Adding Same File To Multiple Playlists

Plex Media Server Metadata & Adding Files
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Server Version#: 1.18.4.2171
Player Version#: N/A

Hi,

As my library grows, I’m looking to “break out” playlists for greater user functionality. The thought process being:

  • 1 main “movies” playlist that encompasses my entire library
  • multiple playlists under this (e.g. “kids movies”, “documentaries”) which will have select files from “movies”

Is there a way to do this without needing to have multiple copies of the same file in multiple locations (and just wasting storage)? I tried putting a folder shortcut within the “documentaries” folder (from “movies”) and that didn’t work.

Any ideas or suggestions would be greatly appreciated

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Google NTFS “hardlinks”

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Hi @OttoKerner ,

Thanks for the tip. My issue I have / why this didn’t work is that my storage is not local (accessed via mapped drives from a win10 server to some NAS). When I tried creating hard links (which once you suggested, really thought it was a winner!), I ran in to a host of issues, including not being able to do it via smb.

For reference, I used this guide / tool, which would be absolutely perfect for anyone with all local storage / server:
https://schinagl.priv.at/nt/hardlinkshellext/linkshellextension.html#introduction

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You will have to create the symlinks on the NAS directly.
You’ll have to create a separate folder, that is not inside the regular ‘Movies’ folder, but which is located on the same storage volume. This folder will then host all the symlinks which are pointing to files or folders in the neighboring, real ‘movies’ folder.

Depending on the NAS maker and model, this can either be done via the web interface or it requires command shell (text-mode terminal) access.

This should in theory work on all Linux-based NAS devices.
If the NAS is an Android-powered one (e.g. WD MyCloud Home), it may not be possible at all.

1 Like
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Perhaps I’m misunderstanding the request, but would collections not be a suitable solution here?

You can use filters and/or manual selections to gather the movies you’d like and then tag them all as you see fit. You can then navigate your collections via the Collections tab of your library.

This obviously won’t work if you’re intent is to find a way to organize your movies outside of Plex; but if your just looking for a way to have Plex present your movies to you in a less monolithic way, this seems viable.

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Thank you @OttoKerner! This worked correctly.

For future reference, I followed these steps (root folder of “movies”, sub folders of “all movies” and “world movies”, “documentaries” etc) and hard links, using the tool I linked to earlier, allowed for this to work.

Thanks again Otto - you just saved me SO MUCH storage!

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@pshanew This is actually a great suggestion. Not exactly what I was after (and thankfully OttoKerner resolved), but I will also use it as another feature. Appreciate the link

1 Like
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