What Is a Netflix Queue?
By Andrea Reuter
The Netflix rental service offers both DVDs and streaming videos of movies and television shows to its subscribers. Netflix users select the films they'd like to rent and place them in a list, or queue, on the Netflix website. Netflix has separate queues for DVDs and streaming videos, and subscribers can set up multiple profiles with separate DVD queues within a single account.
Adding Movies
Netflix subscribers use the search bar to find a movie or TV show by typing the name of a title, actor, director or genre. Users can also browse the list of available titles by genre, new releases, award winners and top picks by critics and other Netflix users. The subscriber presses the "Add" button to put the movie in his or her queue at the bottom of the list. On the next screen, the subscriber can press the "Move to Position #1" button to place that film at the top of the list instead.
DVD and Instant Queues
The "Your Queue" button at the top of the screen brings the user to his or her Netflix queues. Movies are available for DVD rental, instant streaming or both, and subscribers have separate queues for DVDs and instant videos. Users with an unlimited instant viewing plan can watch instant videos through a computer or Netflix-enabled device at any time and in any order. With DVD rental plans, Netflix ships DVDs in the order in which they appear in the queue.
Queue Management
Subscribers can reorganize their Netflix queues by pressing the "Top" button next to a film, which moves it to the #1 position, or by typing a number into the space to the left of a movie to change its numerical order. The subscriber can also click on a title and drag it to the desired position in the list. The "X" button on the far right of the screen removes a movie or television show from the queue. After making queue changes, the user presses the "Update DVD Queue" button at either the top or the bottom of the page to activate the changes.
Profiles
Subscribers can create multiple profiles for a single Netflix account for the DVD-rental aspect of its service. Each profile has its own DVD queue, and the account manager assigns a number of DVDs to each profile. For example, an account with three DVD rentals may assign two DVDs to one profile and one DVD to a second profile. The user of the second profile must return his or her only DVD before renting a new movie.
Writer Bio
Andrea Reuter has a Bachelor of Arts in liberal arts from the New School. She has worked as a magazine writer and editor for such publications as "Diversion" magazine and "Original Logic Problems." Reuter currently writes articles about video games and consoles, board games and card games for various websites.