tubearchivist/docs/Channels.md

# Channels Overview and Channel Detail Page

The channels are organized on two different levels, similar as the playlists:

## Channels Overview
Accessible at `/channel/` of your Tube Archivist, the **Overview Page** shows a list of all channels you have indexed. 
- You can filter that list to show or hide subscribed channels with the toggle. Clicking on the channel banner or the channel name will direct you to the *Channel Detail Page*.
- If you are subscribed to a channel a *Unsubscribe* button will show, if you aren't subscribed, a *Subscribe* button will show instead. 

The **Subscribe to Channels** button <img src="assets/icon-add.png?raw=true" alt="add icon" width="20px" style="margin:0 5px;"> opens a text field to subscribe to a channel. You have a few options:
- Enter the YouTube channel ID, a 25 character alphanumeric string. For example *UCBa659QWEk1AI4Tg--mrJ2A*
- Enter the URL to the channel page on YouTube. For example *https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCBa659QWEk1AI4Tg--mrJ2A*
- Enter the channel name for example: *https://www.youtube.com/c/TomScottGo*.
- Enter the video URL for any video and let Tube Archivist extract the channel ID for you. For example *https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2tdiKTSdE9Y*
- Add one per line.

The search icon <img src="assets/icon-search.png?raw=true" alt="search icon" width="20px" style="margin:0 5px;"> opens a text box to search for indexed channel names. Possible matches will show as you type. 

## Channel Detail
Each channel will get a dedicated channel detail page accessible at `/channel/<channel-id>/` of your Tube Archivist. This page shows all the videos you have downloaded from this channel plus additional metadata. 
- If you are subscribed to the channel, an *Unsubscribe* button will show, else the *Subscribe* button will show.
- You can *Show* the channel description, that matches with the *About* tab on YouTube.
- The **Mark as Watched** button will mark all videos of this channel as watched.
- The button **Delete Channel** will delete the channel plus all videos of this channel, both media files and metadata.
- The button **Find Playlists** will go out to youtube and look for playlists belonging to this channel and index all with at least one video downloaded. Only do this for channels where you care about playlists as this will slow down indexing new videos for having to check which playlist this belongs to.
- The button **Show Playlists** will go to the [playlists](Playlists) page and filter the list to only show playlists from this channel.