YouTube Shorts drafts are stored on your device only

YouTube Shorts drafts save to your device, with no limit on how many, and they are lost if you delete the app or change devices. That is what YouTube's Shorts creation help page says, read 2026-10-02. A draft is not a backup.

If a Short took an afternoon to make, keep a finished video file somewhere else before you rely on it.

Where does YouTube store a Shorts draft?

The page says drafts save locally to your device with no quantity limits, and adds the note that drafts are device-specific and will be lost if you delete the app or change devices. It does not mention syncing to a Google account.

So the answer to "can I continue this draft on my laptop" is no, on the evidence of that page. The upload route from a computer works with finished video files instead.

What else does the Shorts creation page fix in place?

A few other facts on the same page are useful when you plan a draft-to-upload flow.

How do I keep a master so I do not lose work?

Export or render the finished Short as a video file and keep it in storage you control. Do this before you start the next one. A master also lets you re-upload if you later delete a Short, or cut a longer or shorter version.

If you build Shorts with Sume, the output is already a file. Video trim and Timeline 1.0 each return a video_url for a new MP4 in your workspace, and the source is untouched. Download the finished MP4 from that URL if you want your own copy; the docs I read give no retention period for workspace artifacts, so I make no claim about how long they stay.

How do I match the 1080p ceiling?

Since the maximum upload resolution is 1080p, a 4K master is downscaled by YouTube anyway. Cutting a 4K vertical source with output set to 1080 by 1920 keeps the file smaller and predictable. In video trim the output object (width, height, fps) works with precision: exact only, with width and height from 256 to 2160.

A 60-second cut conformed to 1080x1920 at 30 fps:

curl -X POST https://api.sume.com/v1/video-trim \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $SUME_API_KEY" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -H "Idempotency-Key: master-1080-001" \
  -d '{
    "video_url": "https://media.sume.com/artifacts/artf_demo/master4k.mp4",
    "start": 0,
    "duration": 60,
    "output": {"width": 1080, "height": 1920, "fps": 30}
  }'

What about the teen default of private?

The page says creators aged 13-17 default to private and creators 18 and over default to public. Check visibility before you post, particularly if a team member shares an account. Sume has no control over visibility because it never touches your channel.

For the full spec list for the file you export, see YouTube Shorts video specs; for a 4K source, see the 1080p downscale post.

A simple habit that avoids the loss

Name files with the date and a working title, store them in one folder, and add the YouTube link once the Short is live. When you change phones, the drafts stay behind, but the folder moves with you. For a team, put the folder where everyone can reach it; a draft on one person's phone is a single point of failure.

If you make Shorts through an API, store the job id with the file. A Sume job's result carries the video_url and a duration, so a log of ids and links is a complete record of what you produced.