# Create Smart playlist from CSV **URL:** \ **Category:** Feature Suggestions\ **Created:** [July 6, 2021, 2:32pm UTC](https://forums.plex.tv/t/create-smart-playlist-from-csv/727088 "2021-07-06T14:32:07Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 5\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![swills1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e8c25b/32.png) [@swills1](https://forums.plex.tv/u/swills1)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2021, 2:32pm UTC](https://forums.plex.tv/t/create-smart-playlist-from-csv/727088/1 "2021-07-06T14:32:07Z")
It would be nice to be able to create a Smart playlist from a CSV. I know rule groups would be a hurdle, but an easier place to start would be say - We have a CSV with three columns. It could be three columns to represent the three pieces of a smart playlist - Criteria such as Album Title / Artist Title / whatever, Contains / Is / Is Not / whatever, search term. This would allow people to take lists like Rolling Stone’s top 500 albums of all time, dump them into the CSV format Plex wants, then create a smart playlist for it without having to manually add 500 criteria lines. ---
**Author:** ![tom80H](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/plex/user_avatar/forums.plex.tv/tom80h/32/19753_2.png) [@tom80H](https://forums.plex.tv/u/tom80H)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2021, 5:17pm UTC](https://forums.plex.tv/t/create-smart-playlist-from-csv/727088/2 "2021-07-06T17:17:16Z")
I’m currently trying to understand your use case. The Rolling Stone‘s top 500 albums appear to be more of a static playlist (given there’s no metadata for RS rating/rank). Just curious as I don’t really see the purpose of importing just the criteria… # As for static lists / references… there’s a few existing suggestions to allow importing playlists from various files. > [@Import Playlist Functionality](https://forums.plex.tv/t/import-playlist-functionality/709236): > > Once upon a time, a few years back, when our family first started using Plex, it was very simple to import an iTunes generated playlist into your Plex Media Server. Now it no longer seems to be a working feature. Sure, there are old instructions on how to add the proper Settings (Settings \> Plugins) to point to the XML file for iTunes. But there is no option on the Playlist Tab of your Library to actually Import an iTunes Playlist, let alone any other playlist, as per some older instructions po… > [@FEATURE REQUEST: Ability to export playlists and import them back into Plex](https://forums.plex.tv/t/feature-request-ability-to-export-playlists-and-import-them-back-into-plex/186986): > > I would like to be able to export playlist information in case of server issues, then import them in the event of a failure. I have just had to reinstall my OS and Plex. I had 78 playlists on the server, but no way to export them. I had backed up the Plex Media Server folder in Users, but it had become corrupted due to my system crashing repeatedly due to a defective driver that was killing my server. When I re-added the Plex Media Server folder I was able to see all my media and my playlist… > [@Option to use existing m3u for playlist feature](https://forums.plex.tv/t/option-to-use-existing-m3u-for-playlist-feature/73492): > > It would be nice to have an option to point Plex to existing m3u playlists and use those for Plex playlists for a DLNA/UPnP music server or serving to Plex clients. Or if not to be used as Plex playlists it could be a separate feature called something like "External Playlists."  Right now I am aware of one piece of software that can make M3u available via UPnP, but I was hoping just to consolidate to use just Plex for all media serving. ---
**Author:** ![swills1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e8c25b/32.png) [@swills1](https://forums.plex.tv/u/swills1)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2021, 5:58pm UTC](https://forums.plex.tv/t/create-smart-playlist-from-csv/727088/3 "2021-07-06T17:58:15Z")
Importing the criteria creates the playlist for you. As opposed to doing it in the app. Because maybe you don’t have all 500 but you want to add as many as you do and if you ever get another, the smart playlist will add it where it should go. You’re basically saying - any album I have in this list - add to a smart playlist. Even that’s moot. Being able to create a Smart playlist from a csv saves work. It saves time. If you ever had to recreate it, it’d be easy. Maybe you don’t want to manually add 30 pieces of criteria to a smart playlist. There are lots of use cases. Unless there’s an option I don’t know about that let’s you just supply a list. You’re essentially saying that Smart Playlists shouldn’t have Album Title as a criteria option. ---
**Author:** ![tom80H](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/plex/user_avatar/forums.plex.tv/tom80h/32/19753_2.png) [@tom80H](https://forums.plex.tv/u/tom80H)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2021, 8:02pm UTC](https://forums.plex.tv/t/create-smart-playlist-from-csv/727088/4 "2021-07-06T20:02:58Z")
It’s your suggestion and I don’t want to muddy the water. I just don’t get based on what criteria you would be creating that particular playlist. How will Plex know which songs to consider to be part of that RS’s top 500 albums 😉 No offense or any malcontent… I’m just seriously curious and don’t see it. My way of thinking was you have that reference list and tell Plex to add all albums from your library that are on that list to playlist. Or are you suggesting to have a smart playlist with 500 criteria (album name = RS’s top 1 album, album name = RS’s top 2 album…, album name = RS’s top 500 album)? To be fair… I haven’t yet tried adding so many criteria – it might be interesting to see if/how Plex deals with that ---
**Author:** ![swills1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e8c25b/32.png) [@swills1](https://forums.plex.tv/u/swills1)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2021, 5:10am UTC](https://forums.plex.tv/t/create-smart-playlist-from-csv/727088/7 "2021-07-12T05:10:52Z")
I created a Python package to handle this. I am going to test adding a large amount of criteria soon like Roll Stone’s top 500 to see how Plex handles it. It imports and exports playlists / playlist criteria. The entire purpose it to reduce work and rely on Plex’s dynamic Smart Playlist’s. As far as, “How will Plex know which songs to consider to be part of that RS’s top 500 albums” Album Title paired with Artist Title as Rules.