When the videos of an automatic import don’t show up on your website, or show up slower than you expect, the cause is usually one of the problems below. Start with the Import status box of the Videos → Automatic import page, then open the Activity of the importer: it tells you what the importer did and why videos were skipped. See Import estimate and activity log.
The imports are stalled
The Import status box shows Stalled, and Next check shows that the import is overdue.
The imports run through WP-Cron, which WordPress starts when your site has visitors. On a site with little traffic, or when the host disabled WP-Cron (the DISABLE_WP_CRON constant in wp-config.php), nothing starts the imports. Set up a server cron job that runs every minute or every few minutes. Your host’s control panel usually has a Cron jobs section; use one of these commands, with your own domain or path:
wget -q -O - https://example.com/wp-cron.php?doing_wp_cron >/dev/null 2>&1
cd /path/to/wordpress && wp action-scheduler run
The second command needs WP-CLI. If you are not sure how to set up a cron job, your hosting provider can help.
The Scheduled actions and logs link of the Import status box opens Tools → Scheduled Actions, filtered on the import job, where you can see when the imports ran and whether any of them failed.
The status shows “Unavailable”
Action Scheduler, which runs the imports, could not be loaded. It is included in the plugin, so reinstall Video Hub to restore the missing files.
The status shows “Waiting for YouTube access”
The plugin can’t query YouTube yet. Follow the button displayed in the box to finish the setup: set your YouTube server key and, for some features, connect your YouTube account.
The status shows “Paused by a filter”
A theme or another plugin uses the cbc_allow_auto_import filter to stop the automatic imports. Check the code that uses the filter.
An importer shows an error
The error returned by YouTube is displayed under the name of the importer, and in its activity. Common errors:
- The playlist or channel can’t be found: it was deleted or made private on YouTube, or the feed ID is wrong. Edit the importer and use Check feed.
- Quota exceeded: your YouTube API project used its daily quota. The quota is reset every day at midnight, Pacific Time. Import fewer videos per run, run the imports less often, or turn off Import new videos right away where you don’t need it.
- Temporary errors: network problems or YouTube being unavailable. They go away on their own.
After an error, the importer waits before it is tried again, longer after each error, while the other importers keep their turns. With the YouTube errors option of the import options, an importer that returns 5 errors in a row is taken out of the queue; fix the problem, then click Start.
The importer runs but imports no videos
Open its Activity: the Skipped videos box and the Nothing new events tell you why.
- Already imported: the videos are already on your website, imported by this importer, another importer or a manual import. This is normal for an importer that reads its feed again after reaching the end.
- Deleted from the website: the importer has Don’t import deleted videos again checked.
- YouTube Shorts and outside the duration limits: the importer filters these videos out. Change the filters in the importer settings.
- Could not be imported: the videos are private, or unlisted while the settings don’t allow unlisted videos.
- Nothing read at all: the Import if published after date may be after all the videos of the feed.
The import is too slow
The estimate under the progress bar shows how long the importer still needs. To make it faster:
- import more videos per run or run the imports more often, from the Import pace option;
- set Repeat import in queue higher for the importers that matter most;
- pause the importers that are less important while a large feed is imported;
- check Import new videos right away so the new videos don’t wait for the rest of the feed.
The new videos are not imported
- If the importer is still reading its feed, the new videos are imported after it reaches the end of the feed, unless Import new videos right away is checked.
- For playlists, When finished, import only new videos and Import new videos right away need the playlist ordered on YouTube by Date added (newest to oldest).
- Check that the importer is in the queue and has no error.
Still stuck?
Turn on the debug log, as described in Video import debugging, and contact support with the log and the activity of the importer.
See also
- The automatic import explained — how the import queue works.
- Automatic video import — create and manage the importers.