# Advanced Filter by Custom Collection

**URL:** <https://forums.plex.tv/t/advanced-filter-by-custom-collection/730830>\
**Category:** Feature Suggestions\
**Created:** [July 22, 2021, 8:51pm UTC](https://forums.plex.tv/t/advanced-filter-by-custom-collection/730830 "2021-07-22T20:51:49Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 3\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![ajslater](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/plex/user_avatar/forums.plex.tv/ajslater/32/340_2.png) [@ajslater](https://forums.plex.tv/u/ajslater)\
**Post date:** [July 22, 2021, 8:51pm UTC](https://forums.plex.tv/t/advanced-filter-by-custom-collection/730830/1 "2021-07-22T20:51:49Z")

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If I create a custom collection, I cannot use advanced filters to filter by that collection. I would like to.

Example: I make a custom collection called “Capes”  
Match any of the following:

- Studio is “Marvel Studios”
- Studio Is “DC Comics”  
etc

I would like to make a custom collection called “No Capes”:

- Collections is not “Capes”

But my custom collection “Capes” does not show up as an option. Only the fixed collections from the metadata source appear in the filter UI.

As a workaround I have, of course, manually created an inverse Advanced Filter collection. But it would be much more powerful if I could use my custom collections as filter criteria.

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**Author:** ![DallanInvictus](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/plex/user_avatar/forums.plex.tv/dallaninvictus/32/252752_2.png) [@DallanInvictus](https://forums.plex.tv/u/DallanInvictus)\
**Post date:** [September 5, 2021, 5:42am UTC](https://forums.plex.tv/t/advanced-filter-by-custom-collection/730830/2 "2021-09-05T05:42:39Z")

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I’d like to echo this because it would mean we could much more easily use smart collections as, essentially, bundles of filter criteria that can be applied either to one-time filters, to playlists, or even to other smart collections - and then we would only need to update the original underlying collection if we need to make a change. In the absence of a way to copy-paste or manually import filter criteria, making, applying, and maintaining complex sets of filters is way more tedious than it could be.

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**Author:** ![a3n3a](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/13edae/32.png) [@a3n3a](https://forums.plex.tv/u/a3n3a)\
**Post date:** [December 13, 2024, 1:56pm UTC](https://forums.plex.tv/t/advanced-filter-by-custom-collection/730830/3 "2024-12-13T13:56:44Z")

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God, yes.

How unfortunate that the ability to use filtering vis à vis smart collections isn’t a thing.  
Hopefully it is added in the feature. 😃