topic Library search doesn't work inside all playlists but more randomly in Your Library

Library search doesn't work inside all playlists but more randomly

Dub-i-o-u-s — Fri, 14 Apr 2023 23:59:41 GMT

Plan

Premium

Country

Device

(iPhone)

Operating System

(iOS latest and Windows 10)

My Question or Issue

Hi there

When I search my playlists for e.g the word "foolin" I only get some results. Some songs inside playlists that start with "foolin" are not shown. When I search inside a playlist, I will get a result.

I'd like a more consistent search function as I find that I add albums or tracks again and again because I can't find them in my own library.

See documentation (can only upload 3 screenshots, so the last one showing that I find a song when searching inside the playlist is missing).

Re: Library search doesn't work inside all playlists but more randomly

Dub-i-o-u-s — Fri, 14 Apr 2023 23:58:29 GMT

Here's the last missing screenshot

Btw it took me FOREVER to find the proper place to sign up and being able to post a "please help" topic here. It reminds me a lot about how to find certain privacy settings on facebook 😕

An email confirmation link wasn't sent in the first place. So when I tried to post a new subject, the page would just reload forever.

Re: Library search doesn't work inside all playlists but more randomly

Yordan — Sun, 16 Apr 2023 08:49:20 GMT

Hey there @Dub-i-o-u-s,

Appreciate the feedback on posting a thread as a new user. I'll forward it to the right folks.

If you haven't already, you can request a new verification email by clicking on your profile in the top-right corner > My Settings > Personal > Email.

As for filtering in Your Library, I can confirm that this is the current behavior. The items there are categorized into Playlists, Podcasts, Artists and Albums, so you'd only get results that match one of these categories. This means that it's not currently possible to search for individual tracks that are found in one of your playlists directly from Your Library - you'll have to open a playlist and search in it instead, like you pointed out.

Here's an idea though about being able to search within all of your playlists, which I'm sure you'll find interesting, so feel free to check it out and show your support. Note that despite its status, the idea is open for voting, so you can still give it a thumbs up. We revisit such ideas on regular intervals and it just might be that their time would be right in the future.

Hope this clears things up. The Community is always here if there's anything else you need assistance with.

Cheers!

Re: Library search doesn't work inside all playlists but more randomly

Dub-i-o-u-s — Wed, 03 May 2023 13:22:56 GMT

Hey @Yordan

Thanks for your reply! I went to the link you provided and gave it a thumbs up - let's hope it will be implemented soon!

Re: Library search doesn't work inside all playlists but more randomly

mick-borneo — Wed, 23 Aug 2023 02:20:26 GMT

Hi there,

I found this thread when looking for why I can't search for songs/artists in playlists in my Library. If I read your response correctly, this functionality isn't available? Yet the Spotify interface specifically says "Find everything you've liked, followed, or created" which implies that it should be there. When I search in my Library, I get no results for songs or artists. It only returns a result when I type the name of a playlist, which is not helpful at at. I would love to hear your thoughts on this. I have attached screenshots.

Thanks, Michael

1. Playlist called Mix Tape with the song Thrills in it

2. In Your Library, I click the search box

3. Search returns no results

Re: Library search doesn't work inside all playlists but more randomly

Yordan — Wed, 23 Aug 2023 06:50:03 GMT

Hey @mick-borneo,

I can confirm that the information from my previous post is still up to date, so it's not currently possible to search Your Library for individual songs/artists found in your playlists. I appreciate your feedback on this though, and I'll forward it to the right folks.

In the meantime, if you have the (+) button on your Now Playing View, you can play the song and tap the button to see which of your playlists the song has been added to. That way you don't have to search for the song in every single one of your playlists. I also recommend voting for the aforementioned idea so it has a better chance of being considered.

Take care!

Re: Library search doesn't work inside all playlists but more randomly

mick-borneo — Fri, 25 Aug 2023 19:34:59 GMT

Many thanks for the reply. It such a basic functionality that I am surprised that the company hasn't heard this more loudly from users considering how popular the platform is. It's also misleading; the way the text is written, it sounds like you can search in your library. I will definitely upvote and thank you for pointing me to the right place.

Cheers.

Search by song name in my library

Kangaroo857 — Tue, 05 Sep 2023 13:58:23 GMT

Plan: premium
Country: USA
Device: samsung s21, lenovo pc
OS: android 13, windows 10

Issue:

When I use the general search, there is a button to filter by song name.
When I use the my library search, there is NOT a button to filter by song name.

When I general search for "clair" (aka clair de lune) I get MANY hits, and the one from my library is buried in the list.
When I my lib search for "clair" I get artist and album hits, but no song hits.

Issues appears to be same when using browser or mobile android app. Why does one search have a song filter, but the other search does not?
Please tell me if I'm missing something on how to search my lib by song name. Or this is a bug that's been logged and will be fixed in update soon.

Re: Library search doesn't work inside all playlists but more randomly

118068960 — Fri, 31 Jan 2025 16:14:50 GMT

why is the function not simply available? is it hard to code for some reason? bad infrastructure? i don't get it.
for me it's a real hassle not being able to search my library for songs. what is the search function capable of finding if not songs (or whatever "track" be it podcast or what have you)?
often times i forget which playlist the song i crave is in and it might be a song with a generic title and that together with me forgetting the artists name makes it impossible to find the song unless i manually search (extreme eyeballing) every playlist song by song until i find it. many times i don't even see it because you get "blind" after staring at playlists for too long and will not get to hear the song even after spending time and effort on finding it.

sorry for the language but it seems very strange if not sadistic

best regards,

oskar jacobsson

Re: Library search doesn't work inside all playlists but more randomly

Username128 — Fri, 11 Apr 2025 06:30:10 GMT

I agree. It seems simply absurd that you can't search for songs within your library. If there is a general search function which allows you to search the entire Spotify catalogue for anything - songs, albums, playlists, podcasts etc - why is it not possible to search for songs within "Your Library"? Or am I missing something?

Re: Library search doesn't work inside all playlists but more randomly

capopolo — Thu, 24 Jul 2025 02:59:45 GMT

Dumbest behavior, one of Spotify's most annoying problems. I have 10 playlists. Searching for them is pointless, there are only 10. Locating a song within them is tge more useful behavior that doesn't work.

Re: Library search doesn't work inside all playlists but more randomly

dhufish — Sun, 07 Sep 2025 13:14:54 GMT

Spotify - please - just arrange for this to happen!

Search doesn't include playlist folders

oivindi — Fri, 03 Apr 2026 19:41:15 GMT

Plan

Premium

Country

Norway

Device

MacBook Pro M1 Pro 2021

Operating System

MacOS 15.7.4

My Question or Issue

I have just noticed that the main Search doesn't include (index) playlist folders, which basically means I keep adding albums/playlists I have already added - because there is no way to find them. Other than to search manually ... which shouldn't be necessary in 2026 😮

Is this a bug or a feature?

Example:

Re: Library search doesn't work inside all playlists but more randomly

oivindi — Fri, 03 Apr 2026 19:49:07 GMT

It seems my post (above) was moved to a topic that isn't really about my specific question. Oh well.

ALSO, it seems my problem is related to playlist folders within playlist folders. Because searching for playlists, albums, artists etc. works fine if you just keep to the "one below" folder. But folders inside folders won't be searched for playlists or, say, artists. This is surely a bug.