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.

[Inudesu]

I didn't realize completely how bad this was until the shortcut to the old library went away (for the obvious reason that I never really bothered messing with it when I didn't have to). I can't understand why the mobile app version of the library was the goal here. I understand that the overall goal is for the desktop app and the mobile app to be more similar, but I would have suggested matching the better of the two options. The mobile library has been awful since they degraded it to look like this (the "dynamic" filters and all the extra clicks in and out of categories). It's really bad. Why make it worse to use spotify?

[f19ty-_b8rdxm]

I do not understand why the choice was made to remove the workaround to use the full library by pressing the ctrl+shift+f4. Instead of adding useful organizing features, like genre tags (which for some reason is absent in a MUSIC platform), or adding HIFI/Atmos/Losless, or fixing the shuffle which you have received complaints about for as long as the platform has existed, or actually paying your artists a fair percentage of the streaming revenue, and do not even get me started on the shitty local file system.

Instead of doing all of these actually useful and reasonable features your paying customers have requested for years, your team for some stupid reason, decides to actively alienate them by making the use of spotify completely frustrating. I use spotify for one thing, and that is playing music, that is the reason I have been paying money every month for the last 8 years. But it seems like every change in UI has made this simple purpose more and more complex and difficult for no apparent reason. Why does friends list on the right get completely removed everytime I play a new album or song? Why is the settings buttom removed on the mobile app, and do I first have to press my profile picture, and then go to settings? Why hide the settings buttom, why would that be efficient? Why do I have to clear my cache on android every week to make the app usable? Why is the heart button gone? Why do my downloaded songs randomly get removed? Why do I separetly have to download local songs for destkop and mobile, where as at first, the files would automatically get synced? Why can I still not see who follows my playlists? Why when I press the tag button for downloads, I do not get the playlists with downloaded songs? What is even the point of that tag then?

In no way can someone argue that a small cluttered list on the left of my screen, would be clearer and easier to use, than a full sized page. It baffles me, that after months of complaining from your customers, and reasonable requests to simply revert this stupid UI change, you still somehow try stand your ground and even remove the workarounds around this god awful idiotic UI. And at the same time, any actual good idea for a feature, that would make the spotify premium price actually worh it, is completely ignored. It is like you want to force your customers to hate you, and I will not be surprised of this app will eventually completely lose its userbase due to this behaviour. Not every idea is bad, I love the smart shuffle for example, but please listen to the shitton of people who actually use your platform, instead of alienating and frustrating them further.

[Chuck2389]

I've complained about the new interface many times since this thread was started. I'll admit that by now, I've gotten used to it and actually enjoy some of the new features. I will say that I am VERY disappointed with how little the team at Spotify was willing to have discussions with it's community.

I wish the interface was more customizable for people that prefer things a certain way, but at this point, I've learned to accept it for what it is. I do like that I can click the album art to get a much larger version!

[youalreadyknowmyname]

Hey,

This feature sucks. It feels like you let someone from the mobile app team take charge of the desktop UI. I understand that the mobile app probably is the majority of your business, but taking away the ability to bypass this shitty feature with Shift+Alt+1/2/3/4 was an idiotic decision. I, and other desktop app users, can no longer coexist with the disgusting new UI you've chosen, as you've removed my ability to switch to an alternative. I really want to underline just how psychotically disconnected from reality this new desktop UI feels. 

Taking away full screen library is making me consider cancelling my subscription. Spotify is not the only music streaming service anymore, there are plenty of high quality alternatives.

Let me make my library full screen on the desktop app. If I could make that the default view of my desktop app as well, that would be incredible.

[mikel_jc]

Please give us an option to choose between the old single panel or this new 2 panel layout. I really dislike having my library crammed into the side panel like this. It's so unintuitive to navigate around. It feels like you want to make it harder to use the libraries we curate ourselves, and want to give more focus to your algorithm-suggested playlists 

[garyglas]

The hotkeys to open my library in the main area made the redesign bearable. Now that's gone. I'm done with this absurdly bad UX. Moving to Tidal. 

[MickeyT9]

if it wasn't for other members of my family needing spotify, I'd go to TIDAL as well... spotify is unbearable.

[Tarindel]

I've been resisting switching to Tidal, but Spotify removing the hidden shortcut key to the library view is the last straw.  The UI/UX on this app has been going downhill for the last 2 years and it's borderline unusable now.  The head of UI./UX needs to be fired for this atrocity.

[MickeyT9]

I couldn't agree more... and to compound the 'user' issues... it's as if they cannot be contacted. Instead, we're forced to vent here. I guess if they can completely 'shaft' the artists and musicians... us folk who only want to listen to tunes have little say. I feel like I'm in a 5hr traffic jam, but I still have to pay all of the tolls for the privilege. I'd love to see heads roll on this one...

[makasol]

I really really miss the old layout. Especially having the library sidebar as well as being able to open it on the home page. I understand wanting to offer new layouts and experiences, but since a lot a lot of people find this most recent layout more cluttered, more complicated, and less appealing to navigate, I think it would be best to return to the previous layout or to at least allow users to design which layout they want. According to the responses to the FAQs, it looks like a lot of the features that listeners used a lot "are no longer available". A lot of designers feel the need to change layouts of things to make it more accessible and easier to navigate, but it gets to a point where you change so much it just becomes more complicated. I strongly request that you return the features that so many of us appreciated before. I used to love organizing my playlists on my PC, I looked forward to it, but now I can't even stand to open the app because I just get frustrated. Please please please just make it good again.

[haavee1]

Why the flying coitus would you remove a HIDDEN BUT EXTREMELY CONVENIENT keyboard shortcut if nothing to **bleep** off paying customers?!

Without that HIDDEN BUT EXTREMELY CONVENIENT shortcut the desktop app now has become a total disaster - it's time to stop paying money to Spotify and give it to someone else.

[jeffjones22]

Why does Spotify keep fixing things that aren't broken and start fixing things that are?  And another question - Does Spotify even read any of posts?  Are they aware that a LOT of paying customers are unhappy with these endless "improvements" that nobody wants?  Seeing as how I've never actually seen a corporate response to any of these threads, I have to believe they're just a black hole created by Spotify so that they can continue to ignore their customers.

[mistafu]

nearly 50 pages, nearly 1000 replies and spotify just gets worse. Now almost any new song i try to listen to is censored..i know that you swedes love  censorship over there but could you maybe not play murica?

[saturninesoul]

You really disabled the shortcut? Really? Why? just whyyyyyyyy?

Please just answer this one question, Spotify: Why the **bleep**?

[terioncalling]

Why, for the love of everything, did y'all remove the shortcut to open the full library in the main window? I don't want it in the sidebar, I've NEVER wanted my library in the sidebar - as so many people have complained about it since you changed the UX to this! All I want is to browse my library in the main window like a sane person. My sidebar should be my playlists only like it used to be and it should stay there, not get disappeared when I want to see other parts of my library.

[xkx]

When you gonna fix sync between this shvtty sidebar and mobile app? What's the point of sidebar which is not syncing and doesn't show recently listened music? The only thing you can do is increase the price?

[saturninesoul]

Everything is so stupid. Switching from mobile to dektop (or vice versa) always stops the playing. Mostly I have to try it twice.

[eliothemoth]

coming back to this, there's been a new update. since this came out i'd been able to open separate pages like my playlists or library similar to the old UI via command, but now that's gone too. why was this changed. now when i do the commands to open these pages, it just changes what tab the side-bar displays. why was this changed. it's obvious many spotify users don't even like the new UI, but completely removing anything similar to the publicly favored version? what are you on??

[saturninesoul]

 Also I am wondering why this thread is by now on page 4 of the topics, although it has later answers than a lot of the threads in front of it.

[thomasmills89]

@spotifydoesntcare and just buries all the complaints hoping they fade away