topic Deleting someone from a Collaborative playlist in Your Library

Deleting someone from a Collaborative playlist

Ljé — Wed, 03 Jan 2024 00:45:00 GMT

Hi ,

I would like to know if I remove someone from a collaborative playlist does it delete their songs from the playlist too? How can I do to keep the playlist, but cancel their access to it ?

Re: Deleting someone from a Collaborative playlist

Yordan — Thu, 24 Jul 2025 11:54:09 GMT

Hi @Ljé,

Welcome to the Spotify Community!

Don't worry: if you were to remove a collaborator, the songs they've added won't be affected and will remain in your playlist.

To restrict their access, you can either:

remove them as a collaborator so that they won't be able to add/delete any songs (they'll still be able to view and play the playlist);
or remove them from the playlist entirely, preventing them from accessing it.

💡 Tip: it's also worth setting the playlist to Private, so that only the people whom you've shared it have access to its contents. More info here.

If you change your mind, you can always send them a new invite link.

Hope this clears things up. Cheers!

Re: Deleting someone from a Collaborative playlist

Bellaybg — Mon, 24 Jun 2024 04:40:58 GMT

Hi, I’m wondering if after I have removed someone as a collaborator, and then make the playlist private, can they still see it?

Re: Deleting someone from a Collaborative playlist

Joan — Tue, 25 Jun 2024 06:57:17 GMT

Hi @Bellaybg,

Thanks for reaching out. If you make a playlist completely private, only you will be able to see it.

Hope this clears things up.

Re: Deleting someone from a Collaborative playlist

yummygummy — Fri, 25 Apr 2025 21:43:10 GMT

Hello,

As a collaborator, is there any way to tell if the owner has deleted the playlist from their end? Is there a way for the owner to delete the entire playlist, as in it's gone forever and no one can access it? If a collaborator leaves, can the owner see that they left? Thanks!

Re: Deleting someone from a Collaborative playlist

Vasil — Sat, 26 Apr 2025 08:07:20 GMT

Hey @yummygummy,

If a collaborative playlist is made private, it will no longer be accessible by anyone but the owner. When a collaborator is removed or leaves by themselves, the songs they have added do remain in the playlist. If the playlist is made private or is fully deleted, it will disappear from the libraries of anyone who has been a collaborator 🙂

Hope this clears things up! We're here for you if there's anything else.

Re: Deleting someone from a Collaborative playlist

yummygummy — Sat, 26 Apr 2025 16:29:29 GMT

Hi! Thank you for taking the time to answer my questions! The playlist is private but I can still see it as a collaborator.

Re: Deleting someone from a Collaborative playlist

Susan_GP — Sat, 26 Apr 2025 18:29:41 GMT

Hi there @yummygummy,

Thanks for keeping in touch.

If you're still a Collaborator, you will still have access to the playlist, even if it's private. The owner must remove you from the playlist for your not to have access anymore. These are the options the owner has (as shown by @Yordan before):

If they just remove you as a Collaborator, you will still have access to the playlist, but won't be able to add or remove songs. And if they remove you from the playlist and the playlist is private, you won't have access to it anymore.

Let us know if you have any additional questions.

Re: Deleting someone from a Collaborative playlist

katerinoula — Fri, 23 May 2025 20:39:14 GMT

hey if i leave as a collaborator a playlist will my songs be removed too? Is there any way to remove all my songs?

Re: Deleting someone from a Collaborative playlist

AlejaR — Fri, 23 May 2025 23:09:56 GMT

Hey there @katerinoula,

Thanks for your reply here.

If you leave a playlist on which you've been a collaborator, the tracks you've added won't get removed. When a collaborator is removed or leaves by themselves, the songs they have added do remain in the playlist.

In that sense, before leaving the playlist, you should be able to edit it. You can remove all the songs you've added, but this is rather a manual process, as you need to identify each song. We'd recommend using the desktop app to open the playlist and sort it by Added by to identify who added which songs. You can find the sorting filter at the top-right next to the search tool:

You can also sort it by clicking on Added By, next to the Album column:

This way, it'll be easier for you to locate the tracks you've added. If possible, make sure yours get sorted at the top of the playlist, so if you scroll until the last song and click on it while pressing shift, you'll be able to select them all. By clicking the right mouse button you see the option Remove from this playlist. After that, you can leave the playlist.

If you have already left, keep in mind the playlist will stay the same. If you'd like to see something similar implemented, keep in mind you can post a suggestion on our ideas board. You can learn more about how this works in this article.

We hope you found this helpful. We're always here to help.

Re: Deleting someone from a Collaborative playlist

Salman7236 — Fri, 05 Dec 2025 05:51:54 GMT

Did this feature get removed? When I click on the collaborators names on the mobile app, it shows the list of collaborators without giving me any options to remove them. But when I click on the collaborators on the desktop app, it shows "Shared with" and then only show my name as "You (Creator)".
Can't find any option to remove a collaborator on both mobile and desktop apps.

Re: Deleting someone from a Collaborative playlist

Vasil — Sat, 06 Dec 2025 13:12:13 GMT

Hey @Salman7236,

By the looks of things, this collaborative playlist hasn't been shared with anyone so far. The options to remove collaborators or change their roles within the playlist are only visible, once there are collaborators present.

With this in mind, we'd like to ask you to go to your collaborative playlist on either device -> select the three dot menu -> select 'Invite collaborators'. If everything works as it should, anyone invited should appear in the "Shared with" tab, from where you will be able to change roles or remove collaborators at will.

Hope this clears things up! Let us know if any further questions arise 🙂

Re: Deleting someone from a Collaborative playlist

Salman7236 — Sat, 06 Dec 2025 13:15:25 GMT

It does have 4 collaborators (including me), as you can see in this screenshot ("Muhammad Salman and 3 others"):

Re: Deleting someone from a Collaborative playlist

Vasil — Sat, 06 Dec 2025 16:29:13 GMT

Hey again @Salman7236,

Thanks for the clarification! It seems that your Collaborative playlist has been created back when their functionality was different. We just tested this and I can confirm it. Back in the day anyone invited could add songs and there was no option to change their roles. This got changed down the road but older collaborative playlists maintained their settings and functionalities.

In order to remove the collaborators you currently have, you can either manually delete all the songs which they have added, which will remove their names as well, or you can make the playlist private. Note that making it private will remove it from any profiles who have saved it in their libraries.

In case you wish to continue using this playlist as a collaborative one while having the option to manage collaborators from it, you'd need to copy your songs by selecting the playlist's three dot menu and then 'Add to other playlist'. Alternatively you can select them with Ctrl+A and copy and paste them to a new playlist from the desktop app.

The new playlist can then be set up as a collaborative one once more, ensuring you have full control over it.