If you are unable to find one of your playlists on YouTube, there are a few potential reasons why this may be happening. The playlist may have been made private, deleted, or removed due to a copyright claim. There are steps you can take to try to recover or locate your missing YouTube playlist.
Checking Playlist Privacy Settings
One of the most common reasons a playlist seems to have disappeared on YouTube is because the privacy setting was changed to make it private or unlisted. Playlists set to private can only be viewed by the owner. Unlisted playlists can be shared with a direct link, but do not appear publicly on the channel.
To check your playlist privacy settings on desktop:
- Go to your YouTube account and click on “Playlists” in the left sidebar menu.
- Look for the playlist that is missing.
- Check the visibility setting shown below the playlist name.
- If set to “Private,” change it to “Public” to make the playlist viewable on your channel again.
On mobile:
- Open the YouTube app and tap on your account icon in the top right.
- Select “Your playlists” to see your list of playlists.
- Tap on the three dots next to a playlist to open settings.
- Make sure visibility is not set to “Private.”
Setting a playlist to private is useful if you want to share it with only selected people. But it’s easy to forget a playlist is private and assume it was deleted or lost. Always check your playlist privacy settings first when a playlist seems to disappear.
Searching YouTube Playlist History
If you have history enabled in your YouTube account settings, you can look back through your YouTube history to try to find a missing playlist. This allows you to search back through playlists you created, added videos to, or viewed.
To search YouTube history:
- Go to YouTube and click on your account icon.
- Select “History” from the dropdown menu.
- Use the search bar to search for the missing playlist name.
- Look through your recent history for the playlist title or videos you know were added to the playlist.
- If found, you can recreate the playlist by adding the videos again.
Searching through your YouTube history can help rediscover playlists you forgot you made, especially if the name was changed later. But history is limited, so this only works for more recent playlists.
Checking Removed or Deleted Playlists
In some cases, playlists may completely disappear from YouTube if they were removed or deleted from your account. This could be due to:
- The account owner choosing to delete the playlist.
- YouTube removing or blocking the playlist due to a copyright claim.
- Your account being closed or terminated by YouTube.
For playlists you may have accidentally deleted:
- Go to your YouTube Studio Creator Dashboard.
- Under Content, select “Playlists.”
- Switch to the “Deleted” tab to view your deleted playlists.
- Click “Restore” to bring a playlist back to your account.
However, if the playlist was removed or blocked by YouTube, it can’t simply be restored. Copyright claims that result in full playlist blocks require resolving the claim before the playlist can return.
Recovering Playlists Blocked by Copyright
When YouTube detects copyrighted material used without permission or a valid license, they may block the ability to publicly view a full playlist. This is common when a playlist contains music from record labels, movies, TV shows etc.
If you believe your playlist was incorrectly blocked:
- Appeal the copyright claim through YouTube Studio.
- Remove any videos triggering the claim from the playlist.
- Dispute the claim if you had rights to use the content under fair use.
Getting a copyright block removed from a playlist can be challenging. Try removing all flagged videos first before attempting other appeals. In some cases, the only way to make the playlist public again is to remove any copyrighted content.
Using Playlist Manager to Find Playlists
If you still can’t locate a missing YouTube playlist, another option is to use third-party playlist management tools. Browser extensions like Playlist Manager allow you to see your YouTube playlists and history from across different accounts.
With Playlist Manager you can:
- View playlists from multiple YouTube accounts in one dashboard.
- Search through playlist names and descriptions.
- See your full YouTube watch history.
Tools like this provide an alternate way to browse and search through your YouTube account data when you can’t find a playlist through YouTube itself. Install the extension, log into your YouTube account(s), and search for the name of your missing playlist.
Recreating Missing Playlists
If you are unable to recover a removed, blocked or deleted YouTube playlist through any method, the last remaining option is to attempt recreating it. You can do this by:
- Checking your YouTube watch history for videos you recognize from the missing playlist.
- Looking through your YouTube likes for relevant videos.
- Using Playlist Manager or similar tools to search your history.
- Asking others if they know or have the list of videos that were added.
- Searching YouTube based on the playlist name or your memories of what it contained.
While you won’t be able to recreate the exact missing playlist, you may be able to build a new one with many of the same videos. The key is using all tools at your disposal to determine what content was likely included based on your watch history and likes.
Avoiding Missing Playlists in the Future
To avoid losing playlists again in the future, here are some best practices:
- Export your YouTube playlists using Takeout to backup copies.
- Use multiple playlist manager tools linked to your YouTube account.
- Avoid adding copyrighted content that could lead to blocks.
- Make important playlists public or unlisted rather than private.
- Label playlist names clearly so they can be easily searched.
YouTube playlists can easily be lost due to account issues, copyright claims or accidental deletion. While recovering missing playlists isn’t always possible, using precautions like exports and backups can help you avoid losing that data.
