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

Can I Restore A Deleted iTunes playlist via Time Machine?

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/

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!

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

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

Yosemite 10.10, latest Itunes.

You rock!! Thank you!!!!

Thank you. Worked like a charm.

Thank you! Exactly what I needed to know.

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

Wow! That was amazing! Thank you.

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

Thank's for your help!

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!!

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.

This worked for me too.

At the end is very simple, but I didn't think to do so.

Many thanks!