Widget Connector not working with YouTube but working with Vimeo
Asked by Gregory Yepes:

Gang,

We are having this non-critical but still annoying issue with Widget Connector whereby Vimeo links preview and insert into a confluence page just fine, but when we enter YouTube links, the preview works but the insert action returns nothing. So we literally cannot even get the entry to register into the confluence page...

It's been suggested that our NAT configuration is messed up, but I have a difficult time understanding why Vimeo links work and YouTube links don't. We are on a Windows environment and I have tried this with IE, Chrome and Firefox and the behavior is the same on all 3. I can open up both YouTube and Vimeo links just fine in all 3 browsers so the only issue seems to be with the Widget Connector. Any ideas on how I can properly trouble-shoot this to find the cause?

thanks for any tips or advice! --GY


Answers:
author: Larry Peery
body: We found that using the full YouTube URL instead of the one provided under "Share" works with the Widget Connector.

comments: author: Tara Edwards
body: This worked for me. Thanks!


author: UPWT
body: This worked. Thanks!


author: Rens
body: Yes, that works. Shame the component doesn't account for this, though. Should be a quick fix to also accept "<https://youtu.be/>" for "<https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=>"


author: Amanda Culver
body: SYMPTOMS  

I have been teasing this one out and for me

* Short/share links done work
* full Youtube URLs don't work
* Vimeo works
* Preview works

<br />

SOLUTION :  

remove the channel (everything after the "\&") from the FULL URL  

so

[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dQw4w9WgXcQ\&ab_channel=RickAstleyVEVO](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dQw4w9WgXcQ&ab_channel=RickAstleyVEVO)  
becomes  
<https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dQw4w9WgXcQ>  

and pasting this second incarnation into the widget \*works\*


author: Guillaume GARCIA
body: Hi,  
Same here.  
Tried various combinations (short URL vs long URL, with height\&width or not, ...).  

It seems OK when previewing:

![Confluence Youtube video preview.png](https://community.atlassian.com/t5/image/serverpage/image-id/101505iF996613FCA696A38/image-size/large?v=v2&px=999 "Confluence Youtube video preview.png")

but actually renders like this in the page:

```
| url = https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-Og6G6vjQFI&feature=youtu.be | width = 560px | height = 315px | overlay = youtube | _template = com/atlassian/confluence/extra/widgetconnector/templates/youtube.vm
```


author: Tina Cristobal
body: Hey Everyone, anyone experiencing issues on embedded youtube videos on Confluence mobile? Tried to check our page and saw html codes instead. This seem isolated to Android phones though.


author: Chris Calder
body: Hi guys,

I managed to get this working for me.

1. Make sure you use the full URL not the share link suggested.

2. Make sure the URL is the fresh URL from when you first load the video in YouTube. I was getting errors because I had started watching the video, then paused, then copied the URL and it had change the URL with some time continue embedded logo addition to the URL. Once that was removed and back to the original URL it worked fine.

Thanks.


author: Bj?rn Flintberg
body: I get the same problem with vimeo though. If I use the external video link it will work (but only be a link), but if I use the internal widget connector (the standard way), nothing starts.  

Could using a private link be the issue? I don't want the stuff shared all over so I used private link only but that shouldn't matter as far as I can tell.  

Anyone know anything more?


author: Lena Bosheh
body: I'm having the exact same issue with Confluence 5.2. Thw Widget Connector doesn't embed the video at all. It does nothing. I tried every fix inluding using the long URL, making sure t= isn't in the URL, making sure the URL says https, but nothing is working.

comments: author: Mike McNamara
body: We were also having this issue last year, but did get it resolved. Unfortunately I cannot recall the exact steps we took to resolve. But if I recall correctly, it came down to using the proper YouTube URL.

I looked at one of our embedded videos. We used the Widget Connector, and this is the URL pasted into the Web SItes URL field:

<https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eCnsfmPqzhA>

This is a Smartsheet video Nothing was entered into the width or height fields.

I'd suggest creating a page and trying this exact URL. The Preview area should show the video. Save it and see if it works.

This will at least ensure you are using a proper URL, so if it does not work, you can eliminate that as a possible part of the problem.


author: Mike McNamara
body: Exact same issue - Vimeo working, Youtube does not Insert anything. We are hosting our own Confluence, so not sure if that is related. Hope there is a solution - users not happy!


author: Gregory Yepes
body: After much discussion between Atlassian support and our internal systems team we were not able to resolve the issue. I'm bummed I can't offer any advice...


author: Larry Peery
body: We are experiencing the same issue. Can use Vimeo links but not YouTube. Any solutions?


author: David Joaquim
body: Hello!

Same issue here, do you have any follow-up ?


Tags: confluence-administration