The ‘Youtube my playlist history’ feature allows users to view all the videos they have added to playlists in the past. This history can help jog your memory on videos you’ve previously enjoyed and want to watch again or share with others.
Finding your Youtube playlist history
Your full playlist history can be accessed in just a few clicks on both desktop and mobile:
- On desktop, click on your profile icon in the top right corner and select “Playlists” from the dropdown menu. This will bring you to your Playlists page.
- On mobile, tap on your profile icon in the top right corner, then tap “Playlists”.
From your Playlists page you will see tabs for “Created playlists” and “Liked playlists”.
- “Created playlists” shows all playlists you have made yourself over time.
- “Liked playlists” shows any public playlists you have liked that were created by other users.
Scroll through your “Created playlists” tab to browse your full playlist history chronologically. The most recently updated playlist will be at the top.
Viewing playlist details
To view more details on a playlist from your history:
- On desktop, click on the playlist name to open it.
- On mobile, tap on the playlist name.
This will show you the full contents of that playlist – all the videos you added. You can scroll to browse them all.
From a playlist’s detail view you can also do things like:
- Delete videos from the playlist
- Reorder videos
- Add or remove a playlist description
- Change privacy settings
- Delete the entire playlist
Restoring deleted playlists
If you have deleted a playlist from your history but want to restore it, this is possible if done soon after deleting:
- On desktop, find the Playlists tab on your channel’s Video Manager
- On mobile, tap your profile icon, tap “Your channel”, then “Video manager”
In Video Manager find the “Deleted playlists” tab. Recently deleted playlists will be listed here for a short period of time before being permanently removed.
To restore a deleted playlist:
- On desktop, click the restore icon next to the playlist name
- On mobile, tap the playlist title, then tap “Restore”
Clearing your Youtube playlist history
If you want to completely delete multiple or all of your playlists from Youtube history, this is possible by:
- On desktop, finding the playlist on your Playlists page and clicking the trash icon next to it.
- On mobile, tapping the 3 dots next to a playlist, then tapping “Delete”
Playlists deleted this way will be moved to “Deleted playlists” in Video Manager for a short time before being permanently erased.
Alternatively, you can clear your entire Youtube playlist history in one go by deleting your Youtube channel. This will permanently delete all your playlists, videos, comments and other channel activity.
To delete your Youtube channel:
- On desktop, go to youtube.com/account_delete
- On mobile, tap your profile icon, then Settings > Delete channel
Note this is irreversible, so only delete your channel if you are sure.
Downloading your Youtube playlist history
If you want to backup or download a copy of your Youtube playlist history before deleting it, you can use third party tools to do so:
- TubeBuddy – browser extension that can export playlist details to a CSV file
- 4K Video Downloader – downloads entire playlists and metadata
- YTD Video Downloader – can extract playlist video URLs for bulk downloading
Using the above tools or similar, you can extract your full playlist history for backup before clearing or deleting it on Youtube.
Factors affecting playlist history
Certain factors can affect what playlist history is available to browse on your Youtube account:
- Deleted videos – If a video you added to a playlist is deleted, it will be removed from that playlist in your history.
- Private videos – Videos marked private will not show in playlists they are added to.
- Banned accounts – Playlists for terminated or banned accounts are typically removed.
- Region restrictions – Regionally blocked videos may not show in your playlist history.
So your visible playlist history will exclude any videos that got deleted, banned or restricted at some point after you originally added them.
Using playlists effectively
Building playlists allows you to curate and group videos in a way that fits your interests and makes it easy to find them again. Here are some tips for using Youtube playlists effectively:
- Create themed playlists around topics, genres or moods.
- Use descriptive titles so you remember what a playlist contains.
- Add newly found videos to relevant playlists to stockpile content.
- Make playlists collaborative to crowd-source videos from others.
- Set playlists as private if you want to control who sees them.
- Delete obsolete playlists periodically to keep your history clean.
Reviewing your playlist history can provide a useful snapshot of what videos resonated with you over time. So curate your playlists wisely as another way to improve your Youtube experience.
