Upgraded to iTunes 12, missing playlists...

Thanks for the swift reply.

Sorry I should have been more clear. I did all that (checking preferences, changing views to what I like better, including adding more categories via the ellipsis) before I tried to add music back to my iPhone only to realize a whole folder of playlists that had subfolders with more playlists was missing, all my other folders, their subfolders, and their playlists are present.

I backed up iTunes and the iPhone before I upgraded to iTunes 12, upgrade and install went smoothly (as opposed to previous iTunes 11 version upgrades). I have a habit of making periodic screenshots of various aspects of iTunes, including the playlists sidebar with all folders and subfolders expanded. I compared and it's only one folder but it's my "desert island" folder with subfolders and my essential absolutely favorite playlists with play orders.. (modern versions of my old cassette mix-tapes). I have saved many of those playlists individually/manually as well to preserve play order. If I search for a song I know to be in one of those playlists, and choose the "show in playlist" option, the playlist is missing from that view as well, so iTunes simply for whatever reason is missing that entire folder (& subfolders) of smart playlists. My files are all showing up fine, my library is not empty. (BTW I manually manage my music, most of it being located on the second hard drive on my PC, with the iTunes being installed on the C drive).

The question now is what do I do, do I attempt to do a clean install of iTunes 12? And then use my backed up library, etc? Or do I try to find iTunes 11 again and restore that, then try the upgrade again to see of the missing folder, it's subfolders, and playlists show up? I have had no errors or crashes whatsoever, the upgrade to 12 from iTunes (via the check for updates options), went smoothly as did restart of the PC and relaunch.

Should I follow your instructions here: Empty/corrupt iTunes library after upgrade/crash

would that be good for whole version upgrades of iTunes (11 to 12)?

Thanks in advance for all the help you provide at these forums!

Ok thanks again for the swift reply.

I tried that. Copied iTunes Library from Previous iTunes Libraries folder within iTunes (C:\Users\Username\Music\iTunes) no joy, that playlist folder is still missing. Very strange.

I next tried the double click method to check previous libraries, I went back to a library in July, same thing, everything else is fine, but that particular folder is simply not choosing to appear! I wonder if there is some kind of limit imposed now on folders, subfolders, # of playlists now? It's not the first folder, nor the last folder though, it's a middle folder which is strange. It has 12 subfolders, and if I haven't miscounted my screenshots there are 98 playlists in that main "desert island" folder distributed among the 12 subfolders....

Thanks again for the swift reply. So long story short, I tried the proper way of trying to restore the July previous version too, the playlist folder still did not show up. Since I had made a copy of the entire iTunes folder as part of my iTunes backup process prior to upgrading to iTunes 12. I tried the main iTunes Library.itl file from that folder (not a previous iTunes library file), no joy, surprisingly. The only thing that worked was an older main library file from September that I happened to have only because every time I backup my iPhone, I make a manual backup copy of the library files in C:\Users\Username\Music\iTunes This one happened to be created before I updated to iOS 8.02 as precaution.

Thanks for all your help, not sure why Prevous iTunes library files are not restoring the missing playlist folder. sub-folders, and playlists, I figured maybe because it was a whole version upgrade form 11 to 12 that the upgrade process affected those files as well. But that does not explain why the library file from my manual backups did not work either. So I was wondering if I had done a clean install of 12 and used my backup files, would the playlist folder have shown up? May test that for kicks later.

Very strange. I am just glad the playlist folder has reappeared. And I have not made any major changes since the September version 3 weeks ago so I'm good.

I don't know the logic of why that one playlist folder decided to disappear. it was not the first playlist folder, not the last, it was a middle folder which contained 12 sub-folders, and 98 smart playlists distributed among those sub-folders, 90% of those 98 playlists had play orders. Rebuilding that many smart playlists would still not be so bad, thank goodness for smart playlists, however re doing the play orders would have been a LOT of work, especially since the shortest playlist is about 4 hours with most of those playlists lasting more than a day. So it would have been a LOT of work!

Thanks again for your help. Your previous informative posts were very helpful.

Now I have issue #2 with iTunes 12, lol, sigh can't make an iPhone back up prior to upgrading to iOS 8.1 today, created another thread for that issue.

iTunes 12 does not create backup of iPhone 5 prior to iOS 8.1 upgrade.

Since I marked this question solved, I am not sure if I should have posted here, and it may no longer be in the correct subforum, but I figured all the relevant information is already contained here.

After upgrading to iOS 8.1 and having issues with the capacity bars on iTunes acting strangely (specifically the Other, Free Space, and Music capacities fluctuating from page to page, free space decreasing everytime I removed the music via iTunes) and having issues with syncing (see other thread link from previous post), and after using the solution suggested in this thread Can't sync music anymore with iOS 8. All disappeared. to try and get the music sync to behave, I am again missing the same parent playlist folder, contained playlist subfolders, and all 98 smart playlists distributed among these subfolders. I had also manually created a Guardians of the Galaxy playlist (non-smart) that did not sit inside any playlist folder and had sync-ed that to the iPhone. This playlist also disappeared from iTunes. The songs are still all in iTunes, it is only the playlists themselves which have gone missing.

So now I believe that this whole issue is not related to iTunes 12, but rather an iOS issue, specifically iOS 8 (and iOS 8.1) because I never had such issues with iOS 7. And I am thinking the playlist folders and playlists went missing prior because I had deleted all the music using the General > Settings > Usage > Manage Storage once before while on a trip out of town to make room for vids and pics. When I synced the iPhone with iTunes, the playlists and folders must have gone missing at that time and I did not notice until I tried to sync them back to the iPhone. I believe that the fact that the September copy of my iTunes library (which was made immediately prior to the iOS8 from iOS7 upgrade) restores my playlists and playlist folders points to an iOS issue. This leads me to believe that music syncing under iOS 8 means a true sync, that if you change something on the iPhone, it changes it in iTunes too. But that still does not explain why the songs remain. Nor does it explain why the parent smart playlist folder disappears, why not the two playlist subfolders that contained the actual smart playlists that were checked for syncing, and why not just those smart playlists alone? I have restored my playlists and playlist folders again using that September iTunes Library copy. However I have turned off Music Sync for the time being until I understand what is going on.

My conclusion was that the definition of Sync in iOS8 must have changed. In an effort to understand this I downloaded the iPhone User Guide for iOS 8.1, here are the relevant excerpts, along with relevant excerpts from the iTunes Help section of iTunes 12, but they really don't help me understand why this is happening. The relevant information is in bold, the informaton given does not clear up to me what it means to Sync Music in iTunes with an iPhone. Syncing is both defined as adding items from computer to a device, and as a vice versa 2 way process. This is confusing. Which is it in regards to Music? If someone has a handle on this, please, please post. Thank you.

“Music

Get music

Get music and other audio content on to iPhone in the following ways:

Purchase music from the iTunes Store: Go to iTunes Store. While browsing playlists and albums in Music, you can tap Store. See iTunes Store at a glance.

iCloud: Get access to all your iTunes songs, no matter which device you used to purchase them. Use iTunes Match to include CDs and other music you import. See iCloud and iTunes Match.

Family Sharing: To download songs purchased by other members of your family, go to iTunes Store, tap More, tap Purchased, then choose a family member. See Family Sharing.

Sync content with iTunes on your computer: See Sync with iTunes.”

“Playlists

Create playlists to organize your music. View Playlists, tap New Playlist near the top of the list, then enter a title. Tap to add songs or videos.

Edit a playlist. Select the playlist, then tap Edit.

Add more songs: Tap .

Delete a song: Tap , then tap Remove. Deleting a song from a playlist doesn’t delete it from iPhone.

Change the song order: Drag .

New and changed playlists are copied to your iTunes library the next time you sync iPhone with your computer, or through iCloud if you’ve subscribed to iTunes Match.

Clear or delete a playlist you created on iPhone. Select the playlist, then tap Clear or Delete.

Remove a song from iPhone. Tap Songs, swipe the song, then tap Delete. The song is deleted from iPhone, but not from your iTunes library on your Mac or PC, or from iCloud.”

“Sync with iTunes

Syncing with iTunes copies information from your computer to iPhone, and vice versa. You can sync by connecting iPhone to your computer, or you can set up iTunes to sync wirelessly with Wi-Fi. You can set iTunes to sync music, videos, apps, photos, and more. For help syncing iPhone, open iTunes on your computer, choose Help > iTunes Help, then select Sync your iPod, iPhone, or iPad.”

from iTunes Help:

Syncing overview

Syncing means adding items on your computer to a device. You can use iTunes to sync the items in your iTunes library to your device, as well as photos, books, contacts, and other info

....

Sync iPod, iPhone, or iPad

To add items on your computer to your iPod, iPhone, or iPad, you sync them using iTunes. You can have iTunes sync items automatically (which is the quickest option), or drag items to your device manually (which gives you more control)—or you can do both. You can also remove items from your device automatically or manually.

.....

Thank you once again for the swift reply. Coming to iTunes and iOS devices from a love of music and ofc the iPod, I am used to managing my music that way. I never intended to use the iPhone in any different manner. Like you, I think it's cool that you can edit on the fly on the iPhone, but it is a feature I never wanted to use, I too manage music in iTunes. The only reason I did delete from the phone was to either make room or to fix music sync issues where the phone seems to think the music is still on the phone even though iTunes said it removed it resulting in strange capacity indicators. Now that the iPod classic has been discontinued, even though mine works wonderfully, I thought it was time I learned more about syncing music to iOS devices like the iPhone and the iPod Touch since those seem to be the future. But as you said if this is what they think the future is in regards to the mp3 player aspect of these devices I think I have to find another solution when my iPod classic kicks the bucket. If one of those code writers can explain their logic and the fundamentals of Music Sync in iOS 8 I would be elated. The published literature seems to contradict itself. "To Sync" cannot both mean "To add" and "copies information from your computer to iPhone, and vice versa" it should mean one or the other.

Take care. 🙂