diff --git a/libs/ardour/ardour/playlist.h b/libs/ardour/ardour/playlist.h
index 1d8a4908d3..a95c70ec14 100644
--- a/libs/ardour/ardour/playlist.h
+++ b/libs/ardour/ardour/playlist.h
@@ -110,6 +110,9 @@ public:
 	bool set_name (const std::string& str);
 	void set_region_ownership ();
 
+	std::string pgroup_id()                 { return _pgroup_id; }
+	void set_pgroup_id(std::string pgid)    { _pgroup_id = pgid; }
+
 	virtual void clear (bool with_signals = true);
 	virtual void dump () const;
 
@@ -461,6 +464,8 @@ private:
 
 	samplepos_t _end_space; //this is used when we are pasting a range with extra space at the end
 	bool        _playlist_shift_active;
+
+	std::string  _pgroup_id; /*when we make multiple playlists in one action, they will share the same pgroup_id */
 };
 
 } /* namespace ARDOUR */
diff --git a/libs/ardour/ardour/session_playlists.h b/libs/ardour/ardour/session_playlists.h
index cd9c919e31..a9508d5ee7 100644
--- a/libs/ardour/ardour/session_playlists.h
+++ b/libs/ardour/ardour/session_playlists.h
@@ -50,6 +50,7 @@ class LIBARDOUR_API SessionPlaylists : public PBD::ScopedConnectionList
 public:
 	~SessionPlaylists ();
 
+	boost::shared_ptr<Playlist> for_pgroup (std::string name, const PBD::ID& for_track);
 	boost::shared_ptr<Playlist> by_name (std::string name);
 	boost::shared_ptr<Playlist> by_id (const PBD::ID&);
 	uint32_t source_use_count (boost::shared_ptr<const Source> src) const;
diff --git a/libs/ardour/playlist.cc b/libs/ardour/playlist.cc
index 950206e88b..a91ac9f759 100644
--- a/libs/ardour/playlist.cc
+++ b/libs/ardour/playlist.cc
@@ -2331,6 +2331,8 @@ Playlist::set_state (const XMLNode& node, int version)
 	node.get_property (X_("orig-track-id"), _orig_track_id);
 	node.get_property (X_("frozen"), _frozen);
 
+	node.get_property (X_("pgroup-id"), _pgroup_id);
+
 	node.get_property (X_("combine-ops"), _combine_ops);
 
 	string shared_ids;
@@ -2421,6 +2423,7 @@ Playlist::state (bool full_state)
 	node->set_property (X_("name"), name ());
 	node->set_property (X_("type"), _type);
 	node->set_property (X_("orig-track-id"), _orig_track_id);
+	node->set_property (X_("pgroup-id"), _pgroup_id);
 
 	string                        shared_ids;
 	list<PBD::ID>::const_iterator it = _shared_with_ids.begin ();
diff --git a/libs/ardour/session_playlists.cc b/libs/ardour/session_playlists.cc
index d8e014a7e1..aee3623c03 100644
--- a/libs/ardour/session_playlists.cc
+++ b/libs/ardour/session_playlists.cc
@@ -186,6 +186,30 @@ SessionPlaylists::n_playlists () const
 	return playlists.size();
 }
 
+boost::shared_ptr<Playlist>
+SessionPlaylists::for_pgroup (string pgroup_id, const PBD::ID& id)
+{
+	Glib::Threads::Mutex::Lock lm (lock);
+
+	for (List::iterator i = playlists.begin(); i != playlists.end(); ++i) {
+		if ((*i)->pgroup_id() == pgroup_id) {
+			if ((*i)->get_orig_track_id() == id) {
+				return* i;
+			}
+		}
+	}
+
+	for (List::iterator i = unused_playlists.begin(); i != unused_playlists.end(); ++i) {
+		if ((*i)->pgroup_id() == pgroup_id) {
+			if ((*i)->get_orig_track_id() == id) {
+				return* i;
+			}
+		}
+	}
+
+	return boost::shared_ptr<Playlist>();
+}
+
 boost::shared_ptr<Playlist>
 SessionPlaylists::by_name (string name)
 {