Clean YouTube Watch Later Videos

youtube_clean_watch_later_videos.js

// Version 2.0.1
// This script will remove all videos from watch later list 
//
// Usage
//
// #1 go to https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=WL
// #2 run following script in your browser console
(async function() {

  const playlistName = document.querySelector('.metadata-wrapper #container #text')?.textContent || document.querySelector('#text')?.textContent
  if(!playlistName) {
    alert(`Couldn't determine playlist name!`)
    return
  }
  
  if(!confirm(`Are you sure to delete ALL videos from ${playlistName}?`)) {
    return
  }
  
  console.info("start...")
  while(true) {
    const videos = document.querySelectorAll('#primary ytd-playlist-video-renderer')
    if(videos.length == 0) break
    
    for (let videoElement of videos) {
      const videoTitle = videoElement.querySelector('a#video-title')
      console.info(`Remove Video\n`    
        + `  Title: ${videoTitle.innerText}\n`
        + `  URL: ${videoTitle.href}`)

      const actionMenuButton = videoElement.querySelector('#menu #button')
      console.debug("click actionMenuButton", actionMenuButton)
      actionMenuButton.click()

      const removeButton = await untilDefined(() => document.evaluate(
          `//tp-yt-paper-listbox/ytd-menu-service-item-renderer[./tp-yt-paper-item/yt-formatted-string/span[text() = '${playlistName}']]`,
          document, null, XPathResult.FIRST_ORDERED_NODE_TYPE, null).singleNodeValue)
      console.debug("click removeButton", removeButton)
      removeButton.click()
      
      await sleep(200)
    }
  } 
  console.info("done!")

  // === util functions ========================================================
  
  async function sleep (timeout) { 
    return new Promise(res => setTimeout(res, timeout))
  }
  
  async function untilDefined(factory, checkInterval = 100) {
    while (true) {
      const value = factory()
      if (value != null) return value
      await sleep(checkInterval)
    }
  }
})();

Do you know how to deal with 400 error? It seems to work, only to fall into chain of errors, even though videos disappear, they actually aren't deleted and are shown again after a refresh.

@chekoopa unfortunately I've no idea. This script just simulate clicks so I have no influence on the requests itself.

Thanks a lot , if you web is in Chinese , just add

	'zh-Hans-CN': '从稍后观看中移除',

It's works ~

@xiaolitongxue666 I'll add your translation entry

@xiaolitongxue666 I'll add your translation entry

OK 👌 !~

Very nice! Works like a charm (pt-br), very very tks!

I made your script into tapermonkey/violentmonkey userscript, use it if you want but updating will currently break it as it will be overwritten by the current gist that is not a valid userscript

I was lazy to add checks if the user is at the proper webpage, TODO i guess?

Details

// ==UserScript==
// @name        Clean Youtube Watch Later
// @homepageURL https://gist.github.com/qoomon/a3f71ff2b2a18ee297c9435d539d5247
// @downloadURL https://gist.github.com/qoomon/a3f71ff2b2a18ee297c9435d539d5247/raw/7784b40026cadf3d2ede89358fd554e298c17bd1/youtube_clean_watch_later_videos.js
// @match       *://https://www.youtube.com/playlist
// @grant       GM_registerMenuCommand
// @noframes
// @version     1.0
// @author      qoomon
// @description Removes all videos from your youtube watch later playlist
// ==/UserScript==
//
// Script adapted into userscript by Sandorex
//

GM_registerMenuCommand('Clean Watch Later', function() {
  if (!confirm("This will erase your playlist permanently, are you sure you want to proceed?"))
    return;
  
  // FOR STANDALONE USE COPY THIS BLOCK
  (async function() {
    const REMOVE_BUTTON_TEXT_MAP = {
      'en': 'Remove from Watch later',
      'en-GB': 'Remove from Watch later',
      'de-DE': 'Aus "Später ansehen" entfernen',
      'pt-BR': 'Remover de Assistir mais tarde',
      'zh-Hans-CN': '从稍后观看中移除',
    }

    const sleep = (timeout) => new Promise(res => setTimeout(res, timeout))
    const untilDefined = async (factory, timeout = 100) => {
      while (true) {
        let value = factory()
        if (value != null) return value
        await sleep(timeout)
      }
    }

    console.info("start...")
    while(true) {
      let videos = document.querySelectorAll('#primary ytd-playlist-video-renderer')
      if(videos.length == 0) break

      for (let videoElement of videos) {
        let videoTitle = videoElement.querySelector('a#video-title')
        console.info("remove: " + videoTitle.innerText)
        console.info("        " + videoTitle.href)

        let actionMenu = videoElement.querySelector('#menu')
        let actionMenuButton = actionMenu.querySelector('#button')

        console.debug("click actionMenuButton", actionMenuButton)
        actionMenuButton.click()
        let languageCode = document.documentElement.lang
        let removeButtonText = REMOVE_BUTTON_TEXT_MAP[languageCode] || REMOVE_BUTTON_TEXT_MAP[languageCode.split('-')[0]]
        let removeButton = await untilDefined(() => document.evaluate(
          `//ytd-popup-container/tp-yt-iron-dropdown//tp-yt-paper-item[contains(., "${removeButtonText}")]`,
          document, null, XPathResult.FIRST_ORDERED_NODE_TYPE, null).singleNodeValue);

        console.debug("click removeButton", removeButton)
        removeButton.click()
        await sleep(200)
      }
    } 
    console.info("done!")
  })();
  // FOR STANDALONE USE COPY THIS BLOCK
})

Also i think this script could be adapted to work on any playlist without too much effort but that may be going too far, i may make a separate version that does that if i need it

EDIT: I did make it if anyone is interested, it should work for all playlists and languages but i haven't tested anything but english

@sandorex thanks a lot I"ll have a look.

Thank you so much for this code. It worked like a genius. I tried to modify it to delete "Liked videos" by replacing watch later with liked videos. It appears to be running but my total liked videos still show as 5000. Any suggestions?

@qoomon Thanks for this script. It works perfectly. 👍🏽

@imapkru you need to replace "Remove from Watch Later" with "Remove from Liked videos" e.g.

const REMOVE_BUTTON_TEXT_MAP = {
    'en': 'Remove from Liked videos'
  }

and run script at https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=LL

Thanks. That's exactly what I did. It ran for hours removing over 100,000 likes. Haha 😄

…

On Mon, Feb 28, 2022, 12:09 PM Bengt Brodersen ***@***.***> wrote: ***@***.**** commented on this gist. ------------------------------ @imapkru <https://github.com/imapkru> you need to replace "Remove from Watch later" with "Remove from Liked videos" e.g. const REMOVE_BUTTON_TEXT_MAP = { 'en': 'Remove from Liked videos' } and run script at https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=LL — Reply to this email directly, view it on GitHub <https://gist.github.com/a3f71ff2b2a18ee297c9435d539d5247#gistcomment-4080621>, or unsubscribe <https://github.com/notifications/unsubscribe-auth/AX7BGN6IQLVDJU4WQCGFBLTU5OT6LANCNFSM43DN7SCQ> . Triage notifications on the go with GitHub Mobile for iOS <https://apps.apple.com/app/apple-store/id1477376905?ct=notification-email&mt=8&pt=524675> or Android <https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.github.android&referrer=utm_campaign%3Dnotification-email%26utm_medium%3Demail%26utm_source%3Dgithub>. You are receiving this because you were mentioned.Message ID: ***@***.***>

For me 'en': 'Remove from Watch later', with lowercase ' L ' instead of 'Watch Later' warked. (just use the written text of the button)

This script is now case-insensitive 💯

I got this error:
Uncaught (in promise) TypeError: Cannot read properties of undefined (reading 'click')
at :45:20

@Mattia-Zanini should be fixed.

I'm an idiot, because i forgot to change REMOVE_BUTTON_TEXT, this code doesn't create any error, it's perfect, thx

So i tried adding a line for Swedish:

// swe-SE: 'Ta bort från Titta senare'

But all I'm getting is "wait for removeButton VM229:48" a few thousand times over and over.

@SteffeSteffe1988 you need to replace following line

• const REMOVE_BUTTON_TEXT = 'Remove from Watch later' // en with
  with
• const REMOVE_BUTTON_TEXT = 'Ta bort från Titta senare' // swe-SE

@SteffeSteffe1988 you need to replace following line

• const REMOVE_BUTTON_TEXT = 'Remove from Watch later' // en with
  with
• const REMOVE_BUTTON_TEXT = 'Ta bort från Titta senare' // swe-SE

Of course I missed something that obvious.
Thank you! Now it works great for people using Sweish in Chrome!

@SteffeSteffe1988 Glad to hear that, I'll add Swedish values as coment

Thank you so much, still works in 2023!
This is my fork with prompting the limit of videos to be deleted and randomized delay:
https://gist.github.com/udovichenko/295357dc6b504e4ce3dd540ad6c368a4

YouTube appear to have changed the title document selector for me, so the script breaks when trying to locate the playlist title on line 16:

const playlistName = document.querySelector("#title a").text

Looking at the latest commits in sandorex's fork we can see the new selector that needs to be used as YouTube have changed things around.

Replacing it with something like the following should work, so replace this:

  const playlistName = document.querySelector("#title a").text

  if(!confirm(`Are you sure to delete ALL videos from ${playlistName}?`)) {
    return
  }

with this:

  let playlistName = document.querySelector('.metadata-wrapper #container #text')?.textContent || null;

  let confirmationText = 'Are you sure to delete ALL videos from ' + (!playlistName ? 'this playlist' : playlistName) + '?';

  if (!confirm(confirmationText)) {
    return
  }

I still don't get why they don't add this functionality into the native YouTube experience, its been years and it must be a really common issue once playlists fill up.

thx @othyn, I fixed it

I've been testing my fork for few months that does not require lang specific options and modifications, could use more people trying it, also it's a Violentmonkey script
https://gist.github.com/sandorex/6bdd51ef467a079c87f19ba469a8bc7c
Feel free to take the code if you want

@sandorex thanks a lot, I've updated my script to your provided solution to get rid of language specific configuration.

It seems youtube did something so the script broke a bit, change

const playlistName = document.querySelector('.metadata-wrapper #container #text')?.textContent

to

const playlistName = document.querySelector('#text')?.textContent

The id stayed the same for a while now so im hopeful it wont need more fixing for a while 😄

@sandorex thx a lot, however for me it' works as expected with document.querySelector('.metadata-wrapper #container #text')?.textContent

Weird it works for me now too, it did not work yesterday for some reason

thank you