Why Use Playlists
As your project library grows, scrolling through a flat list becomes impractical. Playlists solve this by letting you group related projects under a single label. Think of them as folders with personality — each playlist gets its own icon and color, so you can spot the right group at a glance.
A university student might create playlists for each course: "Biology 101", "History of Art", "Linear Algebra". A journalist could organize by beat: "Politics", "Tech", "Interviews". A project manager might group by client or quarter. The structure is entirely yours to define, and you can reorganize it at any time as your needs evolve.
System Playlists
12scribe includes three built-in system playlists that update automatically:
- All Projects — every project in your library, sorted by last modified date
- Recent — projects you opened or recorded in during the last seven days
- Favorites — projects you have marked with a star for quick access
System playlists cannot be renamed, deleted, or reordered. They always appear at the top of your playlist sidebar and provide a reliable starting point for navigation. To add a project to Favorites, open the project and tap the star icon in the header. Removing a project from Favorites works the same way — tap the star again to toggle it off.
Create a Custom Playlist
To create your own playlist, go to the Projects tab and tap New Playlist. Give it a descriptive name — keep it short enough to read in the sidebar without truncation.
After naming the playlist, you can assign it a visual identity:
- Choose from 25+ preset icons — options include books, microphones, briefcases, stars, hearts, and academic symbols. Pick the icon that best represents the playlist content.
- Select one of 12 colors for the playlist accent. Colors appear in the sidebar, on the playlist header, and on project cards within the playlist. Distinct colors help you distinguish playlists without reading their names.
- Tap Create to finalize. The new playlist appears in your sidebar below the system playlists.
To add projects, open a project and use the Add to Playlist option, or drag projects into the playlist from the main list. A single project can belong to multiple playlists — adding it to "Biology 101" does not remove it from "Semester 3".
Icons, Colors, and Reordering
You can change a playlist's icon, color, or name at any time. Open the playlist and tap the Edit button in the header. Changes take effect immediately across the entire app — the sidebar, project cards, and navigation all update to reflect the new appearance.
Within a playlist, projects appear in the order you arrange them. To reorder, tap Edit and drag projects into your preferred sequence. This is useful when you want chronological order for a lecture series or priority order for a set of interviews waiting for transcription. Custom ordering is preserved even when new projects are added to the playlist — new additions appear at the end by default.
To delete a playlist, swipe left on it in the sidebar and tap Delete. Deleting a playlist does not delete the projects inside it — they remain in your library and in any other playlists they belong to. Only the grouping is removed.