How long a video takes to make
Follow the progress of a new video, find it later in My Videos, and get an email when it is ready.
Reviewed
A video takes some minutes to make. You can watch it being made, or leave the page and come back later.
How long it takes
- After you start a video, the app says We'll email you when it's ready (normally 5-20 minutes).
- In My Videos, the card of a video in progress shows a progress bar. A short video's card also shows an estimated time in minutes. These videos take longer, so their card says Longer videos take a while and shows no minutes: a video longer than 3 minutes, a video with animation longer than 1 minute, and a video made from an uploaded recording.
Watch the progress
- Select Generate Video. The video's page opens with the message Your video is generating!
- Select See generation progress to stay on the page. Or select Generate Another Video to start a new video while you wait.
- The page shows Creating your video and a progress bar. Select Progress to see each step.
- The Story Preview fills in as parts of the video are ready. When the video is ready, you can play it on this page.
- Under the video, a What happens next? card shows once for each new video. Select Make episode to make its next episode with the same cast, places, look and voice. Select Not now to close the card. Then Make next episode shows with the other buttons under the video.
The page says Safe to leave. The video is still made when you close the page.
Find the video later
- Select My Videos in the sidebar.
- Find the card of your video:
- Processing: the video is still being made. Select View Progress to open its page.
- Completed: the video is ready. Select the card to watch it.
- Failed: the video did not finish.
Get an email when it is ready
- Open the account menu at the bottom of the sidebar and select Settings.
- Under Email Notifications, turn on Video Completion.
- Check that Receive LongStories emails is also on.
With Video Completion on, you also get an email if a video does not finish.
If it takes too long or fails
- If a video takes longer than usual, its card in My Videos says so. Check back later.
- If the video still does not finish, send the project link to support. See Share a project with support.
- If a video fails, its page says This video did not finish and Credits were refunded. See Credits for a failed video.