Type a word or phrase, get every video where it appears in the captions — with timestamps. Free, no signup.
No signup required — your first search is free
YouTube caption search is a way to search inside the closed captions of YouTube videos for specific words or phrases. Captions — whether auto-generated by YouTube or manually uploaded by the creator — are timestamped text. A caption search tool indexes that text and lets you query it like a document.
VideoSherlock takes the captions from thousands of YouTube videos and makes them searchable. You type a word or phrase, and we return every video where that text appears in the captions, along with the exact second it was spoken. No more scrubbing through 30-minute videos hoping to find the moment you remember.
This is different from YouTube's own search bar, which only matches video titles, descriptions, and tags. Caption search reaches into the spoken content. It's how you find specific quotes, track topics, verify claims, or extract research without watching every video end-to-end.
Step by step
Enter the words or phrase to search for
Type a single word or a multi-word phrase. Quoted phrases get exact-match treatment. Specific phrases like "the bottom line is" or "in our experience" tend to surface high-quality moments.
Optionally narrow down by channel or date
Filter to a specific channel, sort by upload date, or limit to recent videos. Useful when monitoring competitors or tracking how a topic evolved over time.
Read the caption matches with timestamps
Each result shows the matching caption snippet with surrounding context, the video title, and the exact timestamp. Skim the snippets to confirm the moment is what you were looking for.
Click to jump to the moment
Open the result and YouTube starts at that exact second. Watch the moment in context, copy the quote, or save the clip to favorites.
Set up alerts for new caption matches
Subscribe to a keyword digest and we'll email you weekly when new videos appear with that phrase in the captions. Useful for ongoing monitoring without manual checking.
Comparison
YouTube's native search only looks at titles and descriptions. To search inside video transcripts, you need a dedicated tool.
Built for
Marketers tracking brand mentions
Set up keyword digests for your brand or product name. Catch every YouTube video that mentions you in the captions, even when you weren't tagged.
Researchers building quote libraries
Pull verbatim quotes from indexed videos with timestamps for citation. Cross-reference what experts have said across many sources without watching each one.
Educators finding lecture moments
Locate a specific concept across hours of lecture content by searching for the phrase. Skip to the exact explanation without rewatching the full lecture.
Free demo, no signup needed. Type a phrase and we'll show you every video where it appears — with timestamps.
FAQ