Arrange videos in a Playlist (Stream on Sharepoint)

[wazdarocsta470]

Hi all please can anyone tell me if the new Stream (on Sharepoint) features the ability to arrange videos in a playlist or at least is it in the roadmap. If not I would like to log a feature request as this was lacking on the Stream (Classic) environment. Thanks

[#2]

We are working on a playlist feature based on Microsoft Lists. I don’t have a timeline when it’ll be ready for all of you though. It’s not on the roadmap with a date but we are actively working on it.

Today the best you can do is to use a document library web part tied to a file viewer web part which sort of gives you a playlist. As you click a video in the list it plays in the file viewer web part.

Or you can use hero web part, we are making it play the video in-line on the page (rolling out now).

[#3]

Hi Marc, firstly thank you so much for such a quick response and also an absolutely honest response. I have presented your suggestions to my client and suggested that we do a POC of each option to determine which if any solutions meets their requirements else failing that they will need to wait for the addition of the required functionality. I will update this as we go along for the benefit of others. Regards, Warren

[#4]

See this document if you haven't already for other ideas to group videos together: https://aka.ms/StreamPortals

[#5]

@wazdarocsta470 
Thank you for bringing this topic to light. 

Quite frankly it is a joke to release a feature called "Playlists" without the ability to re-order playlist items! Also adding new items to the list it adds them to the top which I believe to be wrong.

I'm creating a set of videos testing a function with an indexed number of test scenarios. However to get them to play in order 1-7 I have to add them backwards into the "Playlist" 7,6,5,4,3,2,1 - which is completely wrong. 

[#6]

@RMBranson I (and I'm sure others) find this same thing very frustrating. However, what we are working with is the minimum viable product to get a playlist out with the thought that something is better than nothing. On this week's Stream product office hours call they indicated that the playlist would be updated in Mid-May and would include the ability to display it correctly using the list view web part. Hopefully it will include the ability to re-order items and more at that time. 

[#7]

@karen_dredske Thanks so much for this update and your response. I want to push back on the idea that "something is better than nothing."

Our institution is required to use Microsoft options when available. The availability of a Microsoft tool creates a mandatory migration to that new tool. When this tool lacks basic functions (such as playlist rearrangement) it costs our team hours of work to retrofit a complete and functioning service in an external platform to work within an incomplete product. This is extremely frustrating.

Adding a "Beta" or "In progress" label to new tools that lack basic functionality can assist my team in advocating for a pause in the mandatory tool migration. This label can reduce the pressure on Microsoft to provide a functional product, which could be the origin of most of the stress your customer service team may confront. 

[#8]

@shazaam444 unfortunately this is very typical of Microsoft. They rush out something new and haven't actually replicated the features of the existing product into the new product.

They're more bothered about their flashy Linkedin marketing posts than actually producing a suitable rollout of a new/refreshed product for existing users.

[#9]

I must agree. This feels almost like false advertising. I just finished watching several tutorials on the new SharePoint Stream, which in and of itself speaks to the lack of intuitive design, only to find out I cannot order the items in the playlist without removing and re-adding them to the playlist. It's just nuts, and as a consumer, it appears very clearly that Microsoft cares more about hooking customers with advertised features which ar e not nearly as functional as presented. The ability to order items in a playlist is so basic, and I wish I was surprised to come across a Microsoft Tech Community forum stating that re-ordering the playlist isn't possible, but unfortunately, this is all too common for Microsoft. I'd have an easier time sharing the videos with my team as an unlisted playlist on YouTube.

[#10]

@OVA-CJ They're too busy right now releasing Copilot and AI related updates (cool LinkedIn posts) instead of finishing existing, half-released products.

[#11]

@karen_dredske Yes thanks for the response. However if you check the date on the original post it was July 2022. You are now fast approaching 12 months to a basic fundamental feature. I run a small dev team on a shoe string budget and if they told me it would take more than an afternoon to turn this type of feature request around they would get a few emoji’s :weary_cat_face::cat_face_with_tears_of_joy: so here you go. Let alone a year from a company the size of Microsoft I’m guessing this feature is now worth millions of dollars which is hilarious!

[#12]

Here's a feedback request item for this - if we all vote it up, MS may prioritize it: https://feedbackportal.microsoft.com/feedback/idea/5d40bde2-cfa7-ed11-a81b-002248519701

[#13]

I must agree again. If this had been presented as a beta-rollout/feature/etc., then we could have waited for this basic functionality to be introduced. Instead, I presented our newly created playlists as "the new way of accessing internally stored videos," and urged people to replace their bookmarks to the older MS Stream with links to our new playlists.

Our team is now reoriented to use a system that is less functional and more difficult to update.

@karen_dredske I know this isn't your fault, and I appreciate you taking time to leave a comment, but it's also worth mentioning that we've begun June, and I don't see any ability to easily reorder items in a playlist. It appears that some kind of functionality is being developed, as the items in the playlist will shrink upon clicking, and the shrink effect will hold if the click is held, but no ability to drag & drop, or to reorder items by any other means that I can detect.

[#14]

Thank you for sharing. It doesn't look like the request specifically states anything about easily reordering the playlist, but I did vote for it and left that suggestion in the comments.

[#15]

The ability to re-order the playlist just came out last week. You can now add a "number" column to the list in the All Items view and then change the Playlist view to sort using the number column. This can now also be displayed on a web page using the List web part.

[#16]

@karen_dredske Thank you very much for taking the time to relay that information. I was able to locate these settings, create a new column, and assign numbers to each item. I was also able to re-order the playlist while still in All Items view. But upon returning to Playlist view the order returned to the order in which the videos were added to the playlist.

Do you know of any way to make the order stick when returning to Playlist view?

I know I said this already too, but it really looks like they're planning to introduce drag & drop for re-ordering, since the size of the playlist items shrink when you click & hold on them. This would really be optimal. It seems like this type of functionality should be possibly by default with any kind of modern playlist tool.

[#17]

@OVA-CJ You just missed the last step of many. You have to edit the Playlist view and tell it to sort by the Number column in ascending order. Once you do that, it should work as you expect.

[#18 · Accepted solution]

Thank you @karen_dredske I really appreciate you taking the time to respond. I want to highlight that none of my criticisms about this feature are directed at you. People like yourself are really wonderful, and the time you take helping out in these forums is likely one of the only reasons Microsoft products remain usable.

For anyone else reading this thread, I want to list the steps necessary to re-order the playlist:

1. Create the list
2. Add videos to the list/playlist
3. Realize with horror that the playlist items cannot be easily dragged & dropped into a new order
4. Visit the forums for help
5. If you're lucky, run into someone as generous with their time as @karen_dredske
   • At this stage you are granted hidden knowledge from Karen that is utilized in the following steps.
6. Select the Playlist drop-down menu (upper-right)
7. Select All Items in the drop-down menu
8. Add a column (I titled mine Order and made it a number column)
9. Add values to all items in the new column for ordering (Example: 1, 2, 3, etc...)
10. After adding all values, select the All Items drop-down menu (upper-right, same button as Playlist in step 6)
11. Select Playlist in the drop-down menu
12. Select the Playlist drop-down menu (upper-right, same as button in step 10, it just keeps changing names because that's super intuitive.. or at least it saves on space)
13. Select Edit current view in the drop-down menu
    • This opens a new tab where you'll be editing the settings for the Playlist view
14. In the Columns section check the box for your newly created column (mine was Order)
15. In the Sort section change the First sort by the column drop-down menu to your newly created column (so I'm selecting Order again)
16. In the same Sort section decide if you want to check the radial bubble for sorting in ascending or descending order
17. Click OK at the bottom right of this page.
    • This brings you back to the Playlist, but in the same tab, so you now have your playlist, in two different states, open in side-by-side tabs.

So, if you don't count the creation of the playlist and finding Karen, it's just a quick ELEVEN steps to change the order of your playlist.. just in case anyone was wondering.

I just want to say again, although my post is obviously laden with sarcasm, none of it is directed at @karen_dredske. I mean it when I say you make this community better. Thank you again for taking the time to respond.

[#19]

Thanks @OVA-CJ for this comprehensive "Summary". I do appreciate it - I'm going to have to go back and see which client I requested this for it was so long ago. Probably a bit embarassing to go back now and say "Hi this is done!" But nonetheless @karen_dredske and the MS Team I appreciate the work and I hope this makes the product easier and better for the community at large.

[#20]

@OVA-CJ you are very welcome. I'm glad this is working for you now. You did a great job of listing out the steps for others. Thank you for the kind words also. You made my day today.