When you’re making a post on TikTok, you can save it to your drafts in the app. Curious about how to use these drafts? We’ve got you covered with all the essential details on how to download TikTok drafts and what to do with them.
What Are TikTok Drafts?
TikTok drafts are work-in-progress videos that users can save within the app before posting them publicly. They’re useful for creators who want to perfect their videos by experimenting with different effects, transitions, and captions.
Here’s how it works: Instead of posting a video right away, users can save it as a draft. This feature is great for managing multiple videos, refining ideas, or waiting for the best time to post. Drafts are easy to access and edit from the user’s profile page, and they give creators the flexibility to polish their content before sharing it with their audience.
Read also: TikTok Is Testing a New Hum to Search Feature
How to Create TikTok Drafts
To prepare a TikTok video for later, follow these steps:
- Launch the TikTok app on your phone.
- Tap the plus button (+) to open the camera screen.
- Record a new video by pressing the pink button to start filming, or upload a video from your phone’s gallery by selecting the upload option.
- After recording or selecting your video, tap the pink check mark (✓) to confirm. Then tap Next.
- On the Next screen, tap the Drafts button located at the bottom left corner of the screen.
Your video will now be saved as a draft in a dedicated folder at the top of your profile page for future editing or posting.
How to Edit TikTok Drafts
Once you’ve saved your TikTok draft, you can make changes to it whenever you want:
- Visit your profile and tap on the Drafts folder.
- Select the draft you want to work on to open it.
- To edit the video itself, tap the back button in the top left corner and choose Continue Recording. You can add new clips, music, filters, and more. Once satisfied, tap the pink checkmark to add stickers, captions, or adjust your clips.
- Tap Next to adjust privacy settings, and hashtags, and choose a cover image.
- To save it as a draft again, tap the Drafts button.
How to Save a Draft on TikTok
Here’s how to save TikTok draft to your phone:
- Open the drafts folder in TikTok and select the video you want to save.
- Tap Next to move to the next screen.
- Tap the three dots (···) in the bottom right corner of the draft video.
- Look for the Save Video button.
- After saving, check your phone’s camera roll; your video should now be stored there.
This way, you can keep the footage you've recorded on TikTok stored on your phone for personal use, even if you decide not to share it publicly on the platform.
If you want to save drafts from TikTok to your PC, it’ll be a different process. That’s because TikTok doesn’t provide a direct way to export drafts from the app to your computer.
So, first, save the TikTok to your camera roll following the instructions above. Then, connect your phone to your PC using a cable or cloud storage. Find the drafts in your phone’s storage (usually in DCIM or a TikTok folder) and copy them to your PC. Once on your PC, you can organize the drafts in your preferred folders (like Pictures or Videos).
Can I Download a TikTok Video Before Posting?
Yes, this is the section on what saving from drafts has covered.
However, if you’ve just recorded a video and haven’t saved it to drafts yet, you can still download it to your device. Go to the editing screen, where you can add effects, music, and captions. Before proceeding to post or save to drafts, look for an option labeled Save Video.
Read also: TikTok Allows Users to Download Videos in Bulk & Watch Offline? Here's How
How to Delete TikTok Drafts
If you want to clear out drafts on TikTok that you no longer need, here's how you can do it:
- Go to the Drafts tab on your profile page.
- Tap Select in the top right corner of the screen.
- Select the drafts you want to delete by tapping on them.
- Tap Delete at the bottom of the screen.
- Confirm by pressing Delete again in the pop-up prompt.
Additionally, uninstalling TikTok will also delete all saved drafts automatically.
Can I Save TikTok Without a Watermark?
Earlier this year, TikTok added a feature that lets users save videos without the TikTok watermark. This allowed creators to use their videos on other platforms without any worries. Before this update, users had to find ways to remove the watermark from their videos.
To use this feature, when you’re posting a video on TikTok, tap More options (…) at the bottom of your screen. Then, turn on the Save Posts Without Watermark option. Once your video is published, TikTok will save a version without the watermark directly to your device. This makes it simpler for creators to share their videos without the TikTok branding.
How to Download TikTok Videos
Sometimes, if a TikTok video has already been posted and is not in your drafts, you can still download it just as easily using 4K Tokkit.
To download TikTok videos for offline viewing, follow these steps:
- Start the application on your macOS, Windows, or Linux computer.
- If you want videos from a TikTok account, enter the account name. For hashtags, start with # followed by the hashtag name.
- Optional settings: You can specify videos from a specific date or period by clicking the settings icon next to the Download button. Use the in-app calendar to set your preferred date or time range.
- Click the Download button to begin downloading the TikTok videos.
Once the download is completed, you can enjoy watching the videos offline at your convenience.
Why Can’t I Download TikTok videos?
TikTok gives creators the choice to allow or restrict video downloads through their settings. If the creator disables the video download option on TikTok, you won’t be able to save their videos to your device. The Save Video option will appear grayed out and unavailable.
Wrapping Up
It’s great to think ahead by saving your TikTok drafts. You never know what might happen — your phone could crash and erase apps, new regulations might affect access or other unforeseen events could occur. By following our instructions and perhaps even uploading your important videos to the cloud, you can keep your content safe and accessible.
