to select a thumbnail image.
- Alternatively, you can click Upload Thumbnail option and select a custom thumbnail image file from your computer. Then click Open to upload the thumbnail image.
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Select if your video is made for kids or not. In order to comply with the Children's Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA), YouTube now requires you to mark if your video is made for kids or not. Scroll down and click Yes, it's made for kids or No, it's not made for kids below the "Audience" section.
- Marking your video as "Yes, it's made for kids" may affect your revenue from targeted advertising, if that's your goal. However, improperly marking a video as not made for kids may cause YouTube to take action against your account, and you could face fines from the FTC.
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Click Next. It's the blue button in the lower-right corner.
- If you plan on making your video publically searchable, it's recommended you click More Options at the bottom at the page. This displays more options that allow you to add search tags to your video, add a language and recording date, add age restrictions, control the comments section, and more.
If you want to add an end card or video card to your video, click Add next to the option you want to add. Follow the instructions to add a video card or end card to your video. If you just want to upload your video so you can share it, click Next to continue.
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Select a visibility setting. This is where you can control who is allowed to see your video and who is not. Select one of the following options.
- Public: This makes your video public and viewable by everyone. Anyone can search YouTube and view your video.
- Unlisted: This sets your video to unlisted. Anyone with the link to your video can view it, but your video will not be searchable on YouTube.
- Private: This option makes your video viewable to specific YouTube accounts you decide are allowed to view the video.
11
Click Save. This saves your video and uploads it. Your video will be available after it is processed.
- If you want to schedule a time when your video will be published, click the radio option next to "Schedule" and use the drop-down menus to select a date and time when you want the video to be published.
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Click the icon that resembles two stacks of paper. It's next to the link for your video. This copies the link so that you can paste it.
- Alternatively, you can click one of the social media icons to share it. You can share it on Facebook, Twitter, Reddit, Email, and more.
You can share the video in a social media post, email, direct message, or more. To paste the link, right-click and select paste.
After you compose a message with the link to the video, click the button to send the message. Your friends will be able to click or tap the link in the message to view the video on YouTube.
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Method 3

Method 3 of 4:

Using Google Drive

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Go to https://drive.google.com/ in a web browser. Google Drive is a cloud storage service. You can use Google Drive to upload and share files with other people. They can also download the files you share with them for their personal use. This is a good solution for video editors who want to collaborate on a project. Google Drive offers 15 GB of storage with a free account. That is plenty of storage needed to upload videos and share them with other people. If you need more storage, you can [Use-Google-One|purchase a Google One account]] starting at $1.99 per month for 100 GB of storage.^{[1]XResearch source}
- If you are not automatically signed in to your Google account, click Sign In in the upper-right corner and sign in with the email address and password associated with your Google account.
- You can upload videos from your smartphone or tablet using the Google Drive mobile app and share them from inside the app.
It's in the upper-right corner of the Google Drive home page. This takes you to your Google Drive storage.
It's in the upper-left corner. It's next to an icon that resembles a blue, green, red, and yellow plus (+) sign. This displays a drop-down menu.
It's the second option in the drop-down menu.
This uploads the video to Google Drive.
After the video file uploads to Google Drive, click it to select it.
This is the Share icon. It's in the upper-right corner of Google Drive.
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Enter a contact name or email address. Use the field below "People" to enter the name of a contact or an email address.
- Alternatively, you can click Get Sharable Link in the upper-right corner. This displays a link you can copy and paste in a direct message or email to share with people. Click Copy Link to copy the sharable link. Right-click and click Paste to click to paste the link in an email, direct message or social media post.
If you want, you can use the field that says "Add a note" to add a brief description for the video.
It's the blue button at the bottom of the dialogue box. This button appears when you add a contact or email address. This sends the video to your contact. The contact will receive an email with the video file. They can click Open to view the video file.
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Method 4

Method 4 of 4:

Using Dropbox

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Go to https://www.dropbox.com/ in a web browser. Dropbox is one of the more popular cloud storage services. Cloud storage allows you to save files online and share them only with people you want to have access to the files. The people you share the files with can also download the files for their own personal use. This is a good option for video editors who want to collaborate on a project. A free Dropbox account gives you 2 GB of storage, which is enough to upload a couple of large video files. You can purchase more storage space if you need it. ^{[2]XResearch source}
- You can share videos from your smartphone or tablet using the Dropbox mobile app.
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Sign in or create a new account. If you do not have a Dropbox account, fill out the form on the right, click the checkbox next to "I agree to the Dropbox Terms". Then click Sign Up. If you already have a Dropbox account, click Sign In and enter the email address and password associated with your Dropbox account and click Sign In.
- You can also click the option to sign in with your Google account or Apple ID.
It's at the top of the menu to the right.
Use the file browser to navigate to a video file you want to upload. Click it to select it and click Open.
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Select a folder and click Upload. Click a folder on Dropbox to select the location you want to upload the video file too. Then click Upload.
- Alternatively, you can create a new folder. To do so, click Create new folder below the list of files and folders uploaded to Dropbox. Type a name for the folder and click Create.
Navigate to the folder that has the video file and click the checkbox next to it.
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Click Share. It's below the video details in the upper-right corner. This displays a drop-down menu.
- Alternatively, you can click the drop-down menu next to "Share" and then click Connect apps. Click Connect next to an app you want to share the file with. You can share the file over Gmail, Outlook, Microsoft Teams, Trillo, Slack, Zoom, Whatsapp, and Workforce by Facebook.
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Enter an email address or contact name. Use the line that next to "To" to enter an email address or the name of a contact name.
- Alternatively, you can click Create link in the lower-right corner to create a share link. Then click Copy link in the lower-right corner to copy the link. You can paste the link in an email, or direct message to share the video.
If you want, you can add a brief description of the video in the field that says "Add a message".
This sends an email to your recipients. They can click View File in the email message to view the video.
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