The ability to easily change the date added of an item so it doesn’t appear in the recently added section of the Plex Interface. By selecting your own date for that item.
Many times I’ve had to replace a file I later discovered was problematic, only to have Plex decide that because it is a new file with a new OS file date, that it should go in the recently added section, even though I originally added that title to my library months or even years ago. I would like it to be listed in my library according to when I originally added it. A date of my choosing. Unless Plex can somehow track when it last was there, that would also be helpful.
I run into this often when I try to add a 4K version of an already existing movie (but not every time… it’s weird).
The easiest way I’ve found is to get the Plex internal ID of the movie in question, shut PMS down, run a quick Python script on the command line to set the “added” date to be equal to the “originally available” date, then bring PMS back up. I have the whole process down to about 45 seconds.
This assumes, of course, that you have your Plex database regularly backed up just in case you foul something up.
The easiest way is to add the new version before deleting the old one.
That way the metadata that are already in the database are re-used and connected to the new version. Nothing changes, except that you now see 2 video files in the plex media info of that movie.
Once you have it there, delete the old file, rescan the library and empty the trash.
Not a single line of code necessary.
Sorry, I should have been more specific. I meant when I’m adding a version. For example, I picked up 4K versions of the Lord of the Rings movies last weekend and wanted to add them to my library while keeping the 1080p version available so I don’t have to transcode on my older 1080p TVs. Three of the six showed up as recently added despite me following the same naming rules on the new files. That’s why I had to alter the “added at” time code.
I have found that refreshing the metadata of the old item BEFORE I add a version reduces the risk of it showing as a recently added item, but doesn’t eliminate it.
@OttoKerner 's way for simply replacing an item does work well, though!
I have done that, It’s been my typical work around. But there are times it doesn’t always work for any number of reasons. For example, the other day my drive was completely full (nothing to erase) but I had to adjust the aspect ratio of a file that was off. So I had to copy it over to another drive, fix it, then ease the existing one before adding the fixed on it. Plex listed it as new at that point.
So it seems like it would just be super easy to have an option in Plex to toggle for this. Then no work arounds are necessary.
This is an indication that you switched the metadata agent of the library at some point (from legacy to modern), but didn’t complete the procedure properly – by triggering Refresh Metadata of the whole library afterwards.
That makes sense. Although it was a deliberate decision on my part not to refresh the metadata. I did it then reverted to a backup because I didn’t like the updated posters and cast & crew photos.
But I take full responsibility for issues caused by my own stubbornness.
