SubGrab

Transcribe Video Files Stored in the Cloud (Google Drive, Dropbox)

Stop downloading huge video files just to get the text. Paste a Google Drive or Dropbox link and transcribe the audio directly. Here's the workflow.

Not every video gets published to YouTube or Vimeo. A huge amount of it never leaves cloud storage — recorded calls, internal training, raw footage, customer interviews, screen recordings. When you need the words out of those files, the old workflow is brutal: download a multi-gigabyte file, then upload it to a transcription service, then wait twice.

SubGrab cuts that down to one step: paste the share link, get the transcript.

The Problem With File-Based Video

Platform videos (YouTube, TikTok, Vimeo) have a public page and often captions. Files in cloud storage have neither — they're just raw media behind a share link. That's why most transcription tools make you download and re-upload. SubGrab reads the file directly from the link instead.

Supported Sources

The Workflow

1. In Drive or Dropbox, create a share link set to "Anyone with the link." This is the one step people miss — a private link can't be read by anyone but you, so it will fail.

2. Copy the link and paste it at subgrab.com.

3. Cloud files have no captions, so SubGrab uses AI transcription on the audio track of the file.

4. Download TXT, SRT, or VTT, or generate an AI summary.

Why "No Download" Actually Matters

  • Speed — you skip a download and an upload, which for a 2 GB file is the difference between seconds and an hour
  • Bandwidth — useful on metered or slow connections
  • Tidiness — nothing lands in your Downloads folder that you have to delete later

Security

This feature is restricted to Google Drive and Dropbox domains only. SubGrab will not fetch arbitrary URLs, internal network addresses, or local files — a deliberate design choice to prevent abuse. Files are accessed solely to produce your transcript.

Pricing

Cloud files are transcribed with AI: 1 credit for up to 60 minutes of audio, then 1 credit per additional hour. New accounts get 2 free credits; packs start at $2.99 for 3 credits. If you frequently work with caption-less video, see the best ways to transcribe videos without captions.

Paste a Drive or Dropbox link and transcribe it — 2 free credits →.