Adding a directory

I’ve added a folder to one of my libraries so that now I have two folders total for that particular library. Why am I still only seeing the one folder that I initially created rather than the second that I just added when I go to that particular library? I made sure I saved and when I go back into the library to add another folder I can see that it’s been saved. What am I missing here?

Plex doesn’t list the top-level folders themselves but only their content.
So if you have 2 top-level folders linked to your library, your library will show all the folders within those.

example, 2 folders linked to your library:

  • folder A with subfolders A1 to A5
  • folder B with subfolders B1 to B5

your library will show folders A1-A5 and B1-B5 (not A and B).
also… you’re missing out on the metadata based media organization :wink:

@rwx said:
I’ve added a folder to one of my libraries so that now I have two folders total for that particular library. Why am I still only seeing the one folder that I initially created rather than the second that I just added when I go to that particular library? I made sure I saved and when I go back into the library to add another folder I can see that it’s been saved. What am I missing here?

Do you have “Update my library automatically” enabled in PMS settings/Library?

tom, I’ve got two directories set up in my Library. I do have subdirectories within those directories but I do not point to either of them. Reason being I want to see the subdirectories when I use Plex on my AppleTV. I can see the subdirectories in one directory along with all the programming within it. I cannot see the second directory at all. It just doesn’t populate.

SE56, I did not have that toggled on. I toggled it on and nothing pops up. Even went into that library and told it to scan the library and afterwards it says there is no content there. RRRRR!!!

Well, I created another separate library with the directory that I want to see and I’m still coming up snake eyes. Never had this problem before. I even went back to check and see if maybe there was a sharing issue with this particular directory but it’s all set up like it should be. I don’t get it.

@rwx said:
tom, I’ve got two directories set up in my Library. I do have subdirectories within those directories but I do not point to either of them. Reason being I want to see the subdirectories when I use Plex on my AppleTV. I can see the subdirectories in one directory along with all the programming within it. I cannot see the second directory at all. It just doesn’t populate.

SE56, I did not have that toggled on. I toggled it on and nothing pops up. Even went into that library and told it to scan the library and it does there is no content there. RRRRR!!!

Well, I created another separate library with the directory that I want to see and I’m still coming up snake eyes. Never had this problem before. I even went back to check and see if maybe there was a sharing issue with this particular directory but it’s all set up like it should be. I don’t get it.

Have you created a new link to your Library directory, I have had that issue.

All I’ve done at this point is go to Libraries, edit Library, add folders and chose the directory that contains the files. Not sure I’m familiar with creating a new link?

File access permissions?
Which platform is the server running on?

I’ve got all file access permissions set correctly. Full access control by Everybody, Admin, user, etc. I made sure of that. I’m using Windows 10.

Please make a screenshot of the ‘Add Folders’ tab.

Before we advance to log files.


Here is a screenshot

I see only one folder in there.
Didn’t you say you added a second one?

I went ahead and just created a new library with just this one folder in order to make it simpler.

but basically the same outcome… Plex is not adding the content of the 2nd folder (not when you originally added it as a 2nd folder to a library, nor now that it’s the only folder linked to that new library)?

exactly right

when you add that folder to Plex… does the dialog show you the underlying folders?
so when you picked X:\PlayOn recordings\… where you able to see the content of this folder before selecting it?

in this example the text box shows the selected folder, the right column shows the content of the selected folder

What kind of a library is it?
In the case of a movie library: what is selected as ‘Scanner’ and ‘Agent’ under the ‘Advanced’ tab?

May we take a look at the file names within your ‘PlayOn recordings’ folder?

Tom, yes that is exactly how it comes up. And, I do not choose any of the subdirectories as I want to see them listed when I use Plex on my ATV.

Otto, the Agent is set for TheTVDB. I’m not seeing the Scanner portion of that though??? Also, I have the folder set up as TV Shows. I’ve yet to figure out why I need to categorize the folder this way?? The show I recorded was from FS1 on DirectvNOW.

uuhp…i think I figured out why it’s not pulling up. I created another Playlist and this time I set it to be Movies. I added the directory in which to pull files from and voila everything is there.

Okay, so obviously it DOES matter how a playlist is categorized. Can you guys educate me on why this is important?

Short version:
https://support.plex.tv/articles/categories/media-preparation/

Long version:
Plex needs some clear structures in order to understand what you want it to do. This includes file naming conventions.
For movies, Plex is relatively flexible. The file name should reflect thename of the movie as it’s known in the online database used to match the file. Ideally you include the movie’s release year in brackets after the name. This will help with movies of the same name and avoiding misinterpretations.

Plex is much stricter with TV Shows. You need to maintain the proper folder structures (show name (year) > Season XX > ..., where XX is the 2-digit season number) and episodes need to be named correctly in those folders (... > show name (year) - sXXeYY - optional title to identity the episodes in a file manager.ext, where XX is again the 2-digit season number and YY is the 2-digit episode number within that season). When using TheTVDB.com as the agent, make sure the episodes are organized according to their order or Plex will pull the wrong metadata. If Plex doesn’t find the sXXeYY fragment in a tv show file name, it’ll ignore that file entirely.

There’s apps that can help you getting those names right (e.g. FileBot).

More precisely:
https://support.plex.tv/articles/201543057-why-is-some-of-my-content-not-found/