How to Add YouTube Videos to Google Docs

Google Docs is arguably the best cloud-based word processor and makes document creation super easy. However, despite its online-focused nature, Google Docs cannot embed YouTube videos. How demoralizing! It’s also a bit surprising as both services are part of Google’s suite of web apps.

Don’t be disappointed. There is a workaround you can use to easily add playable videos to your documents. Better still, videos should also be playable to anyone you share them with online, provided they have the appropriate permissions.

So, if you want to overlook a few minor annoyances, here’s how to add YouTube videos to Google Docs.

How does it work

Since Google Docs doesn’t have a built-in function for adding videos, our workaround involves using Google Slides, which supports embedding YouTube videos. It is very useful for creating great presentations with rich media elements.

This way, any video you add to the Slides presentation can be copied and pasted into a drawing in Google Docs. Videos added in this way can be played instantly when double-clicked on them. Sounds good, right? Follow these steps to make the whole procedure easier to follow.

Stage 1: Start Google Slides and then create a new blank presentation.

Great Tip:

Step 2: Open the Insert menu and then click Video.

Stage 3: Search for the video or feed the URL of the YouTube video in the Add Video dropdown. In the latter case, switch to the By URL tab.

Step 4: Click Select to add the video to the Google Slides presentation.

Step 5: The video should appear on a slide. Right-click the video frame, and then click Copy.

Step 6: Go to Google Docs and then upload the document where you want to embed the YouTube video.

Place the cursor where you want the video to appear. Next, open the Insert menu, point to Drawing, and then click New.

Step 7: In the Drawing Pane that appears, use the shortcut Ctrl+V to paste the video into the drawing. Click Save & Close to add the video.

Step 8: The video should appear inside the document. Use the handles surrounding the video to resize the frame.

Step 9: Make sure to use the Inline, Wrap Text, and Cut Text options at the bottom of the video to move the frame the way you want it within the document.

Step 10: You may have noticed that the video does not have a Playback icon. So how can you play? You need to open the Drawing pane where you originally added the video.

To do this, double click the picture and then click the Play icon to start playing the video!

You should see a full set of YouTube controls to manage the video too! When you’re done, click Save & Close to exit the video. Yes, it’s a bit annoying to both embed and play videos this way, but until Google applied the necessary tweaks, we were stuck.

When it comes to sharing your documents containing videos, you need to provide editing permissions for others to play them. It would be perfect if it worked for everyone no matter what permissions they have, but that’s a limitation you have to put up with if you plan to use this functionality.

Improving User Experience

YouTube videos you add appear as images. So other people may not actually know that this is a video. You have to double click the video to play it.

Of course, you can leave the instructions somewhere in the document. But even better, use the text insertion tools in the Drawing pane to create a message in the video frame itself.

In case you were wondering, any text placed over the video is lost during playback. Make sure the text box does not overlap the Play icon in the video frame.

You can also stretch the video frame to the entire pane so that viewers don’t feel like they’re watching in the Drawing pane.

This will not affect the dimensions of the video in the original document, so don’t worry.

things to remember

There are a few things to keep in mind when embedding YouTube videos. Consider referencing the list below for details on the workaround mentioned above.

Point 1: Only YouTube videos are supported. While Google Slides allows you to add videos hosted on Google Drive to presentations, it won’t work in Google Docs using the workaround above. If you have your own videos that you want to embed, consider uploading them to YouTube first.

Point 2: Some YouTube videos may not work. Usually these videos are restricted from playing anywhere other than YouTube and you can’t do anything about it unless you post them on your channel.

Point 3: Only people with permission to view or comment on the document cannot play the videos. Once again, you need to enable edit permissions for the public link you share or for the individual people you add to your document. In the first case, consider making a backup of the document as a security measure against vandalism.

point 4: You cannot perform this workaround on mobile phones. While using the Google Docs app on iOS and Android, neither you nor anyone else with editing permissions can play videos added in this way.

5th point: Once you’ve added the uploaded artwork to Google Docs, you can safely delete the Google Slides presentation you originally added the video to.

Embed Videos

So, what do you think about this workaround? Admittedly, it’s not the most convenient way to add videos, but it will come in handy most of the time, especially since your collaborators can view them without a hitch.

We hope Google adds custom video functionality to Docs. After all, if it’s in Slides, why not in Docs? Until then, use this method to embed YouTube videos as and when needed.

Next up: Hard to make the full transition from Microsoft Word to Google Docs? Click the link below to find out a few reasons why you should quit for good.