Playlists: Manual, Auto-Populated, and Filter-Based

Playlists collect games around a purpose that is not limited to one platform. A playlist can be a hand-picked list you maintain yourself or a rule-based list that updates from game metadata. Adding a game to a playlist does not duplicate the library entry, copy the game file, or move anything on disk.

Choose the right playlist type

LaunchBox Premium and playlists

In current LaunchBox for Windows builds, creating and managing playlists in LaunchBox Desktop is not itself Premium-gated. Big Box is a Premium feature, so viewing a playlist in Big Box and applying Big Box-specific theme or view choices requires an active Premium license.

Create a manual playlist

1. In the LaunchBox Desktop sidebar, switch to Playlists or Platform Categories.

2. Right-click in the sidebar and choose Add..., then New Playlist... where the submenu is shown. The exact shape of the Add menu depends on the current sidebar list.

3. On Details, enter a unique name and optionally set Nested Name, Sort Title, Sort Games By, Notes, images, or a video.

4. On Parents, select any locations where the playlist should appear in the Platform Categories hierarchy.

5. Leave Auto-Populate this Playlist cleared on the Auto-Populate tab.

6. Save the playlist.

You can also select one or more games, right-click, and choose Add to Playlist > New Playlist.... For an existing destination, the Add to Playlist submenu lists manual playlists; auto-populated playlists are intentionally excluded because their rules control membership.

Add and remove games safely

To add games to an existing manual playlist, select them, right-click, and use Add to Playlist. One game can belong to several playlists without creating another ROM copy.

For the clearest removal workflow, edit the playlist, open Games, select an item, click Delete, and save. That removes only its membership from this manual playlist.

If you select a game while browsing a manual playlist and invoke LaunchBox's normal Delete command, LaunchBox asks whether you also want to permanently remove it from the collection:

• No removes it only from the current playlist.

• Yes continues into the normal library-deletion workflow, which can include separate media and ROM-file questions depending on your settings.

• Cancel makes no change.

Read this prompt carefully. Removing playlist membership alone keeps the game's library record, metadata, media, play history, and launch path.

Manual order versus Sort Games By

Edit a playlist and open Games to move a selected game Up, Down, Top, or Bottom. Using these controls sets Sort Games By to Manual, because a deliberate sequence cannot be displayed while another sort such as Title or Release Date is in control. Choose another Sort Games By value when you want LaunchBox to arrange the playlist from a game field instead.

Create an auto-populated playlist

1. Create or edit a playlist.

2. Open Auto-Populate and enable Auto-Populate this Playlist.

3. Add rows using the Field, Comparison, and Value columns.

4. Set the desired Sort Games By value and parent locations.

5. Save, then verify games that should be included and excluded.

The field list contains supported library data such as Platform, Genre, Series, Source, Region, Play Mode, Favorite, Installed, Status, Game Progress, ratings, dates, and other metadata. The available comparisons change with the selected field.

How multiple rules combine

Rules for different fields narrow one another: a game must match at least one rule for every field used. Multiple rows for the same field act as alternatives: matching any one of those rows satisfies that field.

For example, two Platform rows for “Nintendo Entertainment System” and “Super Nintendo Entertainment System” combined with a Favorite-is-true row mean:

(NES OR SNES) AND Favorite.

Comparisons such as Is Equal To, Contains, Is Empty, numeric/date comparisons, and true/false tests have field-appropriate meanings. Auto-population is only as accurate as the metadata it tests. If a multiplayer playlist misses a title, check that game's Play Mode and player-count metadata before changing the rule.

Auto-populated playlists are rule-controlled

LaunchBox does not let you directly add games to an auto-populated playlist. It also blocks the normal Delete command while browsing one. Change the game's metadata or edit the playlist rules when a title should enter or leave the list.

Inside the playlist editor, removing or manually reordering a game prompts you to convert the playlist to manual. If accepted, the currently evaluated games remain as a snapshot, auto-population is turned off, and future metadata changes no longer add or remove games. Reordering also changes Sort Games By to Manual.

Save visual filters to a new playlist

1. Select the broad sidebar scope you want.

2. Apply one or more conditions with the Filter control.

3. Choose Save Filter(s) to New Playlist....

4. If LaunchBox warns that the combination must be saved as a static playlist, confirm only if a snapshot is what you want.

5. Name the playlist, review Auto-Populate and Parents, and save.

LaunchBox creates an auto-populated playlist when it can represent the selected sidebar scope and visual filters as rules. It offers a static manual playlist when the combination cannot be represented safely, for example, when the current scope would conflict with a filter on the same field.

The sidebar Search box is not saved as an auto-populate rule by Save Filter(s) to New Playlist.... Clear Search and express the intended membership with visual filters before saving, so the resulting playlist is predictable.

Parents, platform-style navigation, and names

• Parents controls every location where the playlist appears in the Platform Categories hierarchy. The same playlist can have several parents without being duplicated.

• Include this Playlist with Platforms also lists the playlist alongside platforms in platform-style navigation. It is independent of the Parents selections.

• Name is the playlist's unique full title.

• Nested Name is the shorter label shown when the playlist appears beneath a parent.

• Sort Title controls the playlist's alphabetical position without changing the displayed name.

Playlist media and Big Box presentation

The playlist editor can store Notes, playlist-level images, and a video. These represent the playlist itself and do not replace media attached to its games.

Hide in Big Box removes the playlist from Big Box navigation, but its games remain searchable and available through other Big Box sections such as publisher or genre filters. If a playlist appears in LaunchBox Desktop but not Big Box, check this setting, its Parents, and Include this Playlist with Platforms.

Big Box can remember or apply theme and view choices for an individual platform, category, or playlist through its Big Box presentation controls. Those choices are separate from playlist membership and from the images and video managed in the Desktop playlist editor.

Generated Arcade/MAME and child playlists

Platform context-menu workflows such as Create Missing Arcade/MAME Playlists and Auto-Generate Child Playlists create generated, auto-populated playlists. Their definitions include a Platform rule plus genre, play-mode, publisher, player-count, or other selected metadata rules, so membership continues to update as library metadata changes.

Generated playlists are still ordinary playlist records that can be edited, but custom changes may make future maintenance harder to understand. Create a Data backup before substantially renaming, reorganizing, or replacing a generated set.

Delete a playlist without deleting games

To remove the playlist definition, right-click the playlist in the sidebar and choose Delete. The warning explains that all displayed instances of that playlist will be removed. This deletes the playlist and its membership references; it does not delete the games, ROM files, or normal per-game media.

If the playlist appears in several locations and you want to remove only one appearance, edit the playlist and clear that location on Parents instead of deleting the playlist.

Troubleshoot unexpected membership or visibility

1. Confirm whether Auto-Populate this Playlist is enabled.

2. For a manual playlist, confirm the game was added to this specific playlist.

3. For an auto-populated playlist, apply the same-field OR and different-field AND logic to every rule, then inspect the game's matching metadata.

4. Clear unrelated Search and visual Filter conditions while viewing the playlist.

5. Check Parents, Include this Playlist with Platforms, and Hide in Big Box.

6. Check Nested Name and Sort Title if the playlist appears under an unexpected label or position.

Use a manual playlist when membership is a personal choice. Use an auto-populated playlist when the choice can be described reliably with library metadata.