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Edit playlists

Is there a way to edit playlists now? If so, how do you do it? Thanks!

Posted on Aug 31, 2019 4:56 AM

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Posted on Aug 31, 2019 9:11 AM

Yes, of course there is.


If it's a Regular Playlist, first of all you need to make sure that the Playlist is being sorted by the left hand column:



Click on the column header to cause iTunes to sort by that column, which puts the playlist into manual sort mode. If the arrow is pointing downwards, click the column header again to cause the arrow to point up instead. Here you can:

  • drag songs into the list
  • drag any song already in the playlist to a different position in the list
  • select a song and then use Song/Remove from Playlist (make sure you do not click on "Song/Delete from Library" by mistake) to remove it from the playlist


By the way, the differences between the Playlists are easy to see. Look at the icon with the Playlist:



To edit a Smart Playlist, you need to change the rules of that Playlist because the rules decide whether a song is in the list or not. You cannot manually add or remove songs from Smart Playlists. Select the Playlist and click on Edit Rules:




which then shows the rules for that Playlist:



Be aware that changing a rule for a Smart Playlist affects the complete playlist. It might cause some or all songs to be removed from the Playlist, or even to add a lot more songs. If you want to add or remove just one song to a Smart Playlist without affecting the other songs, then you need to change the appropriate tag in that song in order to cause the behaviour that you want. Once you have made the chnages you want, click on OK.

Regarding Playlist Folders; you cannot add songs to a Playlist Folder, but you can add both Regular and Smart Playlists to a Playlist Folder. Those Playlist coronation the songs, not the folder.

3 replies
Question marked as Best reply

Aug 31, 2019 9:11 AM in response to opticstogo

Yes, of course there is.


If it's a Regular Playlist, first of all you need to make sure that the Playlist is being sorted by the left hand column:



Click on the column header to cause iTunes to sort by that column, which puts the playlist into manual sort mode. If the arrow is pointing downwards, click the column header again to cause the arrow to point up instead. Here you can:

  • drag songs into the list
  • drag any song already in the playlist to a different position in the list
  • select a song and then use Song/Remove from Playlist (make sure you do not click on "Song/Delete from Library" by mistake) to remove it from the playlist


By the way, the differences between the Playlists are easy to see. Look at the icon with the Playlist:



To edit a Smart Playlist, you need to change the rules of that Playlist because the rules decide whether a song is in the list or not. You cannot manually add or remove songs from Smart Playlists. Select the Playlist and click on Edit Rules:




which then shows the rules for that Playlist:



Be aware that changing a rule for a Smart Playlist affects the complete playlist. It might cause some or all songs to be removed from the Playlist, or even to add a lot more songs. If you want to add or remove just one song to a Smart Playlist without affecting the other songs, then you need to change the appropriate tag in that song in order to cause the behaviour that you want. Once you have made the chnages you want, click on OK.

Regarding Playlist Folders; you cannot add songs to a Playlist Folder, but you can add both Regular and Smart Playlists to a Playlist Folder. Those Playlist coronation the songs, not the folder.

Oct 1, 2019 10:30 PM in response to carolynmanatee011

Which instruction is not working? There are instructions for three separate procedures, some with several steps.


You need to be specific about which step in which instruction does not do what you think it should: what do you expect it to do and what does it actually do? Do you see any icons appear that may indicate what cannot be done?


One thing, in my previous post the sentence "those Playlist coronation the songs, not the folder" should read "those Playlists contain the songs, not the folder".

Edit playlists

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