Server version: 1.25.6.5577 on Windows
App Version: Plex Web 4.75.0
Device: Windows 10 desktop
Steps to reproduce:
Opened Plex web on PC
Navigated to shared server
Click ‘Playlists’ and get “Playlists is empty” message
Look for ‘Shared’ playlists option
Expected:
Library should give me access to see shared playlists, either under a “Shared” section similar to what Home users would see.
Actual:
No ‘shared’ option nor listings under ‘Playlists’ exists under Friend’s server, despite friend having shared out multiple playlists with me.
Narrative:
I have seen several threads, but no solid answers on this query. I can create playlists and I have the GUI options available to “share” with users. However, when I share them out, there is still nothing available to the users (“Playlists is Empty”) within their login when it comes to playlists. Is this an expected behavior? If so, why have the option to “share” a playlist, if in fact you cannot share the playlists you create?
The Playlists library will only show playlists they created themselves. Shared playlists will not appear there. There should be a “Shared” library. Initially they will have to click on “More,” where it should appear like this:
They can pin it and re-order it, like any other library.
I may be the only one but I find it really annoying that this is how playlist sharing works.
Firstly, when sharing a playlist it’s not all obvious that this is how it works. There’s no information explaining it and, considering the amount of whitespace in the playlist sharing window (on a pc), there’s more than enough room to provide some. And since we share our libraries with other users but they don’t show up under a separate “Shared” library, it would be perfectly reasonable to expect shared playlists to appear as their own library like everything else.
Secondly, if a user has made playlists of their own, and has also had playlists shared to them, they aren’t all in the one place. The user has to look in two different places to access them.
I’m sure there must be some reason why they can’t be shared the same way as libraries. Are you able to explain it, please?
Do these shared playlists only work for “home” users? I’ve shared out multiple playlists with external users, and nobody can see them. I’ve also had external users share playlists with me, and I see “Playlists is empty” and no “shared” option under their server name. I agree with @kiwichick the lack of documentation & explanation in the plex documentation around sharing & playlists is definitely lacking. I’ve had plex for nearly 10 years now, and have never seen shared playlists actually work 
I just shared a playlist with a non-Home user as well, and it seems to work. I don’t know why it won’t for you. I don’t do much with sharing, so I don’t know how to help. Maybe one of the ninjas will step in.
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Interesting! I know I’ve tried sharing back and forth w/ other Plex Pass users and can’t seem to get any of the playlists to share. Did you try both audio & video by chance? I’ve only tried to share video playlists.
Testing again with one of my friends. I removed him completely from my library access and re-added him under the ‘Friends’ section. Still nothing on his end (nor my end with his shared playlists to me). I tested sharing with a home user (and logged in as that user) and the shared playlists show up under the ‘Shared’ section under the server as I’ve seen in the past. No idea what is going on, but it is pretty frustrating.
This is the worst thing about Plex. No Support. People have problems, and you cannot contact them to get support for the problems. No help in troubleshooting to narrow down the cause; nothing. Very frustrating.
@beckfield was this “non-home user” added to your Plex server as a friend? Also, if they share out a playlist with you, and you are a friend on their server, can you see their shared playlist as well? It seems this only works for me if the user is actually part of my “home”.
AAAAaaaarrrrgggggghhhh. I finally figured it out! I’ve been testing through my browser this whole time. Well, it appears as though sharing via the browser is NOT supported. I found this article that shows what devices are supported for what they call “single item shares” which is the category that sharing a playlist would fall into.
Well I’m glad I found my answer finally!!!
I’ve Granted Access to a playlist to a friend and they can see that I’ve granted access to them to the playlist in Home & Library Access in the MacOS app (version 1.43) and the home page shows a Playlists section and looks like it’s seeing my playlist and shows my server name but the “Playlists” is empty
There’s no Shared menu item appeared like in the docs for Single Item Access Single Item Access | Plex Support
I can’t work out what I might be doing wrong
You are not the only one. I still cannot see any playlist shares from my friends. I have been able to successfully share out to others, though. Some very odd behavior that I can’t quite work out. I fear it is firewall related, and not everyone has the firewall chops necessary to work through the issues on their end. If I find a solution beyond what I tested internally I’ll let you know!
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Thanks! I’ve even tried sharing with another Plex account on a different computer on my home network with the same issue so I can’t imagine it’s firewall issue as the Ubuntu server and the MacBook Pro don’t have firewalls enabled
So, I just tested with a test account, and was able to login as the test user, accept the “friend request” from my primary account, and then close and re-open the windows client, and I could see the ‘shared’ section as seen in the screenshot… I did have to accept the friend request within the client prior to seeing the share. I tried clicking the “share link” that was provided, but it said the URL was invalid…
Once thing also that I noticed was that I had to send the share twice, and open and close the plex client more than once to get the share to show up and actually be accessible.
I created a new test account and invited that user as a friend, then shared a playlist.
Still no Shared menu item appears in the test user account! 
I’ve closed the MacOS client and re-opened it to no avail 
Once you open the mac client, go into the Home & Library Access settings, and go into the account that is sharing the access. Then, go to the ‘Media’ tab and see if you can see the shared playlist there. If so, it should also appear in the ‘Shared’ section of your other accounts left-hand pane…
Thanks, when I go to the Media tab in the Home & Library Access settings for the test user I can see the shared playlist there, although it doesn’t have a thumbnail like the playlist in the main user - it’s just gray. Unfortunately no Shared section appears. I’ve sent the ‘Grant access to’ several times and closed and reopened the MacOS client but still no Shared section
Yep! I had the same experience. Now share it again to that user, and try that same thing again. The 2nd time the icons showed up and I could access it in the shared section. It’s like there was a partial auth accept on the first try, but not complete.
Thanks, tried it with a third test user and this time it seems to have worked. Finally!
I hope it’s not as difficult when I try and share with a real friend!
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