Script to remove all videos from Youtube Watch Later playlist

Remove videos from Youtube Watch Later playlist.md

UPDATED 22.11.2022

It's been two years since the last update, so here's the updated working script as per the comments below.

Thanks to BryanHaley for this.

setInterval(function () {
    video = document.getElementsByTagName('ytd-playlist-video-renderer')[0];

    video.querySelector('#primary button[aria-label="Action menu"]').click();

    var things = document.evaluate(
        '//span[contains(text(),"Remove from")]',
        document,
        null,
        XPathResult.ORDERED_NODE_SNAPSHOT_TYPE,
        null
    );

    for (var i = 0; i < things.snapshotLength; i++) 
    {
        things.snapshotItem(i).click();
    }
}, 500);

Non-english users will need to change "Action menu" and "Remove from" to what YouTube uses for their localization.

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For anyone from Czech Republic, you can use this modified function from a few comments above.

setInterval(() => {
  document.querySelector('#primary button[aria-label="Nabídka akcí"]').click();
  document.evaluate('//span[contains(text(),"Odstranit ze seznamu")]', document, null, 
   XPathResult.ORDERED_NODE_SNAPSHOT_TYPE, null).snapshotItem(0).click();
}, 500);

@AwareWulf Thanks for sharing 👍

For all the french here, use this :
setInterval(function () { document.querySelector('#primary button[aria-label="Menu d\'actions"]').click(); var things = document.evaluate( '//span[contains(text(),"Supprimer de")]', document, null, XPathResult.ORDERED_NODE_SNAPSHOT_TYPE, null ); for (var i = 0; i < things.snapshotLength; i++) { things.snapshotItem(i).click(); } }, 1000);

Merci beaucoup @DewasSquid ! Fonctionne au 02 juin 2022

This works great, thank you.

For everyone using a different language you have to update:

1: aria-label="HERE"

and

2: '//span[contains(text(),"HERE")]',

---

The second one is just the content of the "Remove from playlist button", press on the 3 dots and copy the text. Just some words is okay, e.g "Remove from" is totally fine.

---

Number 1 is a bit more tricky, to find it you have to inspect the 3 dots button (right click => inspect or something simillar)
It looks like this:
(Make sure to inspect the button not the icon, just inspect a bit on the side from the three dots.)

<button id="button" class="style-scope yt-icon-button" aria-label="Aktionsmenü"><yt-icon class="style-scope ytd-menu-renderer"</button>

From there you have to use the content of the aria-label

It worked just fine!!
I don't know why youtube does not include this feature, I had thousends of videos on the watch later section and I'm 100% that i'm actually not going to watch none of them :) but I want to use this feature of watch later but know in the proper way.
Anyways thank you very much and greetings from colombia 👍

Works perfect for me Just suited to german

setInterval(function () {
// Changed "Action menu" to "Aktionsmenü" (DE)
  	document.querySelector('#primary button[aria-label="Aktionsmenü"]').click();
  	var things = document.evaluate(
// ... as well as "Remove from" to "Aus"
    '//span[contains(text(),"Aus")]',
    document,
    null,
    XPathResult.ORDERED_NODE_SNAPSHOT_TYPE,
    null
  );
  for (var i = 0; i < things.snapshotLength; i++) {
    things.snapshotItem(i).click();
  }
},` 1000);

Works perfect! Just suited to pt-br

setInterval(function () {
  	document.querySelector('#primary button[aria-label="Menu de ações"]').click();
  	var things = document.evaluate(
    '//span[contains(text(),"Remover")]',
    document,
    null,
    XPathResult.ORDERED_NODE_SNAPSHOT_TYPE,
    null
  );
  for (var i = 0; i < things.snapshotLength; i++) {
    things.snapshotItem(i).click();
  }
}, 1000);

@othyn, unfortunately you can't do this at all with the YouTube API, because it will not return the contents of the Watch Later playlist: https://developers.google.com/youtube/v3/revision_history#september-15,-2016

Suited for PL:

setInterval(function () {
    document.querySelector('#primary button[aria-label="Menu czynności"]').click();
    var things = document.evaluate(
        '//span[contains(text(),"Usuń z ")]',
        document,
        null,
        XPathResult.ORDERED_NODE_SNAPSHOT_TYPE,
        null
    );
    for (var i = 0; i < things.snapshotLength; i++) {
        things.snapshotItem(i).click();
    }
}, 500);

Action menu changed to Menu czynności
Remove from changed to Usuń z

For Arabic:

setInterval(function () {
  document.querySelector('#primary button[aria-label="قائمة الإجراءات"]').click();
  var things = document.evaluate(
    '//span[contains(text(),"إزالة من")]',
    document,
    null,
    XPathResult.ORDERED_NODE_SNAPSHOT_TYPE,
    null
  );
  for (var i = 0; i < things.snapshotLength; i++) {
    things.snapshotItem(i).click();
  }
}, 200);

With the latest redesign of the Watch Later page, none of the previous solutions work. I think we're going to have to search for the textContent of spans, for example: Array.from(document.querySelectorAll('span.style-scope.yt-formatted-string')).find(el => el.textContent === 'Remove from ');

this code worked....:)

Thanks worked like a charm! Had to translate the aria-label and text for dutch:

setInterval(function () {
  document.querySelector('#primary button[aria-label="Actiemenu"]').click();
  var things = document.evaluate(
    '//span[contains(text(),"Verwijderen uit")]',
    document,
    null,
    XPathResult.ORDERED_NODE_SNAPSHOT_TYPE,
    null
  );
  for (var i = 0; i < things.snapshotLength; i++) {
    things.snapshotItem(i).click();
  }
}, 1000);

Here's my take on this

setInterval(function () {
    video = document.getElementsByTagName('ytd-playlist-video-renderer')[0];

    video.querySelector('#primary button[aria-label="Action menu"]').click();

    var things = document.evaluate(
        '//span[contains(text(),"Remove from")]',
        document,
        null,
        XPathResult.ORDERED_NODE_SNAPSHOT_TYPE,
        null
    );

    for (var i = 0; i < things.snapshotLength; i++) 
    {
        things.snapshotItem(i).click();
    }
}, 500);

Working as of 11/21/2022. Just let it run in the background. Non-english users will need to change "Action menu" and "Remove from" to what YouTube uses for their localization.

If you need it to clear hidden videos this is the tweak to do that (I had like 200) - click options menu and show hidden videos then run this

setInterval(function () {
    video = document.getElementsByTagName('ytd-playlist-video-renderer')[0];

    video.querySelector('#button > yt-icon').click();

    var things = document.evaluate(
        '//span[contains(text(),"Remove from")]',
        document,
        null,
        XPathResult.ORDERED_NODE_SNAPSHOT_TYPE,
        null
    );

    for (var i = 0; i < things.snapshotLength; i++) 
    {
        things.snapshotItem(i).click();
    }
}, 500);

This is a lifesaver for me. Thanks.

Türkler için

setInterval(() => {
  document.querySelector('#primary button[aria-label="İşlem menüsü"]').click();
  document
    .evaluate(
      '//span[contains(text(),"Daha sonra")]',
      document,
      null,
      XPathResult.ORDERED_NODE_SNAPSHOT_TYPE,
      null
    )
    .snapshotItem(0)
    .click();
}, 100);

Hızlandırılmış hali

setInterval(() => {
  document.querySelector('#primary button[aria-label="İşlem menüsü"]').click();
  document
    .evaluate(
      '//span[contains(text(),"Daha sonra")]',
      document,
      null,
      XPathResult.ORDERED_NODE_SNAPSHOT_TYPE,
      null
    )
    .snapshotItem(0)
    .click();
}, 50);

Korean version, if someone needs it
한국어 환경에서 유튜브 나중에 볼 동영상 전부 지우기

setInterval(function () {
    video = document.getElementsByTagName('ytd-playlist-video-renderer')[0];

    video.querySelector('#primary button[aria-label="작업 메뉴"]').click();

    var things = document.evaluate(
        '//span[contains(text(),"에서 삭제")]',
        document,
        null,
        XPathResult.ORDERED_NODE_SNAPSHOT_TYPE,
        null
    );

    for (var i = 0; i < things.snapshotLength; i++) 
    {
        things.snapshotItem(i).click();
    }
}, 500);

Russian version

setInterval(function () {
    video = document.getElementsByTagName('ytd-playlist-video-renderer')[0];

    video.querySelector('#primary button[aria-label="Меню действий"]').click();

    var things = document.evaluate(
        '//span[contains(text(),"Удалить из плейлиста")]',
        document,
        null,
        XPathResult.ORDERED_NODE_SNAPSHOT_TYPE,
        null
    );

    for (var i = 0; i < things.snapshotLength; i++)
    {
        things.snapshotItem(i).click();
    }
}, 500);

Swedish version:

setInterval(function () {
    video = document.getElementsByTagName('ytd-playlist-video-renderer')[0];

    video.querySelector('#primary button[aria-label="Åtgärdsmeny"]').click();

    var things = document.evaluate(
        '//span[contains(text(),"Ta bort från")]',
        document,
        null,
        XPathResult.ORDERED_NODE_SNAPSHOT_TYPE,
        null
    );

    for (var i = 0; i < things.snapshotLength; i++) 
    {
        things.snapshotItem(i).click();
    }
}, 500);

YouTube appears to rate limit you after 200ish deletions in a short time - so while the deletions appear to work on the UI side, the videos aren't actually removed from the playlist. Absolutely infuriating.

Here's a modified version of the script that deletes 200 at a time, waiting 5 minutes between each batch to avoid doing any deletions that, uh, don't actually delete. With a 5000-video playlist, this should take 167ish minutes to run. Just put it on overnight or something.

function deleteVideoFromWatchLater() {
    video = document.getElementsByTagName('ytd-playlist-video-renderer')[0];
    video.querySelector('#primary button[aria-label="Action menu"]').click();
    var things = document.evaluate(
        '//span[contains(text(),"Remove from")]',
        document,
        null,
        XPathResult.ORDERED_NODE_SNAPSHOT_TYPE,
        null
    );
    for (var i = 0; i < things.snapshotLength; i++) {
        things.snapshotItem(i).click();
    }
}

async function deleteWatchLater() {
  // Fiddle with these if you'd like
  let batchSize = 200; // Number to delete at once before waiting
  let waitBetweenBatchesInMilliseconds = 1000 * 60 * 5; // 5 minutes
  let waitBetweenDeletionsInMilliseconds = 500; // Half a second

  let totalWaitTime = ((5000 / batchSize) * (waitBetweenBatchesInMilliseconds / 1000 / 60)) + (5000 * (waitBetweenDeletionsInMilliseconds / 1000 / 60))
  console.log(`Deletion will take around ${totalWaitTime.toFixed(0)} minutes to run if the playlist is full.`);

  let count = 0;
  while (true) {
    await new Promise(resolve => setTimeout(resolve, waitBetweenDeletionsInMilliseconds));
    deleteVideoFromWatchLater();
    count++;

    if (count % batchSize === 0 && count !== 0) {
      console.log('Waiting for 5 minutes...');
      await new Promise(resolve => setTimeout(waitBetweenBatchesInMilliseconds));
    }
  }
}

deleteWatchLater();

The batch sizes and wait times are guesses, but they worked for me. You may need to run this more than once if any rate limiting happens - just reload the page and run the script again.

There's the french version:

To launch it:

const watchLaterCleaner = setInterval(function () {
    video = document.getElementsByTagName('ytd-playlist-video-renderer')[0];

    video.querySelector('#primary button[aria-label="Menu d\'actions"]').click();

    var things = document.evaluate(
        '//span[contains(text(),"Supprimer de")]',
        document,
        null,
        XPathResult.ORDERED_NODE_SNAPSHOT_TYPE,
        null
    );

    for (var i = 0; i < things.snapshotLength; i++) 
    {
        things.snapshotItem(i).click();
    }
}, 500);

To stop it (if you want to):

clearInterval(watchLaterCleaner);

works well! thanks a lot

It works like a charm! TIP: Disable display images on your browser settings, it runs smoother!

For Spanish from Spain users the code is:

setInterval(function () {
    video = document.getElementsByTagName('ytd-playlist-video-renderer')[0];

    video.querySelector('#primary button[aria-label="Menú de acciones"]').click();

    var things = document.evaluate(
        '//span[contains(text(),"Quitar de")]',
        document,
        null,
        XPathResult.ORDERED_NODE_SNAPSHOT_TYPE,
        null
    );

    for (var i = 0; i < things.snapshotLength; i++) 
    {
        things.snapshotItem(i).click();
    }
}, 500);

It is awesome to finally see my list in a manageable size, thank you!

Nice

I made a version that allows one to remove only watched videos or all.
Simply change the <= 10 with your preferred progress bar (how much of the video you watched) threshold.

var counter = 0;
setInterval(function () {
    let video = document.getElementsByTagName('ytd-playlist-video-renderer')[counter];
    let progress = "0";
    console.log(video.querySelector('#video-title').innerText)
    if(video.querySelector('#progress') !== null && video.querySelector('#progress') !== undefined){
    progress = video.querySelector('#progress').style.getPropertyValue("width")
    console.log(progress)
    } else {
    console.log("not deleted");
    counter++;
    return;
    }
    video.querySelector('#primary button[aria-label="Action menu"]').click();
    
    var things = document.evaluate(
        '//span[contains(text(),"Remove from")]',
        document,
        null,
        XPathResult.ORDERED_NODE_SNAPSHOT_TYPE,
        null
    );

if(parseInt(progress.substring(0, progress.length -1)) >= 50){
    console.log("deleted")
    for (var i = 0; i < things.snapshotLength; i++) 
    {
        things.snapshotItem(i).click();
    }
    } else {
    console.log("not deleted")
    counter++;
    }
}, 800);

This thread was a good reference when I need similar functionality (many thanks!), so I implemented it into a web extension. But my code was a little bare, and private extensions doesn't seem to be a thing, so just recently I converted it into a Userscript.

https://gist.github.com/AndersMoberg/0a9f996a49d7b3a9e9c01065ce29abf4

If you have a Userscript manager, press the Raw button and you should get the dialogue for installing it.
It only works with Swedish interface for now, but feel free to request your language if you'd like I can put it in.

Again, many thanks for this Gist and comment section