Desktop: New Your Library sidebar

[MattSuda]

Spotify is introducing a new Your Library sidebar in the desktop app and Web Player.

The new Your Library sidebar improves navigation and makes it easier and faster to collect and retrieve all types of content, bringing new features to desktop that you're already familiar with in the mobile app. The new sidebar is also more customizable than before to meet different preferences.

You can read more info about the new desktop experience in the Spotify Newsroom post:

➜ Spotify’s Desktop Experience Gets a Brand-New Look With Redesigned ‘Your Library’ and ‘Now Playing’ ...

This thread is your go-to destination for learning what's new, asking questions, getting help for issues you might have, as well as to share your feedback about the new Your Library sidebar for desktop. Also, do you have any tips for other users on how you are using the new Your Library sidebar? We'd love to hear them.

What's new in the Your Library sidebar?

• See your entire collection and all of the content types (not just playlists)
  
  
• Filters for your collection (Playlists, Artists, Albums, Podcasts) that can be combined with other filters (By you, By Spotify, Downloaded)
  
  
• Sort options for your collection (Recents, Recently Added, Alphabetical, Creator, Custom Order)
  
  
• Chosen filters and sort options will be remembered in the sidebar across restarts of the desktop app
  
  
• Search through your collection in the sidebar
  
  
• Pinned library items to find your favorites, faster – current limit is 4 (Playlists, Playlist Folders, Artists, Albums, Podcasts)
  
  
• Art covers are now shown in the sidebar
  
  
• Compact library layout (no art covers) is available as an option in Settings to increase content density
  
  
• Dedicated + (plus) button to create Playlists and Playlist Folders
  
  
• Flexible Sizing: A collapsed library view (with only art covers) to maximize the browsing area, a regular width view, and an expanded view for more focused library management and curation. (you can also drag to customize the size)
  
  
• In the expanded library view, you have options for list view, compact view, and a grid view. The list and compact views show you more details in 2 columns, Date Added and Last Played, and the grid view allows you to see larger art covers.
  
  
• Playlist Folders can still be expanded into the sidebar in a tree view, and now when you click on them, the sidebar only shows the Playlist Folder and what's inside for a more focused view.
  
  
• Menu option to move a playlist to a folder (with search)

Note: The Your Library sidebar experience will be the same for the most part in the Web Player. However, the Web Player does not support all of the features found in the desktop app. To be able to use all of the features, you can download the desktop app right here.

Tips to get started:

If you need a familiar experience to help you get started with the new Your Library sidebar, here's how to get it as close as possible to the old sidebar that previously only showed playlists:

• In the left "Your Library" sidebar, click on the "Playlists" filter at the top.

• Then, in the drop down menu select "Custom Order" under "Sort by". You will then see your previous playlist order and be able to move your playlists and folders like before.

• Your currently chosen filters and sort options will be remembered across restarts of the desktop app.

• If you would like to only see text in the Your Library sidebar (no art covers), go to the drop down menu and at the bottom of the menu click on "Compact" under "View as".

• Flexible Sizing: You can drag the Your Library sidebar to different sizes. Fully expand the sidebar by clicking the arrow button at the top, and fully collapse the sidebar by clicking on the "Your Library" heading to see only art covers.

• At the top, you can scroll through the different filters with your mouse scroll wheel for faster navigation when the sidebar is set to a smaller size. 

Walkthrough of the basics:

Sidebar List:

You can now see your entire collection and all of the content types (not just playlists) in the sidebar list. At the top, click on the filters to filter the content you want to see, and click on the drop down menu to change the sort order or view of the list. To create a new Playlist or Playlist Folder, click on the + (plus) button at the top right corner of the sidebar. To search through your collection, click on the search button.

Filter Options:

At the top, click on the filters to filter the content you want to see. You can scroll through the different filters with your mouse scroll wheel for faster navigation when the sidebar is set to a smaller size. 

To remove the filter, click on the X or the currently selected filter and then choose another filter to see another type of content. Having no filter selected will show all types of content mixed in the list.

• Playlists
• Artists
• Albums
• Podcasts & Shows
• These can be combined with other filters: By you, By Spotify, Downloaded

Sort Options:

At the top, click on the drop down menu to change the sort order of the list under "Sort by".

• Recents
• Recently Added
• Alphabetical
• Creator

When the "Playlists" filter is selected, you have the option to see your playlists in your own custom order.

• Custom Order

When the "Podcasts & Shows" filter is selected, you have the following option:

• Recently Updated

View Options:

At the top, click on the drop down menu to change the view of the list under "View as".

• Compact (view text only without art covers)
• List
• Grid (bigger art covers)

Flexible Sizing:

You can hover over and click on the right edge of the sidebar to drag it to your preferred width. You can also fully expand the sidebar by clicking the arrow button at the top, and fully collapse the sidebar by clicking on the "Your Library" heading to see only art covers.

In the expanded library view, you have options for list view, compact view, and a grid view. The list and compact views show you more details in 2 columns, Date Added and Last Played, and the grid view allows you to see larger art covers.

FAQ:

This section will answer your frequently asked questions and will be updated with the latest answers.

Related help articles on the support website:

• Your Library   • Sort and filter   • Keyboard Shortcuts

Can I view the Your Library page in the main browsing area like before?

• Unfortunately, the old Your Library page in the main browsing area is being discontinued with the release of the new Your Library sidebar. You can adjust the size of the Your Library sidebar to be bigger and you can also enable the "grid view" if you would like to see bigger art covers.

How do I see only my playlists in the sidebar like I used to be able to, I can't drag and move my playlists or folders anymore?

• In the left "Your Library" sidebar, click on the "Playlists" filter at the top.

  
  Then, in the sort options drop down menu select "Custom Order". You will then see your previous playlist order and be able to move your playlists and folders like before.

  
  Your currently chosen filters and sort options will be remembered across restarts of the desktop app.

I don't want to see art cover images in the sidebar, how do I turn them off?

• If you would like to only see text in the Your Library sidebar (no art covers), go to the drop down menu and at the bottom of the menu click on "Compact" under "View as".
  
  

How do I get the album art to expand in the bottom left corner like before? When I try to expand the album art, it opens the Now Playing View sidebar to the right.

• Unfortunately, that is no longer possible. When you expand the album art in the bottom left corner of the app, it will no longer hover over the Your Library sidebar. Instead, the new right sidebar will open up. You can resize the Now Playing View sidebar to your preferred size.
  
  

  You can read more information about this by going here.

How do I play or shuffle play a Playlist Folder now? (I don't see dedicated pages with play / shuffle options anymore)

• Right click on a Playlist Folder and select the "Play" option. To shuffle play, make sure to turn on the shuffle mode first before selecting the "Play" option in the right click menu.

How do I get to my Local Files now?

• In the left "Your Library" sidebar, click on the "Playlists" filter at the top.

  
  Then, in the sort drop down select "Custom Order".
  
  The "Local Files" playlist will be near the top of the list under your pinned items (if any).

Feedback:

Where can I give my feedback about the new Your Library sidebar in the desktop app?

• We welcome your feedback about this change. The best way to share your feedback is to comment here in this thread.

[trenna]

This is a terrible update. I've been using Spotify for I think close to 7 years and this is by far the worst UI update, particularly on the desktop. Not all of us are running 1024x768 screens, its just looks absolutely massive on a 4k display. Please think about scalability and stop getting in the way for us trying to listen to music.

Also you shouldn't change stuff just cause you can. It leads to lower engagement not more.

[brietman]

I don't completely dislike the sidebar. It adds a lot of customizable features to the sidebar. It's common to have some (customizable) sidebar for a music-player, looking at MusicBee, Winamp, MediaMonkey and Windows Media Player. The old one was actually crappy. It only showed playlists and putting them in folders was a nightmare.

But.... why completely removing the normal album/artist/playlist view? For now we can bring it back with alt + shift + 4 (not F4 😉 ). Viewing all saved tracks would be a nice bonus.

When you want to view your albums or organize your playlists, it's way more convenient to do this in the main window because it's has more space.

Maybe just showing the sidebar full screen could be solution too, or just another instance of the sidebar but in the main window.

[Zomvivi]

Most of Spotify's new updates to the looks of it have been driving me nuts. (like the transfer of the pinned playlists from mobile to desktop and the moving of the liked songs to playlists) 
There's so many things I want them to change back it's hard to start anywhere.

But I really miss left clicking on a folder of playlists and it opening a big view of all the playlists contained on the right instead of opening a list on the left and me only being able to see the previous view if i extend the left menu to a width that is ungodly.

 

[Zomvivi]

In the previous version when enlargening the Album Cover of the Song you were listening to, it would neatly fit into the menu of playlists on the left.
Now it covers up the menu, has a gap on the right and is unsightly and unpractical.
I love looking at the Album art and it's important to me for it to make sense with the design.

 

[Zomvivi]

In old Spotify versions they've never been "a playlist" and it's hard to adapt to it. They're like a step above playlists for me, in them are like ALL songs i listen to, in Playlists are songs from my liked songs depending on my mood. So please put them back where they belong, above the library. Easily accessible.

[No_hope]

Gotta love messages that do nothing but dismiss issues people have.

[UXNightmareApp]

Hey @Spotify, as a 12-14 year user , i'm on the verge to switching to another platform. The update to the playlist system is a complete joke. When adding new music, i used to open all the folders and add new music to the playlists i wanted. Since i have several folders (Based on Genre/ Mood), this is becoming a nightmare, i have to click 100X as much now. Thanks a %$#%@#@$ lot. Managing playlist have become a real nightmare to the point that i question if you even use your own app.

I'm a (25+ years experience) programmer / UI/UX designer. Ever heard the term "if it ain't broken don't fix it"? You could have literally done nothing and everyone would be happy. I give it one more month, and if the playlist system isn't reverted or a setting, i'm out. I want to listen to music and create playlist in a easy manner. That's it.

It boggles my mind that a billion dollar company can **bleep** up things this bad. I freaking hate UI/UX designers with a urge to change everything for the heck of it. IF IT WORKS AND NO ONE IS COMPLAINING ABOUT IT, then it's job fukkin done. Not the start of a new chapter... Freaking donuts. I mean a tree component is still the best solution for displaying a folder structure. But let's ignore that by pushing this abomination. Let the user click 100X as much if they like to organize by folders... Absolute joke of an update. The UI/UX designer would be instantly fired if it was in my company. But then again, we actually value user experience, which i highly doubt in your case, after this update. I have absolutely no idea how this can be pushed to live.

Keep doing what you're doing and become obsolete like so many. User experience is the key to your software, if you neglect the opinions of your users, you will become the next titan to fall. I've read 0 positive comment about this update, all comments are mostly negative. Never forget who has the power. We the users do. If we abandon your platform, you can pack your bags. I've seen many have left already.... You probably lost more potential revenue then it would cost in development costs to make this a setting. But hey, who needs users right? Right? 🤡

P.S. fix your reCaptcha V3. I needed to verify 10 times before it worked. When i use it on our websites, it always works...

[Zomvivi]

Menu width (home, search, library bar) resets to what i assume is "default" after going into fullscreen.
This is most likely "a bug" and not a feature, but should be adressed.

[Doomgriever]

First off, the new update (like majority of people are saying) is a HORRIBLE user experience. I really really hope you consider changing it back, or something similair to what it used to be. This is unbelievably frustrating to use now. 

One of my issues is that you pin stuff to my library that i cannot remove / reorder.

Playlists like: Liked Songs, Local Files CANNOT be reordered and is laying on top of everything.
I have set Filter to Playlists and order to Custom Order.

The **bleep** Folder View, now whenever I click a folder it goes into that folder instead of the previous behaviour of Expanding the folder view. I do this accidentally constantly and it's super annoying, because to get OUT of it I have to find a small back < arrow that is next to a bunch other small icons.... So if I want to actually Expand a folder I now have to click a small arrow v next to the folder. This is just frustrating and such unnecessary design.

Play Folder: We used to be able to Double Click a Folder to play the whole folder, now if I click it just goes into that folder view... so I have to right click and choose play, this is much slower and often leads to me misclicking and goes into folder view agian.... You already removed the feature of folder playing from the mobile version (WHY!?) and now this? Like can you make something userfriendly once?

The last mobile updates that force you to auto-play some TikTok wannabe videos on loud as soon as you open your phone, completely removing the previous (and useful) main page... This is malicious design, and I cannot phatom if it's just greed or incompetence, but it sucks to have your MUSIC player become yet another TikTok wannabe app that **bleep** on the user. Spotify used to be great, been using is since the first year it was released, but man each update just gets worse and worse and less user friendly. I would have switched years ago if it wasn't for the fact that I have 100s playlists I don't want to have to recreate...

[ambuechlein]

Spotify, for the love of all that is good, can you PLEASE revert the Desktop app back to the old layout? The new one is garbage. It has made it super difficult to navigate. I want to be able to see all the albums I saved in a large, easy to navigate window. I don't want to have to scroll down a stupid sidebar to get to the end of the alphabet. This is common sense. Get a better UX team or do better research. I'm seriously considering switching because it makes it so much more difficult to use. Ugh, I got caught in A-B testing a few months ago and it reverted back to the old one and I was SO HAPPY. Now I'm disappointed again. It seriously is awful. You changed for the sake of change. It wasn't broke or dated.

[Jordan575]

Is it possible to downgrade the version? The new version is truly hideous, I can't find my way around anymore, the visual design is awful. I don't know what they put in the coffee during the developer meetings, but it must have been really strong.

Is it possible, at the very least, to give the user the option to choose whether or not they want to use this new theme?

I'm completely lost, all my playlists, etc...

[terioncalling]

It's been roughly a week since this terrible UI/UX update was shoved down my throat and it's still trash.

[therealgenghis]

New UI is horrible and poorly designed. if someone spend at least 3 seconds testing it you can see the the album cover overlaps with other aspects of the UI additional removing the library page and forcing you to use the side bar makes the library harder to use and look worse finally the curved design is disgusting especially on windows 10 where everything is designed for square UI. Please give an op

[teleportjack]

The update for the MacOS update has been a very poor experience for me, and I am seriously considering moving to Tidal/Apple Music now.

Since the update, I have been having issues with Spotify hanging and not responding so I have to force quit it, or the audio stream will be completely distorted.

Just bring back the original Library view on the main screen so I can see all of my albums without having to Alt+Shift+4.

[PeculiarReality]

Does anyone besides the brand new intern who designed it actually like this UI, or are you guys intentionally trying to get rid of loyal customers?

The ONLY reason I haven't switched over to Amazon Music or Deezer or even Pandora is because I really don't want to deal with setting up my playlists again. And the Hulu I got for free at some point through a promotion. That's it. If I have to suffer through this ugly, irritating, just plain unusable UI on my desktop app for too long, I'll gladly cancel.

[planetyonx]

This change is absolutely horrible, I am infuriated by it, let me navigate my library in the center of my screen instead of trapping it in the sidebar. 
This should be reverted and whoever is responsible for it should be fired.

[theodosiaprevost]

I had uninstalled spotify and re-installed an older version (8.1) which had the old interface. Opened it this morning and my library is back in that tiny stupid sidebar with some dumb patronising message saying "welcome to your new library ! (: "

So I don't think they're planning to give us options considering they're actively going out of their way to block people from using the old UI.

[mistafu]

Another funny thing, everytime i open the Desktop app i have to resize ALL of the windows, the ugly new library sometimes is max size, sometimes its just the ugly pictures. The friend-listening-whatever feed on the right side even comes back after i closed it completely and the ACTUAL PAGE I WANNA SEE is small as **bleep** everytime i restart the app.

[tamagosan]

Spotify, if you're looking for feedback, here it is: this feature is not good. I liked being able to sort *all* of my library without having to use filters. I liked being able to see my library on the main screen instead of the sidebar. I liked having my playlists, folders, and artists sorted in the way I wanted them to be. I liked having the sorted order *actually saved* and I liked not being forced to re-select "custom order" whenever I opened a folder. **bleep**, I liked even having the option for "custom order" on the actual library itself.

The main thing I never liked on mobile was the weird layout and practically non-existent sorting options, so desktop was the only way I could organise anything. I had it sorted by type, genre, language, date, artist. I had it categorised and exactly where I needed it to be. For years, this is worked for me. The old library system was perfect for a neurodiverse brain to understand and customise. However, this new system has almost reduced me to tears trying to get it to work and sort the way it used to be, nothing is doing what it's supposed to do and it's incredibly frustrating. It sucks.

- Make custom order an option on the parent library page

- Make the "sort by" preference actually save on child library pages, having to reselect every time sucks

- Provide the old UI as a display option, at least

[ewebstar]

Windows app.

The new app UI is not great, and that's being kind. Give me control of my library and stop trying to be smart. You cannot organize my feed the way I want to. I know under playlist there is a "custom order" but as soon as the app starts its out of order again.

This is bad UI. Dont try to organize things for me. you will always fail.

Also I did not ever like these artists? I have been a spotify paid user for a while and not sure where these have come from. Probably another half baked feature "liking" artists for me. Now I have to go clean them all up and unfollow. There is no mass unfollow, multi select. Just lots of clicking. Whoever is in control of the app's UI design need to realize users want to be empowered and not controlled. STOP IT.