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+--- Thread: Move playlists between users (/t-move-playlists-between-users)
Move playlists between users - .minuteman76 - 2025-09-16
I have two users on my server, one of them has about 20 playlists, the other has about 10. I would like to consolidate this so that all of the playlists belong to a single user.
I have tried editing the playlist.xml files though the terminal and changing the <OwnerUserID> tag, however when I do this and then scan all libraries, the OwnerUserID just reverts back to what it was originally, and the playlist still belongs to the original user. I must be missing some critical step to get the system to update the actual database but I can't figure out what that is.
RE: Move playlists between users - pixel24 - 2025-09-16
It’s been mentioned here several times that it should be enough to copy the XML file and adjust the owner ID (in the XML file). I haven’t tested this in a while, but back then this approach didn’t work for me. As I said, though, that was quite some time ago.
Yes, exporting a playlist in the web UI as user A and importing it as user B would indeed be really helpful.
RE: Move playlists between users - .minuteman76 - 2025-09-16
I came up with a reasonable work around. On user A, I used the "Edit" option on each playlist and checked the box for "Allow Public Access". That allowed me to at least be able to see the playlists with User B. Then while signed in as User B, I would create a new playlist called "Playlist 2". I'd right click on the original playlist, choose "Add to Playlist", and add the entire playlist to "Playlist 2". Then I'd delete the original Playlist that exists under User A. This is still tedious and you need to manually update the metadata and images for the newly created, duplicate playlists, but at least this turned it into a 1 hour project instead of multiple days rebuilding each playlist one song at a time.
RE: Move playlists between users - IndianaLarry - 2025-09-17
From my experience, any changes to the XML files are ignored in favor of what is in the library.db database file. To fix this in bulk, we will need SQL. With that said, considering that a lot of information is stored as JSON in the data column and editing JSON in SQLITE is no small matter, this will be a bit of an undertaking.
If you want to try figuring it out, this documentation can get you started (although be sure to edit library.db, NOT jellyfin.db). The playlists are found in the TypedBaseItems table, with a value of "MediaBrowser.Controller.Playlists.Playlist."
Code:
select * from TypedBaseItems where type = 'MediaBrowser.Controller.Playlists.Playlist';