YouTube channel permissions, explained
Every role that can upload can also publish. There is no approval step.
YouTube lets you invite people to your channel without sharing your Google password — that part works well. What it does not have is a role that can hand you a finished video and wait. Add someone who can upload, and the same permission lets them make it public, at any moment, with nobody asked.
What each role can do
| role | upload | publish | sees revenue | your existing videos |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Owner | Yes | Immediately | Yes | Everything, including delete |
| Manager | Yes | Immediately | Yes | Everything, and can add people |
| Editor | Yes | Immediately | Yes | Can edit everything |
| Editor (limited) | Yes | Immediately | No | Can edit everything |
| Subtitle editor | Subtitles only | Subtitles only | No | Subtitles only |
| Viewer | No | No | Yes | Read-only |
| Viewer (limited) | No | No | No | Read-only |
The two surprises
A standard Editor sees your revenue. Most people adding a freelancer reach for “Editor” and assume it is the restricted one. It is not — it includes revenue data, and it can edit every video you have ever published. The role that excludes earnings is the separately-named Editor (limited), which still uploads, still publishes and still edits your back catalogue.
Permissioned users cannot use the YouTube API. Google states it plainly: invited users can't access “YouTube Music, YouTube Kids app, YouTube APIs”. So no third-party tool can act on your channel through a permission you granted somebody else. Anything that publishes for you has to run on the channel owner's own authorisation — which is worth knowing before you evaluate any tool that claims otherwise.
What people do instead
With no approval step, the workarounds are all versions of the same trade. You upload everything yourself, which puts the slowest person in the chain at the end of it. Or you grant upload access and agree to publish as private or unlisted first — which relies on that being remembered every time, because the same permission could have made it public. Or you share the login, which is the thing the permissions system was built to avoid.
Uplora adds the missing step from outside. Your editor uploads the finished master and writes the listing in Uplora; you watch it and approve; and only then does it reach YouTube — published under your own authorisation, which your editor never sees. How that works, step by step.
Questions
- Can I let someone upload to my channel without letting them publish?
- Not with YouTube's own permissions. Every role that can upload — Manager, Editor and Editor (limited) — can also publish, and publishing takes effect immediately. There is no role that stops at 'uploaded, awaiting approval', and no setting that adds one.
- Does an Editor see how much my channel earns?
- Yes. The standard Editor role includes revenue data. The separate 'Editor (limited)' role is the one that excludes it — it can still upload, publish and edit your entire back catalogue, it just cannot see the money.
- Can someone I add through channel permissions use a third-party tool on my channel?
- No. Google's documentation states that invited users cannot access YouTube APIs. That is why any tool which publishes on your behalf has to run on the channel owner's own authorisation rather than on a permission you granted a teammate.
- Is there any way to review a video before it goes live?
- Not inside YouTube. The usual workarounds are to upload it yourself, or to publish as unlisted or private and change the visibility afterwards — which still means whoever uploaded it could have made it public first.