Collections bring videos from different channels together around an interest, project or occasion. A video can belong to several collections at once. Collections are part of your Watchlist library; they do not create or edit playlists on YouTube.
Create a collection
- On Mac, choose New Collection in the sidebar, or the + beside Collections. On iPhone and iPad, open the Collections tab and choose New Collection (+).
- Enter a name, such as Cooking or Weekend watching.
- Keep the suggested icon or choose another under Icon.
- Optionally select followed channels under Channels to file their videos automatically.
- Choose Create.
File videos
Right-click a video on Mac, or touch and hold it on iPhone or iPad. Choose Add to Collection, then the collection’s name. You can also choose New Collection… from this menu to create one with the selected videos already filed.
The menu is available in Watch, Review, History, channel pages and collection pages. You can file several selected videos together. On Mac, you can also drag videos onto a collection in the sidebar.
A tick shows that the video is already filed there. Choose the ticked collection again to remove it. For a multiple selection, the tick means every selected video belongs to that collection.
Filing and removing videos can be undone. On Mac, use Edit ▸ Undo (⌘Z).
Link channels for automatic filing
Open a collection’s Collection options menu and choose Edit Collection…. Select channels under Channels, then choose Save. You can also right-click or touch and hold a channel and choose File in Collection.
Linking a channel files its existing Review, saved and watched videos from your library, as well as new uploads as Watchlist discovers them. It does not fetch the channel’s entire YouTube back catalogue. Dismissed videos are not added by linking a channel.
To stop automatic filing, turn off the channel in the collection editor and save, or choose the ticked collection in the channel’s File in Collection menu. Videos already filed stay in the collection. You can remove them individually.
Browse and play
Open a collection from the Mac sidebar or from Collections on iPhone and iPad. It groups its videos into:
- Watch: saved videos, ready to play.
- Review: uploads from linked channels awaiting your decision.
- History: watched videos, in a section you can expand.
Choose Play to start the first saved video and place the remaining saved videos at the front of Up Next, in collection order. Choose Collection options ▸ Add All to Up Next to add the saved videos without starting playback. These actions appear when the collection has saved videos.
Playback still needs an internet connection. Watchlist does not automatically start the next video when one ends; see Playing videos.
Edit, reorder or delete
Use Collection options ▸ Edit Collection… to change the name, icon or linked channels. Choose Save when finished.
On iPhone and iPad, open the Collections tab, choose Edit from its options menu and drag the reorder handles to arrange your collections.
Remove from Collection takes a video out of that group without dismissing it or changing other collections. On Mac, Delete in a collection’s Watch or History section also removes the selected videos from that collection.
To delete the whole group, choose Collection options ▸ Delete Collection… and confirm. You can also delete it from the collection editor. Its videos and followed channels stay in your library.
A video is missing
Dismissed videos are hidden in collections. If a filed video was dismissed, restore it from History’s Recently Dismissed or from Dismissed on its channel’s page, and it shows in the collection again. Videos permanently cleared from History are no longer in your library.
If Hide YouTube Shorts is on, Shorts are hidden here too. Clear any search text, check the Review and History sections, and see Filters and Shorts for filtering settings.