YouTube Transcript Sidebar by Voqusa

What is YouTube Transcript Sidebar?

YouTube Transcript Sidebar by Voqusa adds a persistent, searchable transcript panel to every YouTube watch page. Unlike YouTube's own caption track — which only highlights the current line — the Voqusa sidebar renders the full transcript as a scrollable document where every phrase is a clickable timestamp link. Click any line and the video jumps to that moment. Search for any word across the entire video, copy a quote with its timestamp, or generate a one-sentence AI summary of the full video, all without leaving the watch page.

Key Features

Persistent sidebar on youtube.com/watch and youtube.com/shorts pages — no popup required
Every transcript line is a clickable timestamp link: click to seek the video to that moment
Full-text search across the transcript to find any word or phrase instantly
One-click AI summary: generates a single-paragraph summary of the video content
Copy with timestamp: copies the selected quote plus the corresponding timecode, ready to paste into notes or content briefs

How to Install

[Screenshot placeholder — Chrome Web Store listing for YouTube Transcript Sidebar by Voqusa]

Open the Chrome Web Store listing for YouTube Transcript Sidebar by Voqusa (link above) and click Add to Chrome.
Confirm by clicking Add extension. The extension installs in a few seconds.
Navigate to any YouTube watch page (youtube.com/watch?v=...). The Voqusa transcript sidebar appears automatically on the right side of the video.
If the sidebar does not appear, click the Voqusa icon in your Chrome toolbar and toggle the sidebar on. You may need to reload the YouTube tab after installation.

Need a Chrome browser? Download Chrome free. The extension requires Chrome 114 or later.

How to Use

Go to any YouTube video at youtube.com/watch. The Voqusa sidebar loads automatically alongside the video player.
Scroll the sidebar to read the full transcript. Each paragraph is timestamped. Click any line to jump the video to that point.
Use the search box at the top of the sidebar to find a specific word or phrase. Matching lines are highlighted and the sidebar scrolls to the first match.
Click the Summary button to generate a one-paragraph AI summary of the entire video. This uses one Voqusa credit.
To copy a quote, select the text in the sidebar and click Copy with Timestamp. The clipboard will contain the quote and the timecode formatted as [MM:SS] for easy reference.

Frequently Asked Questions

Why does the sidebar show 'No transcript available' for some videos?

The sidebar pulls from YouTube's caption track first (free, instant) and falls back to Voqusa's AI speech-to-text if no caption track exists. Videos with captions disabled by the creator, live streams, and some music videos do not have caption tracks. For those, click Generate AI Transcript in the sidebar — this uses one Voqusa credit and produces an AI-generated transcript from the audio within 10–30 seconds.

Does the sidebar work on YouTube Shorts?

Yes. The sidebar renders on Shorts pages (youtube.com/shorts/...) with the same timestamp-click and search functionality. Because Shorts are short — typically 15–60 seconds — the AI summary feature is less useful, but the transcript and search still work.

The sidebar is covering part of the page. Can I resize or hide it?

Yes. Drag the left edge of the sidebar to resize it. Click the X or the Voqusa icon in the toolbar to hide it. Your size preference is saved per-tab; the sidebar will open at the same width the next time you visit a watch page.

Does the timestamp-jump feature work with YouTube's chapter markers?

The Voqusa sidebar is independent of YouTube's chapter system. Clicking a transcript line seeks directly to the word-level timestamp from the caption track, which is typically more precise than chapter markers. The two features coexist without conflict.