YouTube Playlist Sorting

A Tampermonkey userscript that enhances YouTube playlists by adding Sort A-Z (alphabetical by title) and Sort Recently Added (newest videos first) options. For modern playlists, it injects these options into YouTube’s native sorting dropdown. For older playlists without a native sort button, it creates a custom, modern-looking dropdown that blends seamlessly with YouTube’s UI.

Last updated: May 24, 2025

Features

• Sort A-Z: Sorts playlist videos alphabetically by title.
• Sort Recently Added: Sorts videos by their addition order, with the newest at the top (based on playlist index).
• Universal Compatibility: Works on modern playlists with YouTube’s native sort button and older playlists without it.
• Custom Dropdown: For older playlists, adds a full-width dropdown with a dark, modern design (white text, greyish background, Roboto font) that matches YouTube’s UI.
• Automatic Updates: Configured to pull updates from GitHub when new versions are released.

Installation

Prerequisites

• A Chromium-based browser (Brave (Recommended), Google Chrome, Edge).
• The Tampermonkey extension installed.

Step-by-Step Installation Guide

1. Install Tampermonkey:

   • Open your browser and go to the Chrome Web Store.
   • Click Add to Chrome (or Add to Edge for Microsoft Edge).
   • In the confirmation popup, click Add extension.
   • Verify Tampermonkey is installed by checking for its icon (a black square with two white arrows) in the browser toolbar.

2. Install the Userscript:

   • Visit the raw script URL: https://raw.githubusercontent.com/xVoidByte/YouTube-Playlist-Sorting/main/youtube-playlist-sorting.user.js.
   • Tampermonkey will detect the script and display an installation prompt.
   • Click Install in the Tampermonkey prompt.
   • Alternatively, if the prompt doesn’t appear:
     • Copy the script content from the raw URL.
     • Open the Tampermonkey dashboard (click the Tampermonkey icon > Dashboard).
     • Click the + tab to create a new script.
     • Paste the script, then click File > Save or press Ctrl + S.

3. Verify Installation:

   • Open the Tampermonkey dashboard and confirm the script (YouTube-Playlist-Sorting) is listed and enabled (green checkmark).
   • Visit a YouTube playlist (https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLAYLIST_ID).
   • Check the console (Ctrl + Shift + J) for logs like YouTube-Playlist-Sorting userscript started. and Playlist container found..

4. Using the Script:

   • Modern Playlists (with Sort Button):
     • Click the native sort button (near Play All or Shuffle).
     • Look for Sort A-Z and Sort Recently Added at the bottom of the dropdown.
     • Select an option to sort the playlist.
   • Older Playlists (without Sort Button):
     • Look for a custom dropdown labeled Sort Playlist near the playlist title or above the video list.
     • Select Sort A-Z or Sort Recently Added.
   • Test Sorting:
     • Add a new video to the playlist.
     • Select Sort Recently Added to confirm the newest video appears at the top.

5. Automatic Updates:

   • The script is configured to check for updates automatically via GitHub.
   • To manually check, open the Tampermonkey dashboard, right-click the script, and select Check for updates.
   • When a new version is pushed to the repository, Tampermonkey will prompt you to update.

Troubleshooting

• Script Not Running:
  • Ensure Tampermonkey is enabled (toolbar icon active, not greyed out).
  • Verify the script is enabled in the Tampermonkey dashboard.
  • Check the console (Ctrl + Shift + J) for errors (i.e. Error in YouTube-Playlist-Sorting userscript: ...).
  • Confirm the URL matches *://*.youtube.com/playlist?list=* (i.e., https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLAYLIST_ID).
• Custom Dropdown Not Appearing:
  • Inspect the page (right-click > Inspect) and search for custom-sort-dropdown - check for CSS issues (i.e., display: none).
  • Share console logs or errors by opening an Issue.
• Sorting Issues:
  • If Sort Recently Added doesn’t place the newest video at the top, note the console logs (i.e., Item 0: Index=1, Title=New Video) and report them.
• Ad Blocker Interference:
  • Errors like requestStorageAccessFor: Permission denied are unrelated but may indicate ad blocker issues - add an exception for youtube.com in your ad blocker.
• YouTube DOM Changes:
  • If YouTube updates its interface, the script may break. Report issues to the repository with console errors.

License

This project is licensed under the MIT License. See the LICENSE file for details.

MIT License Summary

The MIT License allows anyone to:

• Use, copy, modify, merge, publish, distribute, sublicense, and/or sell copies of the software.
• Include the software in commercial or non-commercial projects.

Requirements:

• The above copyright notice and permission notice must be included in all copies or substantial portions of the software.
• The software is provided "as is," without warranty of any kind.

For the full license text, see LICENSE.

Contributing

Contributions are welcome! To contribute:

1. Fork the repository.
2. Create a new branch (git checkout -b feature/your-feature).
3. Make changes and commit (git commit -m "Add your feature").
4. Push to your fork (git push origin feature/your-feature).
5. Open a pull request.

Please include a description of your changes and test them on various YouTube playlists.

Issues

If you encounter bugs or have feature requests:

• Open an issue on the GitHub Issues page.
• Include:
  • A description of the problem or feature.
  • Console logs (Ctrl + Shift + J).
  • The playlist URL (i.e., https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLAYLIST_ID).
  • Browser and Tampermonkey versions.