Guides · Hide Shorts

How to hide YouTube Shorts on desktop

6 November 2026. This guide covers youtube.com on a computer. Sources were checked that day.

YouTube does not document a desktop switch that turns Shorts off everywhere. For free, you can reduce them with YouTube’s own controls: mark unwanted Shorts “Not interested”, use “Don’t recommend channel” for repeat offenders, and dismiss the Shorts shelf where YouTube offers that option. To remove Shorts shelves from Home and search in your browser, use an extension with a hide-Shorts setting. filterslop for YouTube™ does that and also filters brain rot out of the rest of your feed, so the useful videos stay. This guide covers youtube.com on a computer, checked on 2026-11-06.

What “hiding Shorts” can mean

Before you change anything, decide which of these you want:

• Fewer Shorts recommended. YouTube’s free feedback controls nudge this.
• No Shorts shelf on Home or in search. That needs a setting in a browser extension, because YouTube’s desktop site has no documented off switch.
• No Shorts and no other junk in the feed, while ordinary long videos you like still show up.
• No YouTube at all during a study block.

Those are different jobs. Hiding a shelf is not the same as blocking a direct Shorts link, and neither is the same as blocking YouTube on your phone. Most people asking this question want the second or third: a desktop feed without the Shorts shelf, but still with the tutorials, lectures, and talks they came for.

Use YouTube’s own controls first

These cost nothing and work in any desktop browser where you are signed in.

1. Find an unwanted Short on Home, in the Shorts shelf, or in Watch Next.
2. Open the three-dot menu beside it.
3. Choose “Not interested” where offered.
4. Choose “Don’t recommend channel” if one channel keeps filling the shelf.

YouTube Help documents these controls on certain pages, including feedback on Shorts. Availability depends on the page and on being signed in. This is recommendation feedback, not a rule. It shapes what YouTube suggests next; it does not promise that a format disappears.

The same help page describes “Show fewer Shorts”, but its steps are written for the YouTube app. Do not assume they match the desktop site. If your desktop Shorts shelf shows a dismiss or close control, use it, but treat it as a local reduction, not a permanent setting. Shelves can return.

The bigger lever: watch history

YouTube says you can delete and turn off watch history if you do not want recommendations on Home. Its watch-history help page adds the condition: Home recommendations are removed when you have no relevant or significant recent history and have indicated you do not want recommendations based on it.

That changes much more than Shorts. Your Home feed goes quiet, and videos you watch while history is off do not appear in your history. Skip this if you rely on Home to find the next good lesson, or if you use history to get back to a lecture you watched last week. Read the confirmation screen before deleting anything.

If these controls get you to a feed you are happy with, you are done. Nothing else to install.

Hide Shorts with a browser extension

When feedback is not enough and you want the shelf gone, you need an extension that edits the YouTube page in your browser. Several free and paid tools list a hide-Shorts option. The difference between them is what else they do to the page.

• Hide-sections tools turn whole parts of YouTube off: the Shorts shelf, often the home feed, the sidebar, comments. If you only want Shorts hidden and never want a feed, a free hide-sections tool is enough. Our 2026 blockers guide lists the options with dated facts from each developer’s own page.
• Filtering tools leave the page in place and decide which videos stay. That matters if the Shorts shelf is only one symptom, and the real problem is clickbait, rage bait, and reaction loops sitting next to the videos you came for.

Whichever you pick, install only from the developer’s own link, review the permissions it asks for, and run one YouTube-changing extension at a time. Two tools editing the same page make it hard to tell which one hid what.

Hide Shorts and keep useful videos with filterslop

filterslop is built for the second case. Keep useful videos. Filter distractions.

Hide Shorts. The filterslop FAQ, checked 2026-11-06, lists a hide-Shorts setting. When it is on, Shorts shelves are hidden on Home and in search too. That is the one deliberate exception to filterslop’s search behavior: ordinary video search results are never removed by its content filters. A flagged result stays visible, at most dimmed, because you searched for it.

Filter the rest of the feed. Outside search, home-feed videos and recommendations that match your filters move into an “N videos removed” panel. Each one shows a reason and a “Show anyway” button, so you can see what left your feed and why, instead of wondering what disappeared. If filterslop got one wrong, mark it “Not slop” to correct the decision on your device.

Set it in your own words. You describe your goals and interests, and add rules in plain English. If you came for drawing lessons, “skip celebrity drama” is more useful than treating all entertainment as unwanted. Put trusted channels on an always-show list and repeat offenders on an always-hide list.

Focus sessions for study blocks. “Block feed” hides the home feed, Shorts, and suggestions for the session, and search keeps working. “Only my topics” keeps recommendations about the subjects you chose. You can end a session whenever your plans change.

A local dashboard shows what was filtered. It does not measure how much you learned or how much time you saved, and we do not claim it does.

Where it runs. Desktop browsers. Chrome and Brave are confirmed in the current site FAQ. For another Chromium browser that installs from the Chrome Web Store, check compatibility before paying. filterslop does not run in the YouTube mobile or TV apps.

Price. As of 2026-11-06, $4.99 per month or $29.99 per year, plus applicable tax. There is no free trial or permanent free tier. The first payment has a seven-day refund.

Check what changed on your screen

After any change, look at the places Shorts actually interrupt you:

• Home, scrolled to where the Shorts shelf usually sits.
• A search that used to show a Shorts shelf.
• Your subscriptions page.
• A direct Shorts link, if that matters to you.

A cleaner feed in one browser is not a device-wide block. Another browser, a private window without the extension, or your phone can still show Shorts. Your account has not disabled the format.

If Shorts still appear, refresh the tab, confirm the extension is enabled for youtube.com in the right browser profile, and check for an update. If you run more than one tool that changes YouTube, turn one off to rule out a conflict.

When filterslop is the wrong pick

• You only want Shorts gone and never want a feed. A free hide-sections tool, or YouTube’s own controls plus watch history off, covers that. You would be paying for feed filtering you do not want.
• You want to block the YouTube app on your phone, stop every direct link from opening, or set a lock you cannot undo yourself. A browser extension is not device-level access control.
• You use Firefox or Safari. filterslop installs from the Chrome Web Store.

Filtering can be wrong in both directions. A useful tutorial can look like a distraction, and a weak video can stay visible. The removed panel, “Show anyway”, and “Not slop” are there so you can check and correct it. Keep your own judgment about what is worth watching.

Frequently asked questions

Related guides

• How to get rid of brain rot on YouTube
• How to study with YouTube without the rabbit hole
• Best YouTube distraction blockers in 2026
• filterslop vs Unhook

Want Shorts gone without losing the good videos? See how filterslop keeps useful videos and filters distractions.

Sources

All checked 2026-11-06. Extension descriptions are developer claims, not independent installation tests.

• YouTube Help: Manage your recommendations and search results.
• YouTube Help: View, delete, or turn on or off watch history.
• filterslop features, FAQ, and pricing.

filterslop is not affiliated with YouTube or Google. YouTube is a trademark of Google LLC.