Change added_at via the plexapi?

Dev Community Dev/API Corner
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1

Does anyone know if its possible to update the added_at field for an item via the plexapi ? Basically I want to achieve what I doc’ed here Collections appearing in Recently Added in Movies Page - #6 by dokuro but do it via the api rather than database sql.

I’ve tried using collection.addedAt (sample snippet below) …

for collection in plex.library.search(libtype='collection'):
    print("Changing added_at Date:", collection.title)
    collection.addedAt()

but get an error saying TypeError: 'datetime.datetime' object is not callable which I guess means it cannot be referenced / updated.

2

Sure. I do it all the time.

There are of course many ways to achieve this but you get the point. :grinning_face:

ChangeAddedDate - Movie.py

import json
import plexapi

from plexapi.server import PlexServer
from datetime import datetime

CONFIG_FILE = 'config.json'

with open(CONFIG_FILE, 'r') as f:
   config_data = json.load(f)
   plex_url = config_data.get('plex_url')
   plex_token = config_data.get('plex_token')

plex = PlexServer(plex_url, plex_token)
library = plex.library.section("Movies")

TEST_MODE = 0

new_date = datetime(2020, 5, 7)

movie = library.get(title="Die Hard") # movie= library.getGuid("imdb://tt3076658")
title = movie.title

print(f"Movie: {title} current date: {movie.addedAt}")

if TEST_MODE:
    print(f"Movie: {title} would change to: {new_date}")
else:
    updates = {"addedAt.value": new_date}   
    movie.edit(**updates)
    print(f"✓ Changed date for {title} - new date: {new_date}")

config.json


{
  "plex_url": "http://[IPADDRESSOFPLEX]:32400",
  "plex_token": "PLEXTOKEN"
}

I use a config.json file because I have many scripts and if I change my token I only have to change it in one place

1 Like
3

It is possible that this is specifically about Collections? I’m not sure how the Added-at date of collections is defined.
i.e. it might be defined by the Added-At date of its oldest member.
Or if a collection has indeed a dedicated date field in the database, it might just be that it is a simple omission in the Plex API.

4

Rereading your post, you want to do it in a collection? Not in a movie r a TV Show?

I haven’t tried it but I have successfully uploaded theme.mp3 to collections. Don’t know if addedAt is editable in collections though.

5

According to Collection plexapi.collection — Python PlexAPI documentation addedAt is defined for collections.

@Yaracuy thanks, let me see if I can get this working for me.

1 Like
6

Apparently collection.addedAt exists

import json
import plexapi

from plexapi.server import PlexServer

CONFIG_FILE = 'config.json'

with open(CONFIG_FILE, 'r') as f:
   config_data = json.load(f)
   plex_url = config_data.get('plex_url')
   plex_token = config_data.get('plex_token')

plex = PlexServer(plex_url, plex_token)

# select the library
library = plex.library.section("Movies")
#library = plex.library.section("TV Shows")

# select the Collection
collection = library.collection("The Bounty")

print("================================")
print(f"Collection: {collection.addedAt}")
print("================================")

Have just tested it and I got a result

Yep, for movies and TV Shows

import json
import plexapi

from plexapi.server import PlexServer

CONFIG_FILE = 'config.json'

with open(CONFIG_FILE, 'r') as f:
   config_data = json.load(f)
   plex_url = config_data.get('plex_url')
   plex_token = config_data.get('plex_token')

plex = PlexServer(plex_url, plex_token)

# select the Movies library
#library = plex.library.section("Movies")
library = plex.library.section("TV Shows")

# select the Collection
collection = library.collection("Lonesome Dove")

print("================================")
print(f"Collection: {collection.addedAt}")
print("================================")
1 Like
7

Yeah the collection object is editable. 203898 is the ratingKey for a collection.

collection = plex.fetchItem(203898)
print(collection.addedAt)
new_date = datetime(2020, 5, 7)
updates = {"addedAt.value": new_date}
collection.edit(**updates)
collection.reload()
print(collection.addedAt)

output

2025-10-02 15:57:29
2020-05-06 20:00:00
1 Like
8

Yep :+1:

9

And what’s with the 4 hours time difference?
Isn’t the new date intended to be the 7th of May?

10

The date in the the original script is May 7th 2020. Can’t remember why I used that date. Probably to get several movies added at, sequentially.

The time component of the date don’t know where it get the hours from. Probably the system time. I don’t know.

But the results in @Atomatth test show May 6th 2020 :glasses:

There is surely a rational explanation :grinning_face:

1 Like
11

That’ what I was referring to. The script is clearly setting 2020-05-07 (without time).
But the resulting output is showing 4 hours before that date.

If I had to guess: difference of local clock to UTC.

1 Like
12

Thanks everyone. Have it working now. Two rookie mistakes from me …

  • I was not doing the edit to the collection correctly
  • I was not importing datetime from datetime import datetime :slight_smile:

Again, thank you all, very much appreachiated.

1 Like
13

The mysteries of EPOCH UNIX time? :open_mouth:

14

Can you test if the outcome changes if you set an actual datetime and not just a date?

15

I can test tomorrow. I’m going out right now.

Friday! (at least, here, where I am) :beer_mug: :grin:

16

No worries!

17

I’m pretty sure editAddedAt works for collections.

collection = plex.fetchItem(203898)
new_date = datetime(2020, 5, 7)
collection.editAddedAt(new_date)
2 Likes
18

Confirmed, editAddedAt worked perfectly.

19

For the “4 hour difference” question, you can try setting a timezone.

from datetime import datetime, timezone
from zoneinfo import ZoneInfo

new_date = datetime(2020, 5, 7, tzinfo=ZoneInfo("America/Los_Angeles"))

# or

new_date = datetime(2020, 5, 7, tzinfo=timezone.utc)

I don’t know which way (using a specific timezone or UTC) converts the time in the correct direction. Timezones are confusing.