How to Create a Video Playlist on YouTube

When you use YouTube for both entertainment and education, your standard “Liked Videos” list can quickly become a chaotic mess of music videos mixed with 40-minute software tutorials. If you want to keep your favorite cooking recipes separated from your favorite video game reviews, you need to utilize YouTube’s Playlist feature. Playlists allow you to organize your saved videos into distinct, custom-named folders that you can watch sequentially, share with friends, or keep entirely private.

How to Create a New Playlist and Save a Video

You can create a brand new playlist directly from the video player window while you are actively watching a video.

1. Open YouTube and navigate to a video you want to save.
2. Just below the video player, look for the row of action buttons (Like, Dislike, Share).
3. Click the Save button. (If your browser window is narrow, this button might be hidden behind three horizontal dots; click the dots first to reveal it).
4. A small pop-up menu will appear showing your existing playlists (like “Watch Later”).
5. Click + Create new playlist at the bottom of the menu.
6. Type a clear, descriptive name for your new folder (e.g., “Python Tutorials” or “Dinner Recipes”).
7. Click the Privacy drop-down menu and choose who can see this list: Public (anyone can search for it), Unlisted (only people you give the specific link to can see it), or Private (only you can see it).
8. Click the blue Create button.

The video is now saved to your new playlist. The next time you click the “Save” button on a different video, your new custom playlist will automatically appear as an option in the menu.

How to Find and Manage Your Playlists

Once you have created several playlists, you need to know how to access and organize them.

1. Look at the main navigation menu on the left side of the YouTube homepage. (Click the hamburger icon in the top-left if the menu is hidden).
2. Under the “You” section, you will see a list of all your custom playlists. Click on the name of the playlist you want to view.
3. You are now on the playlist management page. To reorder the videos, hover your mouse over the two horizontal lines on the far left side of any video thumbnail, then click and drag the video up or down the list.
4. To delete a video from the playlist, click the three vertical dots on the right side of the video row and select Remove from [Playlist Name].

If you click the large “Play All” button at the top of this screen, YouTube will automatically play every video in the folder sequentially, which is perfect for throwing on a music playlist while you work.