How to Transfer Drafts on TikTok to Another Account

You’ve just perfected a TikTok video - the cuts are sharp, the filter is perfect, and the transitions are seamless. There’s just one problem: it’s saved in the drafts of your personal account, but it was meant for your business profile. Frustratingly, TikTok doesn’t offer a simple “transfer draft” button to move it from one account to another. This article will show you the best workarounds to get your video where it needs to go without losing all your hard work.

Why Can't You Just Transfer TikTok Drafts?

Before we jump into the solutions, it helps to understand why this problem exists in the first place. When you save a draft on TikTok, it isn’t uploaded to TikTok's servers in the cloud, it’s saved locally on your device's internal storage. Think of it like a file saved directly to your computer's hard drive instead of to Google Drive.

This local storage system means each draft is tied to two things: the specific device it was created on and the specific account that was logged in at that time. Because of this, there's no built-in way for the app to move a locally stored file from one account’s designated folder to another. This approach also helps with user privacy, as your unfinished videos aren't sitting on a server somewhere before you've chosen to publish them. While that’s good for security, it creates a real headache for creators and social media managers who are often juggling multiple accounts.

Method 1: The Download and Re-upload Strategy (The Best Option)

This is the most straightforward and reliable way to move a finished or nearly finished draft. It preserves the highest possible quality and involves saving the video to your phone's camera roll and then uploading it to the correct account. The best part? When you save a draft from the editor, it saves without the TikTok watermark, giving you a clean version of your video.

Step-by-Step Guide:

• 1. Open Your Drafts Folder: Launch TikTok, go to your profile page (the "Me" tab), and tap on the "Drafts" folder, which should appear next to your published videos. This will show you all the videos you've saved but not posted.
• 2. Select and Open the Draft: Tap on the video you want to transfer. This will open it up in the TikTok editor, just as you left it.
• 3. Save the Video to Your Device: In the editor view, look for the "Save" icon. It typically looks like a downward-facing arrow in the top right or left corner of the screen. Tap it. The video will render and save directly to your phone’s photo gallery or camera roll.
• 4. Log In to Your Other Account: Once the video is saved, switch over to the correct TikTok account where you want to publish the video.
• 5. Upload the Saved Video: On your target account, tap the create (+) button as if you were making a new video. Instead of recording, tap the "Upload" button on the bottom right.
• 6. Select Your Video and Re-build the Post: Choose the video you just saved from your camera roll. Now you can re-add your desired sound, text, stickers, caption, hashtags, and any @mentions before publishing.

What Gets Lost in the Transfer?

It’s important to know that while the video itself is saved perfectly, some elements of your original draft won’t carry over. Here’s what you’ll need to recreate:

• The Caption and Hashtags: All of your carefully written text will be gone.
• The Selected Sound: The music or sound will be baked into the saved video, but you won’t be able to see the artist details or link to the original audio page unless you re-select it from TikTok's sound library. Re-selecting the sound is highly recommended to participate in trends.
• @Mentions and Tags: Any user tags or location tags will need to be added again.

Pro-Tip: Don’t Lose Your Perfect Caption

To make the re-uploading process faster, copy your caption and hashtags before you switch accounts. While in your draft, tap the caption box, then “Select All,” and “Copy.” Paste this text into a notes app on your phone. When you’re ready to post on the new account, you can simply copy it back over. It’s a small step that saves a lot of time and re-typing.

Method 2: The Screen Recording Workaround

Sometimes, the "Save" feature might fail or a specific combination of effects and sounds may not download correctly. In these rare cases, screen recording your draft is a solid backup plan. It's not the ideal first choice due to potential quality loss, but it's a lifesaver when you need it.

When to Use This Method:

• If the Save button is glitching or not appearing for a particular draft.
• When you're using a brand-new or beta effect that doesn't seem to render properly when downloaded.
• To preserve a video with a commercially copyrighted sound that TikTok blocks you from saving directly to your device.

How to Screen Record Your TikTok Draft:

1. Prepare for Recording: Open your draft in the editor. Swipe up from the bottom or down from the top of your phone's screen to access the Control Center (iPhone) or Quick Settings (Android) and find the built-in screen recorder button. If you don't see it, you may need to add it via your phone’s settings.
2. Start Recording: Tap the screen record button. After a short countdown, your phone will start recording everything on the screen.
3. Play Your Draft: Play your video draft from start to finish in the editor's full-screen preview. Make sure no notifications pop up during this time!
4. Stop the Recording: Once the video is finished, tap the red recording indicator on your screen to stop the recording. The video will be saved to your photo gallery.
5. Trim the Recording: Open your phone's photo app and edit the screen-recorded clip. Trim the beginning and end to remove any footage of you starting and stopping the recording.
6. Upload to the Correct Account: Just like with the previous method, log into your other TikTok account, tap the "+" icon, choose "Upload," and select your freshly trimmed video.

Downsides to Consider:

Screen recording is a fantastic hack, but it’s not flawless. The video quality might be slightly lower than a direct download because it's essentially a video of your screen. Additionally, audio quality can vary. Newer phones often capture system audio for clean sound, but older devices might record using the microphone, picking up background noise.

A Better Way: How to Avoid This Problem in the Future

Moving drafts is a reactive solution. To save yourself time and stress down the road, the best strategy is to adjust your content workflow so you don’t get trapped with a draft on the wrong account in the first place. Adopting a more professional creation process gives you complete control over your content.

Create and Edit Content *Outside* of TikTok

This is the single biggest change you can make. The pros rarely build complex videos entirely within the TikTok app. Instead, they treat TikTok as the final destination, not the starting point.

• Shoot videos using your phone’s native camera app for the highest quality.
• Edit your clips in a dedicated video editing app like CapCut, InShot, or VN Editor. These apps offer more creative control, more features, and allow you to save a master copy of your finished video.
• Save the watermark-free master file directly to your phone or a cloud drive. From there, you can easily upload it to any TikTok account, Instagram Reels, YouTube Shorts, or any other platform without any hassle.

This "offline" creation process completely solves the draft transfer problem. Your final video is an independent asset, ready to be deployed wherever you choose.

Build a Central Hub for Your Content

If you're managing content for multiple brands or even just a few personal projects, a little organization goes a long way. Create a simple system to house all your finalized video assets.

• Set up a shared cloud folder in Google Drive, Dropbox, or iCloud.
• After editing a video, save the final version into this folder. You can even create subfolders for each brand or content series.
• When it's time to post, you (or your team members) can grab the approved video file from the central hub and upload it to the correct account, confident that you're using the right asset.

Final Thoughts

While TikTok doesn't have a direct "transfer drafts" feature, you're not stuck starting from scratch. By using the reliable download-and-re-upload method or the screen recording workaround for tricky situations, you can effectively move your creations between accounts. For the long haul, shifting your editing workflow outside of the TikTok app gives you maximum flexibility and gets you ahead of the problem entirely.

This professional workflow is a big reason we built Postbase. We understand that managing videos and creative assets across multiple accounts and platforms is where a lot of time gets lost. With our visual calendar, you can upload your finalized, watermark-free videos once and schedule them to all of your different TikTok profiles, Reels, and YouTube Shorts from one place. It helps you stay organized and plan your content strategy so you always know the right video is going to the right account at the right time.