LordJohnOfCupertino
Level 1 (0 points)

Q: How to restore *just one iTunes playlist* from Time Machine?

Hi all --

 

I'm pretty picky about my iTunes playlists. There are several main ones ("Jazz Lite," "R&B," "Jazz Traditional," etc. etc.) and these playlists can overlap in their coverage/share certain songs.

 

So last Sunday I realized that I had fat-fingered things and had accidentally deleted the R&B playlist.

 

If possible I'd like to surgically restore *just that R&B playlist* from Time Machine and include it among all of the other existing playlists.

 

Although I've searched around on the internet for an answer, everything that has turned up so far seems to involve:

 

- restoring ALL playlists from Time Machine

- older version of iTunes (I'm currently using 11.0.3)

 

Your help greatly appreciated!

Mac Pro (Early 2009), OS X Mountain Lion (10.8.2)

Posted on Jun 6, 2013 6:59 PM

by randy231,Apple recommended
randy231 randy231
Level 1 (10 points)
A:

For posterity's sake, since i had this issue too, i thought i'd post my solution.


  1. Locate and save a copy, locally on your computer, of a library.itl file that would contain the playlist you need. I'd suggest saving to your desktop. name it so you'll recognize it as the old library file.
  2. Quit iTunes if open, and relaunch, holding down the Option key immediately after
  3. when prompted, select "Choose Library"
  4. Find the file you saved in step 1. this will launch iTunes with all the old playlists and such. Don't worry, it doesn't touch the actual songs themselves, so nothing is lost of from your current library.
  5. Find the playlist(s) you want, right click on them and export. save them as .txt file (again, suggest desktop for ease)
  6. Once all playlists you want to restore are saved, quit iTunes.
  7. Launch iTunes, again pressing Option immediately after
  8. Select "Choose Library" and select the Music -> iTunes -> iTunes Library.itl file. This will restore iTunes to the most current copy of your library
  9. Select File -> Library -> Import Playlist and find the .txt file for your playlist on your desktop. et voila!

Posted on Jul 27, 2014 8:53 AM

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LordJohnOfCupertino

Q: How to restore *just one iTunes playlist* from Time Machine?

  • All replies
  • Helpful answers

  • by Linc Davis,

    Linc Davis Linc Davis Jun 6, 2013 7:46 PM in response to LordJohnOfCupertino
    Level 10 (207,925 points)
    Applications
    Jun 6, 2013 7:46 PM in response to LordJohnOfCupertino

    Can I Restore A Deleted iTunes playlist via Time Machine?

  • by jfaughnan,

    jfaughnan jfaughnan Jan 2, 2014 4:23 PM in response to LordJohnOfCupertino
    Level 3 (803 points)
    Mac OS X
    Jan 2, 2014 4:23 PM in response to LordJohnOfCupertino

    To clarify Linc's old response -- you CANNOT restore a single playlist using Time Machine or any other backup method.

     

    What you can restore from Time Machine is your ENTIRE playlist and library XML collection. If you haven't added anything to iTunes since your deletion, and you don't mind losing any other edits or work, this might suffice.

     

    But there is no way to surgically restore a single playlist. Yeah, bad design!

     

    HOWEVER, if you have the playlist on an iDevice (iTunes, iPhone) you can export it then import it again: http://osxdaily.com/2012/07/02/transfer-playlist-from-ios-to-itunes/

  • by randy231,Apple recommended

    randy231 randy231 Jul 27, 2014 8:53 AM in response to LordJohnOfCupertino
    Level 1 (10 points)
    Jul 27, 2014 8:53 AM in response to LordJohnOfCupertino

    For posterity's sake, since i had this issue too, i thought i'd post my solution.


    1. Locate and save a copy, locally on your computer, of a library.itl file that would contain the playlist you need. I'd suggest saving to your desktop. name it so you'll recognize it as the old library file.
    2. Quit iTunes if open, and relaunch, holding down the Option key immediately after
    3. when prompted, select "Choose Library"
    4. Find the file you saved in step 1. this will launch iTunes with all the old playlists and such. Don't worry, it doesn't touch the actual songs themselves, so nothing is lost of from your current library.
    5. Find the playlist(s) you want, right click on them and export. save them as .txt file (again, suggest desktop for ease)
    6. Once all playlists you want to restore are saved, quit iTunes.
    7. Launch iTunes, again pressing Option immediately after
    8. Select "Choose Library" and select the Music -> iTunes -> iTunes Library.itl file. This will restore iTunes to the most current copy of your library
    9. Select File -> Library -> Import Playlist and find the .txt file for your playlist on your desktop. et voila!

  • by mccriswell1,

    mccriswell1 mccriswell1 Sep 15, 2014 11:53 AM in response to randy231
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Sep 15, 2014 11:53 AM in response to randy231

    Thank you!  Thank you!  Thank you!  This worked for me.

  • by Daniel Wright1,

    Daniel Wright1 Daniel Wright1 Nov 8, 2014 7:28 AM in response to jfaughnan
    Level 2 (321 points)
    Nov 8, 2014 7:28 AM in response to jfaughnan

    Right click on ipod playlist does not give an option to export?

     

    Yosemite 10.10, latest Itunes.

  • by stef.incognito,

    stef.incognito stef.incognito Dec 1, 2014 10:38 PM in response to randy231
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Dec 1, 2014 10:38 PM in response to randy231

    You rock!! Thank you!!!!

  • by Garden State Apple,

    Garden State Apple Garden State Apple Mar 13, 2015 4:27 PM in response to randy231
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Mar 13, 2015 4:27 PM in response to randy231

    Thank you. Worked like a charm.

  • by geecee55,

    geecee55 geecee55 Mar 15, 2015 10:39 AM in response to randy231
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Mar 15, 2015 10:39 AM in response to randy231

    Thank you! Exactly what I needed to know.

  • by Haasusttinner,

    Haasusttinner Haasusttinner Jun 1, 2015 8:20 PM in response to LordJohnOfCupertino
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Jun 1, 2015 8:20 PM in response to LordJohnOfCupertino

    I tried a few apps a few years ago but nothing recently...

    Turingtest2 (who posts in these forums) has written a script which can pull in playlists.

    -> http://samsoft.org.uk/iTunes/scripts.asp#ImportDevicePlaylist

     

    Also, he wrote this article (which has a link to the above)

    -> Recover your iTunes library from your iPod or iOS device

  • by jsalverson,

    jsalverson jsalverson Oct 28, 2015 1:28 PM in response to randy231
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Oct 28, 2015 1:28 PM in response to randy231

    Wow! That was amazing! Thank you.

  • by shanedane,

    shanedane shanedane Nov 9, 2015 4:41 PM in response to randy231
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Nov 9, 2015 4:41 PM in response to randy231

    Perfect, the only thing that I was missing is as you tel the extension .itl file!

     

    Thank's for your help!

  • by kaylagh91,

    kaylagh91 kaylagh91 Nov 12, 2015 8:59 PM in response to LordJohnOfCupertino
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Nov 12, 2015 8:59 PM in response to LordJohnOfCupertino

    I was so excited for this, but it didn't work for me!

     

    Background: I noticed one of my favorite playlists from early 2012 was gone off my ipod and computer, then found this as a possible answer. I have no idea where it went, I think I might have deleted it off my iphone to free up space and when I plugged it back into my computer to update, it deleted it off my iTunes as well?!? That seems ridiculous, and not how it's supposed to work. Anyone know a fix for this? I couldn't find any relevant information in the settings on my phone or computer.

     

    I've tried this fix with multiple backups I have - they are all from my old macbook, I switched to a desktop mac about a year ago. I tried several different backups, and none of them showed any playlists at all, one of them only had about 600 songs that I've recently downloaded since getting my new computer, and the others didn't have any songs at all. Anyone know whats up?? Maybe it's not working because my backups are way too old versions of itunes that it can't compute? Is there another way? I know I still have the songs, and there were probably about 70 in the playlist, so I just need to see which ones and the order they were in to make a new one! Is there some other way to access this? Please help!!

  • by Tryswitch,

    Tryswitch Tryswitch Aug 8, 2016 3:25 PM in response to randy231
    Level 1 (4 points)
    Aug 8, 2016 3:25 PM in response to randy231

    I had this issue too (I just wanted to restore a playlist from 4 years ago) but the above didn't entirely work - though it was close and I will get my playlist back.  Mac OS 10.9.5, iTunes 12.4.3.1 probably accounts for the difference.  I did manage to (mostly) follow 1-4 above, finding and restoring (in Time Machine) the old iTunes library to my desktop, starting iTunes using that, but (#5 above) there was no "export" option; however I was able to print (as pdf, but NOT as .txt as suggested in #5 above) the playlist I wanted; then followed 6-7-8.  For 9, I will need to use my saved pdf to recreate the playlist.

     

    Just posting this in case it's helpful for someone else.